DEP Blames the Wind for Algae Blooms

Wind Plays Role, But Nutrient Pollution From Human Activity Major Cause

We can’t control the wind, but we sure can reduce pollution loadings

(Source: NJDEP)

[Update: 9/10/12 – Here is DEP science the press office ought to read: Estuarine Algal Conditions – Status and Trends

In general, algal blooms tend to occur in areas with nutrient over-enrichment. In the long term, efforts to reduce anthropogenic nutrient loads to New Jersey’s coastal waters, combined with a better understanding of the effects of meteoro- logical and oceanographic conditions, should help us minimize the occurrence of algal blooms.

I just posted this as an update to Science Meets Politics at the Jersey Shore, but given the significance, this warrants its own post.

The DEP press office just can’t stop spinning, lying, and attacking critics.

This time its about the causes of algae blooms.

And this is not an honest good faith philosophical debate  about causality (Aristotle: final, efficient, formal, material)

It’s about lies, spin to downplay problems, and attempts to discredit critics.

This is old news, but I just came across this August 23 story by NBC TV news – What’s causing smelly beaches in New Jersey?

Here is what the best science says about the causes of marine algae blooms, which is what is causing the smelly beaches (from a NOAA Report to Congress): (this is on harmful algae blooms, a subset of algae blooms least related to human pollution)

Here is what Sierra Club said caused the problem – note the “100% wrong” with “no scientific basis” attack  by DEP –

The head of the New Jersey Sierra Club believes pollution from overdevelopment, sprawl, and combined sewer overflow are to blame for the algae bloom. But the State DEP says those claims are 100-percent wrong, made with no scientific basis and that the bloom was completely unpreventable.

DEP claims that WIND caused the algae bloom:

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says it’s the result of an algae bloom spotted offshore within the past day from Manasquan inlet to the Seaside Area and that it poses no health risks to humans.

Officials say the bloom was caused by winds drawing up water from the bottom of the ocean that provided nutrients for the algae.

Memo to DEP –

While it is technically correct to say that the wind effects algae blooms by “drawing up water from the bottom of the ocean that provides nutrients“, this is only a partial, highly selective, and highly misleading statement, and certainly does not support your attack on Tittel.

The majority of nutrients that spur the growth of the algae are put in the system by human activity – i.e. are pollution: sewage treatment plants, combined sewer overflows, storm water runoff, and atmospheric deposition.

Human activity increases the severity of a natural phenomenon.

The wind merely moves the nutrients around – the wind does not “cause” the algae bloom, the excessive nutrients do.

That’s like saying the sun causes the bloom! (or that sunlight causes ground evel ozone (smog).

We can’t control the wind or the sun, but we sure can reduce pollution loadings and other harmful human activities that contribute to the problem.

[Update: I was using the ground level ozone issue here as another example of where weather interacts with man made pollution.

Obviously, the problem is the air pollution, not the weather. But, I’ll be damned, DEP relies too heavily on uncontrollable weather on that issue too! This is the polluters’ line! Here it is in DEP’s “Status and Trends Report” on ground level ozone:

The reason DEP is blaming the weather is stated clearly by DEP –

This question is important because the answer will determine whether  existing control measures are leading to improvements or whether more stringent approaches will be necessary to bring New Jersey into consistent compliance with air-quality standards.

So, the polluters are obviously arguing to DEP that additional regulatory control measures will be ineffective because the problem is driven by the weather! The DEP is now laying the groundwork to support that argument.