Tom Barrett is hoping to use the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico to benefit his bid for governor of Wisconsin.
Here's an e-mail from Barrett, (Subject line: Stop BP from drilling in the Great Lakes):
Dear Friend,
In the 46 days since the worst oil disaster in American history began, many Wisconsinites have wondered if such a catastrophe could ever happen on our Great Lakes.
Oil behemoths like BP have been pressuring politicians for years to allow drilling in the Great Lakes. Thanks to the outcry of support from people like you, we've been able to stop them by securing bans on Great Lakes drilling.
Shockingly, the tragedy in the Gulf Coast still hasn't stopped extremists from maneuvering to lift these bans.
Just last week, a prominent leader of the far right-wing Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan called on state and federal officials to lift the ban on oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes -- even as the devastation to the environment and people's livelihood in the Gulf of Mexico continues to grow. This is an organization with deep ties to right-wing organizations in Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states.
We must make sure Great Lakes drilling bans remain intact. Click here to join me in calling for the renewal of bans on drilling in the Great Lakes today.
Our Great Lakes are home to thousands of miles of pristine shoreline and fragile ecosystems that also provide good-paying jobs to tens of thousands of Americans. Fisheries and outdoor recreation alone account for over $40 billion in economic activity annually for states in the region.
That is why I have always stood strong against attempts to drill for oil and gas in the Great Lakes. In 2001, I supported a federal ban on Great Lakes drilling, and in 2007 I stood up to BP when they were caught dumping tons of toxic sludge into Lake Michigan.
Will you join me in standing up again by clicking here to sign our petition to renew the bans on drilling in the Great Lakes?
Every year Wisconsin families and businesses send $16 billion to other states and other countries for energy. As governor, I'll bring clean energy reform to Wisconsin, providing thousands of new good-paying jobs and reducing our dependence on big oil companies like BP and their reckless drilling projects.
In the meantime, we need to redouble our efforts to prevent future disasters like the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico by renewing the bans on Great Lakes drilling now.
Thank you for your support,
Tom Barrett
P.S. After weeks of waiting for a positive development, news just broke that BP's "cut and cap" operation has allowed them to siphon oil from the ruptured well to a ship on the surface. While this is finally a step in the right direction, reports indicate that oil will likely continue to leak into the Gulf of Mexico into August. We must stand together now by renewing the bans on drilling in the Great Lakes.
That subject line is misleading.
"Stop BP from drilling in the Great Lakes."
It sounds as if BP is CURRENTLY drilling in the Great Lakes and we need to stop it.
I suppose it's a typical political fundraising hook, but I don't like it.
What I found especially funny/annoying about Barrett's message is the way he touts his record regarding the protection of the Great Lakes and Lake Michigan, specifically.
In 2001, I supported a federal ban on Great Lakes drilling, and in 2007 I stood up to BP when they were caught dumping tons of toxic sludge into Lake Michigan.
Barrett stood up to BP for dumping toxic sludge into the lake.
Where is Barrett when it comes to the dumping of billions and billions of gallons of raw sewage and partially treated sewage into Lake Michigan?
He's not standing up to MMSD, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Read a 2004 editorial from the Racine Journal Times that addresses Barrett's management of the fouling of Lake Michigan with sewage.
[T]his week Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's task force on the sewerage district's problem came in with a report that was more watered down than most of the crud the city and its environs jet into the lake.
Instead of biting the bullet and recommending the overflow problems be fixed with solutions - costly as they would be - like separating the city's combined sanitary and storm sewers, the mayor's task force called for the city and its suburbs to go after the problem of I and I - infiltration and inflow of rain into the sewer pipes through cracks and illegal basement drains.
The beauty of that plan of attack, of course, is that it would cost less, much less than sewer separation or expansion of the Deep Tunnel. According to the task force report, the price tag would be less than $1 billion.
The report dismissed the sewer separation option saying the cost would be too high, the work would seriously disrupt downtown Milwaukee and the "impact on water quality would be negative."
Say what? Yes, the report echoes MMSD's position that separating the sanitary and storm sewers would hurt the lake - because then all that dirty rainfall would never get treated.
Much better, of course, to just flush it all out into the lake at once.
Worse, in addition to not fixing the problem, Barrett's committee urges a public relations campaign - they call it teaching the public - to lower expectations about eliminating sewage dumping.
We can see that now. Billboards sprouting along Interstate 94 featuring Mayor Barrett with a wooden clothes-pin on his nose touting the healthy message: "Poop, it's good for you" or maybe, "Milwaukee, a great place on a gray lake."
Even the hometown newspaper there categorized the recommendations as calling "for a drip-drip-drip repair job rather than a grand splash fix-up."
Barrett has been supportive of MMSD, hardly starting petitions or making an effort to raise awareness about the massive amounts of human waste being pumped into the lake when it rains.
In a 2008 interview with OnMilwaukee.com, Barrett compliments MMSD.
OMC: What's Milwaukee's best-kept secret? Now that people can actually get here easily, what are people missing?
TOM BARRETT: I think the growing secret is going to be the comeback of Bradford Beach.
OMC: Everybody's talking about it. Have you taken the towel and the kids?
TB: I have not been down there swimming, but I have been down there. I love seeing people there, and so ... I have to give a lot of credit to MMSD, because they were in here several years ago and they said, "Look, we've got to get this beach back in play." So, I'd say that's probably the best-kept secret right now -- that Bradford Beach is back.
OMC: Maybe this is a question more for Scott Walker, but is that the kind of private / public partnership -- having people come in and run the concessions -- that is the key for the parks?
TB: Well, again, I think the initial key was the commitment from MMSD, and I think MMSD gets kicked around the block a lot, but MMSD stepped forward and put resources in and said, "We're going to clean up this beach." So I think that that type of thing is helpful.
Just last summer, people were warned from going into Lake Michigan at Bradford Beach because of the pollution.
South Shore Beach and Grant Park Beach have advisories issued right now (June 4, 2010), poor water quality due to E. coli. Note that no data on water quality is available for Bradford Beach. Odd.
So the water of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee is regularly fouled and is unfit for human contact, but Barrett wants to keep BP from drilling.
Never mind the crap currently in the water that presents a public health hazard.
Way to go, Barrett!
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