Protecting Lake Michigan

Report from LWVLMR’s 2021 Conference

It’s not just climate change. Other factors affect the status and health of Lake Michigan, speakers told League delegates and members at LWV Lake Michigan Region's 2021 Annual Meeting and Conference on October 16 in Porter, Indiana.

Focusing on today’s high water levels, Professor Erin Argyilan, Indiana University NW, explained that this is not a new story. Lake levels rise and fall according to a consistent 30-year geological record. That doesn’t mean climate change is not a factor. Climate change is intensifying rain showers, which drive river and storm water directly into the lake. It produces more rain than ice and snow in winter, eliminating the ice buffer that protects vulnerable shoreline.

And while high lake water levels are cause for concern today, existing plans for shoreline restoration and management can easily be tabled when water levels ebb in the next cycle. Long-term efforts to stabilize sand and the shoreline, prevent further building close to the lake, construct offshore breakwaters, and target erosional hotspots should not be ignored, she emphasized.

Victoria Wittig, senior program specialist for Save the Dunes, noted that Indiana leads the nation in the release of toxic chemicals into the environment. Industries such as US Steel, Steel Warehouse, the Burns Harbor Port, Indiana Harbor, and Whiting Refinery are sources of industrial water pollution, including the chemical dramatized in the 2001 Eric Brockovich story—hexavalent chromium.

She reported on efforts by coalitions including Save the Dunes to prevent further water pollution, such as a formal roundtable of environmental experts, fact sheets, a technical review of industrial permits, and a partnership with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

The two releases of toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan since October 1 unfortunately show that “the voice for the environment is not as loud” as it should be, she concluded. Learn more about how to support environmental efforts in Northwest Indiana.

LWVLMR delegates approved the proposed program for 2021–22, detailing protective measures, threats to the environment, public participation, government action, and research priorities.