The Environmental Law & Policy Center and Lucas County Commissioners don't believe the plan approved by U.S. EPA will solve the problem.
A harmful algal bloom turns the Lake Erie water green at the Maumee Bay State Park lodge in Oregon, Ohio, on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017.CLEVELAND, Ohio – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a plan Thursday to reduce the amount of phosphorus flowing into the Maumee River and eventually into Lake Erie, where the farm nutrient is considered the main contributor to the creation of harmful algal blooms.
The Ohio EPA developed the plan as part of a consent decree spawned by a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Law & Policy Center that was later joined by the Lucas County Commissioners. Cynobacteria feed far more efficiently off total dissolved phosphorus to create harmful toxins, Rob Michaels, senior attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center, toldTotal dissolved phosphorus is also what’s present in the liquid manure that is produced by animal operations and gets spread on farm fields. Some of that phosphorus makes its way into drain tiles beneath the fields and ultimately into the Maumee watershed, Michaels said.
“The Western Basin of Lake Erie is a vital resource to the region,” it reads. “Despite millions of dollars of investment over decades, it remains plagued by chronic harmful algal blooms. A TMDL is an important tool in combating these blooms and the nutrients that feed them. However, in its decision, U.S. EPA has doubled down on the same tired, status quo approach that led Ohio to need a TMDL in the first place.
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