Big Stone | Take 2

I used to admire Bill Gates . He helped make it possible for me to connect via MSN with new-found friends around the world, all from my rural home a few years back in Graceville, MN - Big Stone County . The first internet connection I had, back in 1999, was a little keyboard unit that hooked up to my television called Webtv. The world was at my fingertips; no matter if a blizzard was raging outside or my car did not start. I was connected.

 

Now. Bill Gates bothers me. After almost three years with Clean Water Action SD, researching the mind boggling details behind the proposed Big Stone II 600 MW coal plant, does Bill Gates know what he is doing? Does he know that his ownership just under 9% via Cascade Investment LLC in Otter Tail Power's Big Stone Plant Unit 1 and funneling of money into Big Stone II rains down mercury to poison my grandchildren and yours? Does he know that northeast South Dakota's once pristine prairie land will now be filled with DOUBLE the toxic coal combustion, cancer causing waste? If Bill Gates doesn't know where his money is going - perhaps it's time we let him know. Eight Minnesota Legislators recently wrote to Gates offering him the opportunity to see how he could align his values with his investment. In other words, asking him why is he investing in dirty coal that poisons us when he could be investing in wind and renewable energy.  Word has it that a reply is coming.

 

Let Bill Gates hear from you! The world needs wind and renewable energy, not more coal. Come on Bill, be the hero everyone believes in.

 

William H. Gates III

One Microsoft Way

Redmond WA 98052

Phone: (425) 882-8080

 

Cascade Investment LLC

2365 Carillon Point

Kirkland WA 98033

Phone: (425) 803-0720

Fishing holds great memories in my family - I remember many winter evenings through the 60s and 70s, Grandpa stopping by just as it was getting dark bringing with him a 5 gallon pail of freshly caught plump perch, maybe a walleye or two and then Dad setting up at the kitchen counter to do the cleaning. My Dad still cleans fish like no one else. No bones, ever. And in the summer, sitting on the dock in the wee morning hours, casting a cane pole with a frog or minnow for bait, waiting for the bobber to go under. Cousins, brothers and sisters, kids, now grandkids - we all have our fishing moments and stories. Favorite times on Big Stone Lake. Healthy times, getting to know one another, spend some time, work out a grudge or make up for lost time. Good times, from dusk to dawn. So, to fish or not to fish is not the question.

 

However, these days, we have to wonder...should we eat the fish? What about the mercury? To help you make up your mind, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) has a one-page outline on Eating Fish: Health Benefits and Risks (PDF) and a doctor with the world renowned Mayo Clinic writes that eating fish helps your heart. Medscape Today also touts that theHealth Benefits of Eating Fish Outweighs Risks. So go ahead (smile), head for Big Stone Lake and enjoy your fishing! I plan to do so with my dad come warmer weather. But to play it safe, check out The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources lake information report for Big Stone Lake to see what fish you should avoid eating because of mercury or PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls)contamination.

If a pebble makes a ripple – what will a stone make? Worse, what will two Big Stone coal plants pumping more mercury into the air and waters around Big Stone Lake make? Most at risk are the children – mercury is a known potent neuro-toxin, but we also pay a high economic cost according to experts who reported on the Public Health and Economic Consequences of Methyl Mercury Toxicity to the Developing Brain (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2005).

 

On the bright side, environmentalists in Iowa are saying that it will be a lot tougher for utilities to build coal plants after a federal appeals court threw out a federal pollution-trading system that allowed excess mercury emissions at some plants.