Cherry Tree Inn owner is jailed
TRAVERSE CITY -- The leader of an Ohio-based hospitality group convicted of illegally bulldozing a portion of Grand Traverse Bay is in jail after he failed to complete court-ordered community service. Joseph Moffa, an owner of the Cherry Tree Inn on U.S. 31 North in East Bay Township, violated state environmental laws when he had a bulldozer drive more than 120 feet into the bay behind the hotel in November 2006.
Sediment Removal Action Work Plan at Cone Drive Operations (CDO) Facility
Grand Traverse County—The Sediment Removal Action Work Plan to address the aesthetically impacted sediments of Boardman Lake as part of the CDO facility has been finalized. The sediment removal action will be accomplished by excavation of the sediments following the isolation of the area from the remainder of Boardman Lake by a temporary cofferdam and removal of the overlying water. The sediments will be dewatered in place by conventional dewatering wells, allowing the sediments to be removed dry. Non-hazardous solid wastes generated during the process will be disposed of at Waste Management’s Glen’s Landfill. The water produced during the dewatering process will be treated and discharged to Boardman Lake under a NPDES permit.
Face-Off Over 'Fracking': Water Battle Brews On Hill
Environmentalists and the natural gas industry are getting ready for a battle in Congress over something known as "hydraulic fracturing." "Fracking," as the industry calls it, involves injecting a million gallons or more of water and chemicals deep underground to pry out gas that's locked away in tight spaces. Environmentalists want the federal government to regulate the practice because, fracking may be harming nearby water wells.
Tell your Senator to vote NO in regard to new coal-fired power plants in Michigan
Nations around the world, and various States in this great nation are already realizing the enormous health, financial, and environmental risks inherent in coal. Only you can help to stop this problem in Michigan. We need your help today to stop the construction of dirty coal-fueled power generating plants (along with their toxic emissions) in Michigan..
- Every year 24,000 people die prematurely because of pollution from coal-fired power plants.
- Every year 38,000 heart attacks occur because of pollution from coal-fired power plants.
- Every year 12,000 hospital admissions and 550,000 people suffering asthma attacks result from power plant pollution.
- Every year, coal-fired power plants release 48 tons of mercury nationwide.
- Power plants release over 40% of total U.S. C02 emissions, a primary contributor to global warming...
O.I.L. Energy applies for underground waste
WILLIAMSBURG -- A local company could pump waste liquids from cherry processing deep underground, if state and federal environmental authorities give the OK. NMEAC does not think that this is a good idea. We urge you to contact the EPA today:
-
Documents about a proposed deep-injection disposal well classification change can be viewed at the Traverse Area District Library, 610 Woodmere in Traverse City, or online
-
Comments can be filed online, by e-mail to patterson.leslie@epa.gov, or in writing at the EPAs Chicago offices.
- Written comments should be mailed to: Leslie Patterson, EPA Region 5, Water Division (WU-16J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL, 60604-3590.
Forests Pay the Price for America's Love Affair with Really Soft Toilet Paper
Greenpeace, the international conservation organization, contends that Kimberly Clark, the maker of two popular brands, Cottonelle and Scott, has gotten as much as 22 percent of its pulp from producers who cut trees in Canadian boreal forests where some trees are 200 years old. Instead of waiting decades for carbon-soaking forests to stop being decimated by our need for t.p., this is an area where the government should step in. Someone needs to step up and tell us that next year or in two years or three, all toilet tissue will be 20 percent recycled fibers (for example). DOWNLOAD HANDY GUIDE
Some residents oppose deep-injection well
ACME -- Acme Township residents plan to fight a proposed deep-injection disposal well for oil and gas brine. They worry about potential impacts to groundwater and believe the well eventually could be used for fruit processing wastewater, akin to another nearby well in Whitewater Township. Environmental consultant Chris Grobbel is concerned about the proposed Acme well's proximity -- a few hundred yards -- to a drinking water recharge area for a nearby residential development. It's "too close for comfort, should there be any subsurface impact," he said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold an informational meeting about existing and proposed O.I.L. Energy Corp. wells in Grand Traverse County on May 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Mill Creek Elementary School, 9039 Old M-72, in Williamsburg. Public hearings will immediately follow at 7 p.m. for the proposed Acme Township well and at 8 p.m. for the Whitewater Township well re-classification. Officials from the EPA, the company and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will be available to answer questions.
Statement of former Governor William G. Milliken On Conservation of Michigan Wetlands
As the Governor and Michigan Legislature review the status and determine the future of Michigan’s Wetland Protection Act, I would like to urge them to take the long view of what is best for the state and its natural resources. I am proud to have signed the Wetland Protection Act into law in 1979. Enacted with bipartisan support, the law has protected large amounts of valuable wetland resources from alteration and destruction. Estimated annual losses of wetlands covered by the law have slowed from thousands of acres per year to a few hundred. Where alteration or destruction of wetlands has occurred, the law has required the creation of wetlands and the permanent protection of existing undeveloped wetlands.
Water currents can power the world
The system, conceived by scientists at the University of Michigan, is called Vivace, or "vortex-induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy". Currents can power the world, say scientists Existing technologies require an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots. The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe. Systems could be sited on river beds or suspended in the ocean. The scientists behind the technology, which has been developed in research funded by the US government, say that generating power in this way would potentially cost only around 3.5p per kilowatt hour.
DEQ investigating Tamarack Lodge Hotel
State environmental officials continue to investigate alleged unlawful beach clearing at an East Bay hotel, and the county prosecutor could consider criminal charges.
Stop Invasive Species
Problem: Invasive Species like the zebra mussel continue to wreak havoc on the Great Lakes - racking up control costs to the tune of $120 billion annually. What's more, new invaders are arriving in the Great Lakes about once every 28 weeks, mainly from the ballast tanks of ocean going ships. Solution: The Senate must act this summer to pass strong ballast water treatment standards similar to those in the House.
Blanchard, Milliken: Protect the water
TRAVERSE CITY -- Two former governors -- Republican William Milliken and Democrat James Blanchard -- prodded legislators Thursday to prevent large-scale uses of Michigan water that would not be in the public interest.
Friends of the Jordan River Watershed Protection
Alba—If you go with the flow, the waters (and wastes) of the Lake Charlevoix Watershed flow in a North, Northwest direction from Alba Lake Michigan. Learn more about proposed toxic waste deep injection wells in Northern Michigan.
Will the Great Lakes become a nuclear dump?
We must join together and make our voices heard. The Canadian government plans to build a dump site right on the shores of Lake Huron to store radioactive waste from 20 nuclear plants for hundreds of years. As if that wasn't bad enough: Oil company Shell Canada wants to build a giant refinery along five miles of the St. Clair River that will process 250,000 barrels of heavy crude oil daily - and put one of our most important waterways at risk. Canada is already treating Michigan like a dumping ground, sending millions of tons of their garbage each year to our communities. Now, it wants to give us more mercury, more sulfur dioxide, more CO2 emissions, more overall pollution and radioactive waste that will put our citizens at risk for hundreds of years. The nuclear waste site and the oil refinery pose a real danger to our families today and for generations to come.
| Joe Moffa, President of Omni Hospitality Hotels was found guilty. |
TC hotel owner sentenced for damaging bottomlands
A Traverse City hotel executive has been placed on probation and ordered to do conservation work for damaging protected Great Lakes bottomlands. Joseph C. Moffa, an owner of the Cherry Tree Inn, was convicted in September of two misdemeanors for having a bulldozer dredge and groom part of the Grand Traverse Bay waterfront. On Tuesday, District Judge Michael Haley sentenced Moffa to a year of probation and instructed him to work 30 days for the Grand Traverse Conservation District. Moffa also has reached a deal with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to restore nearly an acre of damaged wetlands and pay a $35,000 fine.
Hotel owner charged in wetlands dredging
TRAVERSE CITY A hotel owner charged with wetlands tampering surrendered to face criminal charges. Eighty-Sixth District Court Judge John D. Foresman on Friday arraigned Joseph Moffa on two misdemeanors for violation of state wetlands and submerged bottomlands law. Both offenses are punishable by up to one year in jail.
Beach grooming laws have been given teeth
It is a concept we don't see much of any more. Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider said he decided to charge Joseph Moffa, an officer in the company that owned the Cherry Tree Inn, with two criminal misdemeanors connected to a beach grooming incident in 2007 because "People make decisions ... and individuals are responsible for their conduct." Over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2006 (perhaps in hopes the powers that be would be too sedated by turkey to notice), and without benefit of a permit, Omni Hotels sent a bulldozer more than 120 feet into the water, dredged the lakebottom and filled other areas. Land below the normal waterline has long been recognized as taxpayer-owned property and under state juristiction -- not the whims of property owners.
Traverse City hotel owner facing charges
An owner of the Cherry Tree Inn hotel faces criminal charges for sending a bulldozer into Grand Traverse bay to reshape his beach. Authorities charged Joseph Moffa, 42, president of Ohio-based Omni Hospitality and vice president of Pride One Cherry Tree LLC, with two criminal misdemeanors for violation of state wetlands and submerged bottomlands law. Both offenses are punishable by up to one year in jail. State and federal authorities who investigated the inn and its owner determined a bulldozer drove as far as 122 feet into East Bay over Thanksgiving weekend in 2006. Moffa's attorney told Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider's office that Moffa would turn himself in Thursday, but he failed to show.
Coal Not Looking So Hot
The fate of scores of new coal-burning power plants is now in limbo over whether to regulate heat-trapping greenhouse gases. The uncertainty resulted when an Environmental Protection Agency appeals panel on Thursday rejected a federal permit for a Utah plant, leaving the issue for the Obama administration to resolve. The panel said the EPA's Denver office failed to adequately support its decision to issue a permit for the Bonanza plant without requiring controls on carbon dioxide, the leading pollutant linked to global warming. "It's going to stop everything while EPA mulls over what to do next" about how the federal Clean Air Act is to be used to control carbon dioxide, said David Bookbinder, a Sierra Club lawyer. "And that will be decided by the next administration."
How Clean Coal Cooks Your Brain
"Clean coal" is not an actual invention, a physical thing – it is an advertising slogan. Like "fat-free donuts" or "interest-free loans."
Sign up now to be notifed about our next NMEAC event or activity. Click here
NOTEABLE: We Hold Its Value to Be Self-Evident
Ecuador approved a new constitution this weekend that, among other things, grants inalienable rights to nature, the first such inclusion in a nation's constitution, according to Ecuadorian officials. "Nature ... where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions, and its processes in evolution. Every person, people, community, or nationality will be able to demand the recognition of rights for nature before the public bodies," the document says. The specific mention of evolution isn't accidental; besides being an activity nature arguably likes to do anyway, evolution as we know it has close ties to Ecuador's territory of the Galapagos Islands, where Charles Darwin formed his famous theory. Ecuador's constitution grants nature the right to "integral restoration" and says that the state "will promote respect toward all the elements that form an ecosystem" and that the state "will apply precaution and restriction measures in all the activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of the ecosystems, or the permanent alteration of the natural cycles."
