An anti-pollution resolution passed in the House of Representatives yesterday. H. Con. Res. 187 recognized the importance of the Great Lakes as the largest surface freshwater system on Earth, and source of drinking water for 30 million Americans. The resolution also recognized the serious problem of ammonia pollution in the Great Lakes, creating dead zones and fouling lake beaches. Finally, the resolution called upon the state of Indiana to stop the plan of British Petroleum to dump 1,584 pounds of ammonia into Lake Michigan every day.
Picture what 1,584 pounds of ammonia looks like and smells like. Now picture that being poured into Lake Michigan every day, day after day after day.
It’s not just a problem for Indiana. The effects of the ammonia dumping, which include huge mats of rotting, stinking algae sucking the oxygen out of the water, travel through all the Great Lakes, through the Saint Lawrence River, and out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, picture 26 Republicans in the House of Representatives voting to endorse the plan to dump that ammonia. The Republicans who did so are:
Joe Barton of Texas
Sanford Bishop of Utah
Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Roy Blunt of Missouri
John Boehner of Ohio
Kevin Brady of Texas
Dan Burton of Indiana
Steve Buyer of Indiana
Chris Cannon of Utah
Eric Cantor of Virginia
Michael Conaway of Texas
John Culberson of Texas
Jeff Flake of Arizona
Virginia Foxx of North Carolina
Trent Franks of Arizona
Jeb Hensarling of Texas
Doug Lamborn of Colorado
Dan Lungren of California
Kenny Marchant of Texas
Gary Miller of California
Michael Pence of Indiana
Ted Poe of Texas
Edward Royce of California
John Shadegg of Arizona
Michael Simpson of Idaho
Mark Souder of Indiana
(Source: The Library of Congress)
Uh… need to check your facts… algea PRODUCES oxygen, it doesn’t suck it. Therefore, dumping ammonia actually helps our global warming issue.
Rotting algae depletes oxygen.
No, Crawdad, you need to check your facts. Jim’s right. The ammonia stimulates the rampant growth of algae, which then rots, and then the decomposition of the algae creates massive areas of oxygen-depleting water in which most organisms cannot live. These are called dead zones.
Look it up, Crawdad.
You’re missing the main point. Ammonia smells like pee because pee is partly ammonia. Millions of people drink out out of Lake Michigan. Who wants pee in their drinking water?
I bet Indiana reps Burton, Buyer, Pence, and Souder don’t drink that water.
No, but they’re bought off by the moneyed industrial interests in their state. They can afford bottled water when they visit from Washington D.C.
Hey, let them pollute all they want!
It’s their right as a corporate citizen! In fact, why don’t we dump our nuclear waste there too? That way we can kill off all the life in the big lakes, then we can continue on with the oceans! C’mon – we’re all gonna die anyway. Let’s take out a ton of species while we’re at it and really screw the next generation(s).
Hey, Tom, you shithead, that’s where the drinking water in my tap comes from. If you want to be nihilistic, do it in your own backyard.
What’s the difference Iroquis? Humanity has already ruined the planet. (Besides, i was being facetious.)