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Get Informed

In this 30 minute video, Dr. Deanna Osmond, Ph.D. in Agronomy from Cornell University, and author of dozens of studies on soil nutrients, speaks at an Ohio State University conference, Sept. 8, 2021.  In her very understated way she explains why many of the "Best Management Practices" the Ohio EPA is using to draft TMDLs (total maximum daily loads) for Lake Erie are either ineffective or actually increase the Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus fueling the toxic algal blooms every summer.

Chris Winslow, director of the OSU's Sea Grant program, moderates the Q&A in which he says "When giving talks like this we keep calling these 'best management practices,' but there really isn't a 'best' right? These are 'management practices' and it truly depends on which field and which management practice; that's kind of misleading folks."

A map of CAFO's in the western lake erie basin
A map of subsurface tile drainage in the US

Source: This Interactive CAFO Map is from a report done by the Environmental Working Group and the Environmental Law and Policy Center 

Informative Films

Learn More: Films
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The Erie Situation: Panel Discussion

#BoycottBigMeat Video Series

a move poster showing a cow and a farmer

13 Reasons to #BoycottBigMeat

Consumers are key to building a better food and farming system. You can help by supporting farmers and ranchers who produce meat using practices that protect your health, the rights of food & farm workers, animal welfare, the environment, and climate stability. You’ll find these producers online, at your local farmers markets, through CSAs, and in your local organic retail stores. To buy direct from local producers of organic, regenerative pasture-raised and grass-fed meat and other products, use this map. TAKE ACTION: Demand a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms, and support the just transition to an organic regenerative food and farming system!

The Erie Situation explores the confluence of science, public sentiment, politics and the powerful farming lobby as Ohio wrestles with how to confront the drivers of toxic algae in Lake Erie. What’s at stake? Who’s at risk? The Erie Situation and our panel confront this growing crisis tonight.

 

For more information regarding the film, please visit: https://plasticoceans.org

 

Tune in to PBS WGTE on September 12th at 9:00pm to watch The Erie Situation.

Resources and Publications

IV) GRAND LAKE ST. MARY'S: A SUCCESS STORY FOR KASICH'S "DISTRESSED WATERSHED" POLICY OR AN ONGOING TRAGEDY?

After declaring the GLSM watershed "distressed" in 2010, here are the results of tests for Microcystis in the lake water used to supply the City of Celina.

CLEAN WATER ACT'S "IMPAIRED" PROCESS OR GOV. KASICH'S "DISTRESSED" ORDER: IF YOU WERE LAKE ERIE HOW WOULD YOU VOTE?

WHAT $300,000,000 PER YEAR FROM THE GREAT LAKES RESTORATION INITIATIVE IS NOT DOING FOR LAKE ERIE

THE HAZARDS OF LIQUID MANURE

For industrial livestock operations, liquid animal waste is easier to handle than what real farmers use, but it causes more problems than just the sheer volume of it.

OSU graph: CAFOs impact on Lake Erie dissolved Phosphorus level

Graph shows dissolved Phosphorus stopped declining, began increasing, when CAFOs came to NW Ohio

ACLE ASKS TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR HEARING ON SENATE BILL 1

Joint House-Senate Ag Committee hearing to examine effectiveness of Taft/Kasich/Farm Bureau bill intended to help Lake Erie

Michigan Public Radio: Are Factory Farm Profits More Important Than Our Water?

Jack Lessenberry asks a strategic question.  

Toledo Mayor: "Legislature A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of the Farm Bureau"

Kapszukiewicz tells it like it is at Ann Arbor conference

ACLE Letter to OEPA Director Craig Butler "Wholly-owned subsidiary of the Farm Bureau"

In response to Butler and Gebhardt's statements backing away from Clean Water Act provisions

OEPA's Gebhardt: "TMDLs Aren't Necessary"

More proof that OEPA officials are already backing away from Clean Water Act requirements

OEPA's Butler Talks "Mandatory Measures Now Needed" but Backs "Distressed Watershed" Voluntary Approach

Data Shows Lake Erie Impairment Justified in 2010

But OEPA Director Butler still doubts TMDLs are needed

A Dirty River Still Runs Beneath It by Pam Taylor

Taylor is Education & Research Coordinator for ECCSCM. She lives in Lenawee County, Michigan, where her ancestors arrived in 1837 to farm in the River Raisin area. Her family still owns a farm there. "Dirty River" is a concise, thorough source for understanding what drives Lake Erie pollution.

Legal Timeline for Lake Erie Impairment Designation

Ohio House Resolution to USEPA

Introduced by Reps. Fedor and Sheehy, March 13, 2018

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