Obama Endorser Bill Richardson: A 'Water Rustler' Eying Great Lakes For Dry Southwest?

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Environmental activists are uneasy about New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, whose endorsement of Barack Obama made a big splash last week in the Democratic presidential contest. Some think he could be a "water rustler." Richardson's baggage -- left over from his now-scrapped White House run -- is that he suggested last year fresh water from the Great Lakes be siphoned off to the dry Southwest. Richardson recanted. But enviros still wonder if he's a straw man for development interests intent on sucking the Midwest's most precious natural resource off to the desert. Here's what Richardson said that made waves last year:

"I believe that the western states and eastern states have not been talking to each other when it comes to proper use of our water resources. I want a national policy. We need a dialog between states with issues like water conservation, water reuse technology, water delivery and water production. States like Wisconsin are awash in water."

Lloyd Alter, who writes for Treehugger.com, feels that Richardson's reappearance as a force in Democratic presidential race via the Obama endorsement should put the Great Lakes states -- including Ohio -- on notice that their water is a target:

"If the Great Lakes states and provinces don't take decisive action to prevent the raiding of the Earth's largest supply of fresh water, the water rustlers will continue seeking ways to steal it. Eventually, they will find a way . . ."

Grim News For Great Lakes: 183rd Invasive Species Found

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- A small shrimp with a big appetite for microscopic animals at the bottom of the freshwater food chain has colonized the Great Lakes. Large concentrations of the invaders were found in November and January. Scientists say the shrimp, Hemimysis anomala, is native to rivers in Eastern Europe, the same region where zebra mussels originated. The shrimp is the 183rd species to invade the lakes, and there are concerns it could disrupt the food supply that fish depend on for survival.

Others think that native fish might find the recently spotted newcomers a tasty crustacean on the menu. But for now, most scientists seem to be in the bad news camp. In the past, zebra mussels, quagga mussels, gobi and lamprey eels -- among the many prior invaders -- usually produce ill effects on the natural environment.

Nobody is sure how the so-called "bloody red" shrimp entered the lakes, but researchers suspect they came in ships' ballast waters. The crustaceans are about a half-inch long, they live near shoreline waters, and females were breeding in Lake Michigan in November. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration received a report in mid-January that another concentration had been found in southeastern Lake Ontario.

Photos of the shrimp are HERE on the Web site of NOAA's Great Lakes environmental research lab in Ann Arbor, Mich. A map HERE shows where the concentrations have been located and gives some details about the sightings.

NOAA has a fact sheet about the bloody reds HERE that offers information about their life-style habits and recent intrusion. The shrimp's appearance in the lakes raises questions about how effective ballast-water dumping regs are working. Transatlantic cargo ships are expected to dump ballast water from foreign sources before entering the lakes. But some does get through and harbors alien stowaways.

Researchers at McGill University in Canada have projected that the Great Lakes are extremely vulnerable to 17 species from Eastern Europe. This is the first on the list to show up.

The Great Lakes are home to a small North American shrimp called mysid. They won't be competing directly with the new shoreline hugging arrivals because they live in deeper, cooler waters. So far, the invaders have not been found in Lake Erie. But that could change rapidly.

Lake Erie Freeze-Up: Some Ice Would be Nice

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- The Great Lakes region is deep in winter, the season when the annual ice-cover is supposed to be thickening and hiding the open water until the sun climbs higher in the sky and brings the thaw. This year, something seems awry. There is hardly any ice anywhere on the lakes.

In Sandusky -- 12 days from today -- the shoreline community is scheduled to hold its annual ''Sandusky Bay Ice Festival" where ice boats race and ice-fishermen vie for the biggest catch. The State of Ohio's tourism office is touting the town's Lake Erie freeze-a-thon on its DiscoverOhio.com Web site. But the odds of having any ice this year are thin at best. Of course, the cause might not be global warming or climate change -- but surely something is happening.

An Army Corps of Engineers official in Detroit says there won't even be an ice-bridge formed this winter to Mackinac Island, which means the cold that usually grips the Upper Great Lakes has not come.

Meanwhile, a forecast by the Canadian government, which draws upon U.S. and Canadian meteorological data, says all the lakes are pretty much ice free now and foresees a January with above normal temps. The forecast predicts that ice won't come in time for Sandusky: "In the Western Basin, ice will begin to form along the shore during the third week of January and spread to cover a significant portion of the basin by the end of the month."

And elsewhere: ''The rest of Lake Erie -- During the last week of January, coastal new and thin lake ice will form."

Data for all the lakes shows the annual freeze-up is running later than normal nearly everywhere.