Rolling My Eyes at Daley

An oil pipeline owned by Enbridge ruptured near the town of Marshall three days ago. The oil leaked into Talmadge Creek which then flowed into the Kalamazoo River. Chicago’s Mayor Daley is demanding that Michigan AG Cox start an investigation into the oil spill saying that oil leakage into Lake Michigan would be worse than the Asian carp leaking into the lake from his city.

Fuck off Daley.

Is the oil leak an important issue? Of course it is but we’re talking about contamination of, what, 40 miles of a small river in the middle of the state? With all the containment and cleanup efforts, I doubt that much, if any, harmful amounts are going to get to the lake.

But let’s just say that this spill directly dumped into the lake—about a million gallons. It would be an environmental disaster for sure but how many years of damage are we talking about? Even if it was decades, I would argue that would still be far less damaging than one Asian carp about to reproduce. Once an invasive species gets into the Lakes, it’s going to be there long after the oil is broken down. And if the Asian carp is half as bad as it is being portrayed, then we’re talking about a permanent reduction—and some would say loss—of Michigan’s sports fishing industry.

So let’s just be clear, Mayor Daley is willing to grasp at anything to give this state a slap in the face for all the heat he is getting for the Asian carp and his unwillingness to do more to keep those damn fish from getting past the locks and into the Lakes.