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November 29, 2007
Fred Lindner Prize awarded
to Dale Olen
Friends of Milwaukee's
Rivers would like to congratulate board member Dr. Dale Olen on his recent
win of the
Fred Lindner Prize. The Fred Lindner Prize is awarded to an
exceptional individual over the age of 50
who is defying expectations by channeling their creativity and talent
to address critical social problems. Upon retirement as a psychologist and founder and director of the
Life Skills Center in Wauwatosa, Dr. Olen turned his attention to the
study of water throughout the world. Motivated by his appreciation for
growing up
next to Lake Michigan, he became a member of the Sierra Club and the
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers. He is diligently active in getting the
Great Lakes Compact approved in Wisconsin and is working on funding for
the larger Great Lakes Restoration project. The full press announcement
on Dr. Olen's award may be found
here [PDF].
November 29, 2007
MMSD Operations and
Maintenance Contract
On Monday, December 3rd,
the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District will vote on whether to
award their Operations and Maintenance Contract for wastewater services
to Veolia Water North America, or to return wastewater treatment
responsibilities to the District. FMR would
like to see the O&M contract return to the public realm to ensure
adequate protection for public and environmental health as the current
system neglects to provide incentives to contractors for proper
equipment management and maintenance resulting in unnecessary sewage
overflows. On November 27th, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, along with
Midwest Environmental Advocates, Sierra Club Great Waters Group, and
Alliance for the Great Lakes sent a letter to MMSD in support of
returning the O&M contract to the District. The full letter may be
seen
here [PDF]
and the accompanying press release may be found
here [PDF].
Go
here to read Doug
Hissom's comments at OnMilwaukee.com.
November 16, 2007
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers issues
NOI
Last Thursday, Friends
of Milwaukee's Rivers, through its attorneys at Midwest Environmental
Advocates, sent a notice of intent to sue under the Clean Water Act to
Heartland Development Group, Ltd. and their contractor, ACT Planning and
Development, LLC for their recent clear-cut of approximately five acres
of vegetation adjacent to the Milwaukee River at Estabrook Falls in
Glendale. This clear-cut of vegetation and disturbance of soil was an
obvious violation of the Clean Water Act as the companies failed
to obtain a proper stormwater discharge permit from the Wisconsin DNR,
and neglected to
create an approved
Erosion Control Plan or
install erosion
controls in a timely manner to limit stormwater runoff.
To complicate the
matter, the area of disturbance contains wetlands and habitat for the
State threatened Butler’s Garter Snake, which would have required the
developer to obtain several other permits.
FMR is very concerned about stabilizing this site and getting seed
established this late in the year, as well as the effects on water
quality and the wildlife habitat of the Milwaukee River. FMR is also
advocating to ensure public access for paddlers that use this property
to portage around Estabrook Falls and access for fishermen that have
been using this site for decades to fish in the Milwaukee River.
November 8, 2007
Some green pre-holiday tips
Save trees and space in your mailbox
Hate receiving unwanted catalogs in the
mail daily? With the holiday mailing season upon us, this is a
particularly good time to visit
www.catalogchoice.org and
choose which catalogs you no
longer wish to receive. Each
year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers, consuming 53 million trees and
producing 5.2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Reduce your environmental impact
and save some space in your mailbox by declining unwanted paper
catalogs!
GoodShop
for Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers
Remember
GoodSearch.com, the search engine that makes a donation to
your favorite charity every time you surf the net?
 Well,
they've teamed up with many of your favorite online stores to create
GoodShop-
Now, by navigating to a vendor's site through the
GoodShop page and making a purchase,
a percentage of your sale will go to the
GoodSearch charity of your choice. Be sure to select Friends of
Milwaukee's Rivers as your GoodSearch beneficiary to make a free
donation, every time you shop for holiday gifts!
November 2, 2007
Friends of Milwaukee's
Rivers Urges Wisconsin to pass a strong Great Lakes Compact
"Wisconsin needs to pass a strong
Great Lakes Compact" urged Lynn Broaddus, Executive Director of
Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers. "Lake Michigan is the underpinning of
our region's economy, and our way of life. We need protections in
place to ensure that our lake will be here for generations and
generations to come."
After years of negotiations and
deliberations, in 2005 the eight Great Lakes governors and the
leaders of Ontario and Quebec signed an agreement that was the first
step to creating long lasting protection for the Great Lakes. The
next step was for each of the legislatures of the Great Lakes states
and provinces to pass parallel legislation. Wisconsin is the one
state that has yet to introduce such legislation. If a strong Great
Lakes compact is important to you, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers
urges you to contact your state senator and representative and share
your thoughts. To find their contact information, follow this link:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/
November 1, 2007
Glendale clear-cut update
On
November 8, 2007, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, through
its attorneys
Midwest
Environmental Advocates, sent a notice of intent to sue under the
Clean Water Act to Greater Milwaukee Area companies Heartland
Development Group, Ltd. and ACT Planning and Development, LLC for
their recent clear-cut of approximately five acres of vegetation
adjacent to the Milwaukee River in Glendale- The full press release
may be found
here [PDF].
The original Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article featuring
comments by Milwaukee's Riverkeeper, Cheryl Nenn, may be viewed
here, a piece by the
editorial board of MJS may be found
here, and a short
editorial piece submitted to MJS by Suzanne Kreuziger of Glendale
may be found
here.
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