The Activist and the Obelisk

Author(s):  
Stephanie Elizondo Griest

This chapter delves into the environmental assault on Akwesasne as well as the tribe’s resistance. In the 1950s, Canada and the United States started building the St. Lawrence Seaway, a system of canals, locks, and channels that enabled ships to launch in the Great Lakes and sail clear to the Atlantic Ocean. One of its many regional side projects entailed a massive hydroelectric dam that straddled the international borderline. Its construction drowned out six villages and virtually all of the area’s beaver hutches, displacing some 6,500 people—many of whom were Mohawk—and decimating the trapping industry. The dam also lured businesses into the area, including General Motors, Reynolds Metals, and the Aluminum Company of America, all three of which opened factories on the outskirts of Akwesasne and slowly began to poison the area’s air and rivers. The Environmental Protection Agency has done little to help, and many Mohawks resent them for it. The author interviews activists who have taken matters into their own hands with direct action against the corporations—and have been sued as a result.

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca W. Hanmer

The pulp, paper, and paperboard industry in the United States is the larqest industrial user of water with half of the facilities discharging wastewater directly to our Nation's waters. The major pollutants of concern have historically been the conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH. Biological treatment systems are currently employed to reduce these pollutants. Sludges generated by these treatment systems have been categorized as nonhazardous and are generally landfilled. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated all the reguired regulations for this industry. The national regulations are applied to individual pulp and paper mills through permits issued by EPA Regional or State staff. Permit limits can be written that are more restrictive than the national regulations to protect local water guality. In its current projects concerning the pulp and paper industry, EPA is focusing on the reduction of toxic pollutants. The Agency is conducting a joint EPA/industry program to study dioxin discharges at bleached kraft mills. The Agency will also undertake a comprehensive review of the pulp and paper regulations in 1988.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwendolyn E Gallagher ◽  
Ryan K Duncombe ◽  
Timothy M Steeves

Over the past decade, both the average rainfall and the frequency of high precipitation storm events in the Great Lakes Basin have been steadily increasing as a consequence of climate change. In this same period, cities and communities along the coasts are experiencing record high water levels and severe flooding events (ECC Canada et al. 2018). When cities are unprepared for these floods, the safety of communities and the water quality of the Great Lakes are jeopardized. For example, coastal flooding increases runoff pollution and contaminates the freshwater resource that 40 million people rely on for drinking water (Lyandres and Welch 2012, Roth 2016). Since the Great Lakes are shared between two nations, the United States and Canada, the region is protected by several international treaties and national compacts, including the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). In order to increase climate change resiliency against flooding in the region, we recommend the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work with Environment and Climate Change Canada to relocate the GLRI under the GLWQA in order to guarantee consistent funding and protection efforts. We additionally recommend expansion of both agreements in their scope and long-term commitments to engender cooperative efforts to protect the Great Lakes against climate change.


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (56) ◽  
pp. 35300-35310
Author(s):  
Hesham H. El-Feky ◽  
Abdelrazek M. Askar ◽  
Alaa S. Amin

Growing concerns about the possible toxicity of silver to aquatic organisms, bacteria and humans have led to newly issued regulations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of silver.


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