March 5, 2021
By Mark Torregrossa
The Great Lakes (click here) aren’t in just a normal water decline mode. They are now going down faster than usual and putting some distance between current water levels and last year’s record water levels.
February saw water levels decline on all of the Great Lakes. This is a normal seasonal decline, plus more decline. Due to the lack of precipitation and lack of ice cover, some of the Great Lakes dropped even more than is usually expected in February. The forecast for March is also to continue the water level decline on each Great Lake.
Lake Superior’s water level fell 3 inches in February and is now 7 inches below this time last year. Going into summer, Lake Superior is expected to be 3 to 6 inches below last year and 9 inches below record water levels....
I and other media have complained, during the years of Trump, that the Great Lakes were unnaturally high. This article and the graphs prove The Lakes have been ridiculously high. The blue line was the normal lake levels.
Trump absolutely altered the heights of the lakes to provide for huge ships to move through them. The lakes were changing height during these years as much as 12 inches or more from day to day then falling the next day by the same amount or less. That rising and falling were due to DISPLACEMENT OF WATER by ships on the lakes. That is the only thing that can effect lake height that much from day to day. There is no natural phenomena that could explain drastic changes in lake levels at the Great Lakes.
The reason The Great Lakes lake levels are falling is that the Army Corp. of Engineers is finishing their ANNUAL work at the St. Lawrence River lock system. The St. Lawrence River System closes down in the wintertime and that is when the US Army Corp. conducts maintenance. The lock system does indeed effect the levels of The Great Lakes. The lakes are over 700 feet above sea level and the St Lawrence Seaway and the lock system can raise or lower lake levels.
The Trump Administration deliberately neglected the responsibility to the Great Lake States and Canada to allow quite possibly political donors to have their way and destroy beaches at the same time. I know I wrote and the letter is probably still sitting in the inbox on a desk no longer occupied by Seaway officials. The officials were probably furloughed or fired so the destruction and exploitation could take place.
Let this be a strong lesson to the American people regarding the person at the top of the USA government. Now, rather than regulation simply taking care of everyone that uses the Seaway for commerce and for those that have beach property for either private or commercial use; legislation is in order to prevent such mischief. Trump has caused millions if not billions of dollars of damage to the lakes and their beaches. There now has to be a great deal of money spent to replenish the beaches and reevaluate the problems with invasive species including those that were never supposed to breach the Chicago gateways that were to control them.
The damage done to the USA during the Trump years doesn't end with COVID-19.
