June 3, 2002

   Milwaukee, WI - Two organizations recently filed a lawsuit against the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Dist. (MMSD) for billions of gallons of wastewater discharged to regional waterways, putting human and ecological health at risk.

   Noting that MMSD has released up to 13 billion gallons of wastewater, the Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers and the Lake Michigan Federation claim in their suit that MMSD has illegally discharged highly polluted waste to contaminate Lake Michigan, rivers, and groundwater supplies since 1995.  The groups filed a notice of intent to sue last July as required under the Clean Water Act. They withheld their lawsuit to try to reach an agreement on sewage reductions out of court.  That didn’t work.

New Tags first of their type to be used in the Great Lakes

A new approach to fishery research got underway in Lake Superior waters. Biologists from USGS and USFWS surgically implanted tags in the abdominal cavity of 100 lake trout. The tags known as bathythermal tags will record water depth and water temperature from up to 3 years.

The study has multiple purposes. One is to determine the depth and temperature that lake trout inhabit during the year and whether or not they segregate from other species by depth or temperature. This data will contribute to better understanding of sea lamprey and lake trout interaction. Temperature information will also be used to improve bioenergetics models currently being developed for Lake Superior.

Two Bills Mandate Sound Science in ESA Decisions

Court settlement on Salmon habitat reflects move toward proven science

   The House Resources Committee held a legislative hearing  March 20, on two bills that call for the use of sound science in federal resource management decisions made under the Endangered Species Act.

   The hearing was on H.R. 2829, a bill to amend the ESA to require the Secretary of Interior to give greater weight to scientific or commercial data that has been field-tested or peer reviewed. H.R. 3705, will amend the ESA to require the Secretary of the Interior to use the best sound science available in implementing the ESA.

   Chairman James V. Hansen said; “The devastating consequences of poor ESA science have hit one regional economy after another, particularly in the West. As a result, we're seeing a ground swell of support for reforms - particularly reforms that mandate the use of good

science.”  “An agreement entered into this week in

Washington, D.C. and submitted to the U.S. District Court for approval underscores the problem. Under the settlement, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has agreed to scrap the critical habitat designations for 19 West Coast salmon and steelhead populations and craft a new designation based on sound science.”

   Hansen went on “The NMFS was sued by 17 organizations that claimed the critical habitat designations were simply not supported by science. Those unreliable designations impacted 150 watersheds, rivers, bays and estuaries. Most of it appears to have been based on guesswork. That's unconscionable.”  “I am deeply concerned by a 1998 inter-agency memo in which NMFS officials acknowledged that “we just designate everything as critical” when it comes to salmon habitat without bothering to analyze how much habitat the fish really need. No science, just sweeping generalities that impact the economies of four states’ Hansen added. “We want to put a stop to that kind of sloppy federal management.”

Grand Traverse Band to defend jurisdiction in court

Illegal hunting to force issue into federal court

   LELAND - An area Indian tribe will defend one of its members accused in state court of a hunting violation on private land.  Bill Rastetter, attorney for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said the tribal council decided earlier this month to defend its jurisdiction over land that was ceded to the U.S. government in an 1836 Indian treaty and has since fallen into private ownership.

   The move could lead eventually to a federal court ruling on the matter, a state official has said. Jim Ekdahl, statewide coordinator for Native American Affairs at the MI DNR, said “the DNR has been looking for a case like this for years so

   "This prosecution causes great concern for the tribe," Rastetter said April 12, after he appeared in Leelanau County District Court on behalf of Alvin Ance, 67, a band member. Ance has pleaded innocent in state court to charges of trespass and unlawfully taking an antlerless deer on private property. He already has been charged in

tribal court for the same violation.  Rastetter said that if

Leelanau County moves forward with the case, it could spoil relations between the county and the tribe.  "I think the local prosecutor is probably unaware of the implication of these charges," he said. "It's an affront to the tribe's sovereignty for the state to assert jurisdiction."

that the question of jurisdiction can be decided in federal court.”

   Leelanau Prosecutor Sara Brubaker said she would meet with Rastetter to discus the issue.
Ance has pleaded guilty already to similar charges in tribal court and he was fined, Rastetter said. Ance is accused of shooting a deer on the former Matheson Greens Golf Course property on Nov. 26 while hunting with a tribal permit. Both state law and tribal regulations forbid hunting on private property without the permission of the land owner. If convicted of the state charges, Ance faces a minimum of five days or up to 90 days in jail and he would lose his hunting license for three years.

   The Michigan DNR has promoted taking Ance's case to state court, where the outcome can be appealed.
Courtesy: Traverse City Record Eagle