MENU
SECTIONS
OTHER
CLASSIFIEDS
CONTACT US / FAQ
Advertisement

Kasich should save Lake Erie

Kasich should save Lake Erie

Lake Erie needs to be saved — for the second time in its life.

John Kasich made a solemn commitment to save Lake Erie.

The governor has been AWOL from the governorship for a year while he campaigned for president. His first major interview after ending his campaign was with a national media outlet. He is said to have been approached by the “Never Trump” movement to mount a last-minute third-party run for president. He is widely thought to be on Donald Trump’s short or long list for vice president. There is even speculation that Mr. Kasich is looking at a run against Sherrod Brown for the Senate in two years — that would be a good place from which to launch another presidential run.

Advertisement

That’s the way running for president effects some people: You can’t keep them down on the farm anymore. They’ve seen the big time.

Click here to read more Blade editorials

But we need Mr. Kasich in Columbus. We need him focused on the governor’s office and on the biggest single thing he could do to secure his legacy — saving Lake Erie.

Earlier this year, the governor signed a law placing restrictions on when farmers could apply manure and other fertilizers to the frozen or saturated earth. It was a good step, but the new rules are mostly voluntary and lack enforcement mechanisms.

Advertisement

The governor should be following up — making the law work.

More important: The state entered a pact with Michigan and Ontario to reduce the amount of the phosphorous entering Lake Erie’s western basin by 40 percent in 10 years. That was unprecedented and monumental. But, substantially, little has been done and, set at 10 years, the clock ticks past Mr. Kasich’s term of office. Right now the commitment is to draw up an action plan by 2018 — the last year of the governor's term. That is not acceptable. What is the governor waiting for?

The governor has an obligation, since he made the promise, to tell us how he plans to keep it. He has an obligation to draw up a detailed plan for reducing the phosphorus in the lake by 40 percent, and to at least begin to act on that plan.

“We’re making progress on it,” Mr. Kasich said during the presidential campaign. “I think we are doing a lot.”

No, manifestly, we are not.

The governor compared healing the lake to a smoker clearing his lungs after quitting smoking. It takes time, he said. That’s a telling analogy: With lung disease, you don’t just stop doing the destructive thing and hope you live. You take action — proactive steps — in order to get healthy.

Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green) has talked about a bond issue for Ohio waterways. Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D., Boardman) has advocated similar investments. Where is the governor on an Ohio Healthy Water initiative and bond? Given Flint, Michigan’s, disaster, one would think he’d be out front. For one thing, if another Flint happens in Ohio, the governor’s political career is over.

How about Ohio and Michigan joining together to petition that Lake Erie be declared an impaired waterway under the Clean Water Act? This would enable the U.S. EPA to direct those two states to set maximum phosphorus load targets for Lake Erie and find ways to enforce the limits. Such a partnership would redeem the governor of Michigan and show that, when Mr. Kasich brags of his own compassionate conservatism, there is actually some beef.

A person could even run for president on that accomplishment: I saved a Great Lake.

Right now there is no beef. There is no significant action to clean up Lake Erie — to treat it as a priority if not an emergency — coming from the governor.

When Ohio saved the lake the first time, James A. Rhodes was the man who made the difference. He didn’t call himself “green” or compassionate. He didn’t posture. He got the major politicians and corporate leaders in a room and knocked heads. He did his duty: He did what needed to be done to clean up the lake.

This is what we need in Columbus today. Not a perpetual candidate, but a governor.

First Published June 5, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS  
Join the Conversation
We value your comments and civil discourse. Click here to review our Commenting Guidelines.
Must Read
Partners
Advertisement
Advertisement
LATEST Featured-Editorial-Home
Advertisement
Pittsburgh skyline silhouette
TOP
Email a Story