Tittabawassee River, the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay from Dow Chemical Company.
A portion of this resolution called for “That this public trust includes restoration and protection of aquatic and upland wildlife resources and habitat at all tropic levels.” This became official MUCC policy. It also required assessment of the human health risk associated with fish and game consumption.
Supposedly being the leading conservation organization in Michigan, with the resolution and Dow reneging on the horrible environmental mess that they have created, how then could they accept money from Dow and give them the image of respectability?
At the August 2008 MWTHA meeting of the chapters it was unanimously approved to send a letter of protest to MUCC executive director, Dennis Muchmore, which was sent on August 25th. No reply was received. George Randall, a MUCC director from Harrison was upset over this situation and asked that we be present at the December 8, 2008 MUCC board of directors meeting to be held at the Harrison Sportsman Club. George did address the directors, asking that in light of MUCC policy and the current situation with Dow, how could MUCC accept money from them and give them publicity? I had an opportunity to speak and added information. I asked Dennis Muchmore why MUCC did not respond to our letter. He stated that he did not like the letter and had no intentions of doing so. What support did we
receive from the directors? One stood and said that he disagreed with us as Dow was very environmentally friendly. Another stated that he had no problem taking money from Dow. I left the meeting being the bad guy.
Testing of animals reveal that exposure to dioxin can result in various types of cancer, liver and kidney ailments, fetal death and birth defects. Samples of Wood Duck eggs within the Titabawasse River floodplain found dioxin levels between 56.5 and 246 times higher than what is accepted as safe by scientific literature. In mink, levels ranged up to 60 times higher.
In the January/February issue of Ducks Unlimited magazine they gave accolades to Dow Chemical in an article entitled “Dow Gift Enhances Habitat in Indiana, Wisconsin”. It seems that Dow has supported Ducks Unlimited by donating herbicides for waterfowl management on public lands. While Dow is poisoning waterfowl within the Saginaw Bay watershed, Ducks Unlimited is their partner.
By so called conservation organizations accepting money from polluting corporations like Dow they are enhancing the corporations’ public image as being conservation and environmentally astute. Their blood money buys them respect.
Another of MUCC’s gold sponsors is Consumers Energy. In a recent article in the Bay City Times it reported that the Lone Tree Council, a local environmental organization, discovered that Consumers Weadock-Karn coal burning facilities two ash landfills are leaching arsenic, boron and lithium into Saginaw Bay. Consumers response is that the Lone Tree Council is trying to scare people. Coal burning facilities’ solid waste are toxic contaminates such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium and selenium that according to EPA analysis is leaching into the groundwater, contaminating surface waters through runoff and direct discharge, and are being dispersed into the air by wind erosion and volatilization.
A half of a century ago the Weadock plant, located at the mouth of the Saginaw River, began filling a large area of Saginaw Bay coastal marsh with it’s toxic fly ash and eventually built the Karn coal burning facility. A wetland that was truly a wonderland of aquatic life and waterfowl was destroyed.
A fish consumption advisory has been issued for every lake in Michigan because of Mercury contamination. Coal burning plants are the single largest sources of mercury pollution. Where did the mercury in every lake come from? It arrived airborne, and Consumers Energy has been a major contributor.
Consumers Energy is among coal burning power plants that account for one third of all U.S. Carbon Dioxide emissions (global warming). Coal burning plants are the single largest source of sulfur dioxide, which when mixed with the atmosphere becomes sulfuric acid, the cause of human health, lake sterilization and destruction of forests – especially in the east. They are the single largest stationary source of nitrogen oxide pollution which endangers human health and turns into nitric acid vapor. Consumers has destroyed many of our free flowing rivers, destroyed wetlands and killed millions of fish. In the recent past they were dragged into preventing enormous fish kills at their Ludington Pumped Storage facility.
Yes, they are proud to be a gold sponsor to MUCC. Every hunter, every fisherman, every citizen, every news media and particularly every outdoors writer should be outraged instead of the apathy that runs rampant throughout our state.
