LeBron James, Toxic Algal Bloom Are Both Returning to Cleveland

Cleveland, and indeed northern Ohio generally, got some bad news today regarding the return of a toxic entity, which will no doubt carry echoes of the nightmare that was 2011: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Lake Erie is going to get another toxic algae bloom this year. The good news is that it's not going to be as bad as it was in 2011. Also, LeBron James is going to be a Cleveland Cavalier again.

In a press release this week, it was announced that if area residents, including any two-time NBA champions returning to their first NBA teams, want to swim, they had better get it in early in the summer. The release stated:

"NOAA and its research partners predict that western Lake Erie will have a significant bloom of cyanobacteria, a toxic blue-green algae, during the 2014 bloom season in late summer. However, the predicted bloom is expected to be smaller than last year’s intense bloom, and considerably less than the record-setting, 1,900 square mile bloom of 2011."

Between the 1960s and 1980s, harmful algal blooms appeared regularly in western Lake Erie, then they stopped for nearly 20 years, until new farming practices lead to a sharp increase in phosphorus running off into the Great Lake. In 2011, heavy rain drove those levels even higher. As Motherboard's Michael Byrne explained, the lake's blue-green algae “went nuts for the stuff,” and turned enough of the water pea-green that it was visible from space.

In addition to being unattractive and smelling bad, toxic algal blooms blocks needed sunlight and reduces the amount of oxygen in the water, which other organisms need.

Anna Michalak, lead author of a study published in PNAS on Lake Erie's toxic algae, told Byrne that the green slime can cause, "hypoxic conditions in the lake that can be harmful to aquatic life,” as well as having an economic impact. "Blooms result in higher water treatment costs for cities using the lake as a water suppler,” she said. “The specific cyanobacteria in the 2011 bloom also release toxins that can be harmful to aquatic species and to people."

While US Representative Marcy Kaptur paid lip service to “Ohio's greatest natural resource,” and admitted that “the reemergence of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie is an ecological and economic setback for communities along the coast,” some feel that the government could be doing a whole lot more to improve Lake Erie.

Gary Wilson at Great Lakes Echo accused Ohio of treating Lake Erie “like the poor step-child who is given a Christmas present because it’s obligatory—not out of genuine caring.”

Wilson pointed to studies conducted by the International Joint Commission that called for strict limits on the amount of phosphorous allowed to flow into the lake, and contrasts it with actions taken in the state legislature.

"So here’s what passes for action in Ohio:

In June, Gov. John Kasich signed legislation that will require farmers who use fertilizer to take a training class on its proper application. That begins in 2017. And in exchange for developing voluntary plans for managing phosphorous runoff farmers will be given legal protections should they be sued for polluting."

Ohio's solutions are years off, and look like pretty weak sauce. This summer's forecast calls for some 24,250 tons of blue-green algae to bloom Lake Erie's waters, which is well above the yearly average since 2004 of 15,430 tons, which is a regression from the two decades of no blooms at all. But hey, Ohio, at least LeBron came home. Take your victories where you can get them, and be ready flee the lake like a Miami fan flees games midway through the 4th quarter.