Letter to the Editor: New Serious Threat to Lake Erie

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Local fishing and conservation club, S.O.N.S of Lake Erie, has concerns over the environmental impact of installing alternative energy sources on leased sections throughout Lake Erie, part of a bill that has recently passed the PA House.

On Tuesday, April 16, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed House Bill No. 254, sponsored by State Representative Bob Merski of Erie. The bill would allow the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to lease tracts of lakebed land in Lake Erie to construct and maintain equipment for renewable energy. These devices would be used for developing wind, solar, and kinetic (water power) energy.

Similar attempts at this type of development have been made offshore of Cleveland, Ohio, and also in the waters off New York State, but they have failed to come to fruition due to many factors involved. It seems apparent that our state legislators are not fully informed about the structure of Lake Erie, its importance to human health, and the threat to our drinking water, fishery, and way of life that the construction or placement of these devices, structures, or equipment could pose.

The S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie has serious concerns about this type of development on one of the world's most precious freshwater aquatic resources. While we strongly support efforts to develop an improved environment, there are far too many unanswered questions regarding this proposed legislation. Here are a few of them:

1. The Pennsylvania portion of Lake Erie is currently awaiting federal designation as a National Marine Sanctuary to protect the region's maritime heritage and preserve a nationally significant collection of shipwrecks.
2. There is no specific list of exactly what type of devices and/or constructed equipment will be placed in the lake. It indicates that fixed or floating devices may be utilized but does not outline how construction will be completed or how large this equipment might be. Drilling into the lakebed to construct fixed devices is of extreme concern to us for several environmental reasons.
3. There is no mention of how the generated energy will be transmitted to shore or how and where it will be received and stored once there.
4. It is unclear what any of these types of man-made disturbances could do to the environment. Disturbing silt buried toxins in the lakebed, and there are many types of them, could damage or destroy fish populations, wildlife, and affect drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people who depend on it for survival.

Lake Erie is a natural wonder enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people in some fashion every day, as has been the case for centuries. Anyone who has ever watched and been awestruck by our spectacular sunsets must realize there is only one body of water like Lake Erie on the planet Earth. It is unthinkable to imagine the horizon cluttered with man-made power-generating equipment. With our lake already dealing with invasive species, toxic algae blooms, and climate change, why are we doing this?

As a fishing and conservation club of 2,500 members headquartered in Erie, Pennsylvania, we are totally against and shocked by any attempt to place solar power-generating devices or structures in Lake Erie. House Bill No. 254 has now been moved to the Pennsylvania Senate, where state senators will have a chance to review the legislation and decide if it should become law. If you share our concerns and fears, we ask that you contact your state senator.

S.O.N.S. (Save Our Native Species) of Lake Erie can be found at sonsoflakeerie.org