State and federal environmental regulators under pressure to do more to clean up Lake Erie are arguing that a federal court judge is not the right person to limit pollution and rescue the lake. He is if others fail to do their jobs.
Actually, U.S. District Judge James Carr agrees. Saving the lake should not be the task of a federal judge. But he’s ordered the state and the feds to make progress on the matter themselves before reporting back to him this fall.
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Although he agrees the judicial branch is the least effective branch for handling such matters, Judge Carr has decided the inaction from executive and legislative branches leaves him little choice. He is going to keep jurisdiction over a lawsuit that seeks to force Ohio officials to declare Lake Erie impaired.
Even though the Kasich administration relented days before a ruling was expected in March, grudgingly making the declaration, Judge Carr has said he agrees with the environmental groups who filed the case in the first place — more needs to be done. Much more.
The judge has ordered all sides to return to his courtroom in October or November to update him on their progress.
If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Kasich’s Ohio EPA, and the General Assembly want Judge Carr to declare the case moot and close it, they should do their duty.
If the environmental regulators and lawmakers thought slapping the impaired label on the lake was all that was necessary, they were only fooling themselves. Judge Carr wants implimentation.
A package of bills proposed by Mr. Kasich that address agricultural pollution is “dead in the water” according to Columbus lawmakers, not one of whom is willing to sponsor them in the General Assembly.
State Sen. Randy Gardner (R, Bowling Green) has his own plan that would dedicate $36 million to help farmers with phosphorus reduction, invest in the Healthy Lakes Initiative designed to find alternatives to open-lake dumping of dredged material, and help county soil and water conservation districts with soil testing and conservation work. It would also fund more lab space and water monitoring at the Ohio State Sea Grant and Stone Lab. It’s the only solid and serious plan out there.
Mr. Gardner also is proposing a ballot initiative to allow a $1 billion bond measure to provide lake clean-up funding for 10 years.
And in the meantime, the Kasich administration should quit dragging its feet on the process of determining the strict pollution limits, or total daily maximum load (TDML), for phosphorus draining mainly out of the Maumee River basin and into the lake where it feeds toxic algae.
A pair of federal attorneys argued in Judge Carr’s court that he does not have authority to issue a TDML, but the Kasich administration is apparently not willing to set one itself without a court order.
Mr. Kasich’s Ohio EPA has acknowledged that its own studies show that voluntary measures to reduce agricultural runoff have made almost no difference.
The way forward is no mystery. It is time for the legislative and executive branches in Ohio to craft meaningful, specific, strict limits on the pollution fouling Lake Erie. And then enforce them.
First Published June 2, 2018, 9:30 p.m.