I recently read McJoan's post about a Republican candidate in Wisconsin advocating oil drilling in Lake Michigan, and couldn't help but wonder what that candidate is thinking....
Most people may not be familiar with it, but there's one HUGE difference between the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and one in the Great Lakes.
Short version?
The Gulf contains salt water, and very few individuals or communities depend on it for drinking water.
The Great Lakes, on the other hand, are the largest contiguous body of fresh water in the world--literally tens of millions of Americans and Canadians need it to survive. In addition to cities like Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit that directly tap into the Great Lakes themselves for drinking water, a huge fraction of the groundwater in the Great Lakes region is supplied by sub-surface transport from the Great Lakes. In addition, the Great Lakes have been considered as a freshwater source to help alleviate the effects of drought and shortage elsewhere in the world.
Even CONSIDERING potentially contaminating that freshwater supply would, quite simply, be one of the most idiotic, most irresponsible actions a person could contemplate.