密歇根新闻广播 五大湖因政府关闭而遭受威胁

The partial federal government shutdown could have wide-ranging consequences for the Great Lakes. There already are some problems, but things could get worse if the shutdown drags on.

We're in a lab/workshop with Ed Verhamme, Project Engineer for LimnoTech in Ann Arbor¹.

Yeah, so we're right now looking at our cache of buoys², Verhamme said.

There are several yellow buoys with all kinds of tech gear. Some of these are used in Lake Michigan; others in Lake Erie. They take real-time measurements of things like water temperature, wind, currents and so on. Verhamme says the buoys have different jobs.

These are used to support the City of Toledo and the City of Cleveland drinking water treatment plants, really understanding what are the lake conditions around the water intakes⁴, Verhamme explained.

The buoys are out of the water for maintenance. Some of them could get new tech to monitor even more things. Right now, though, no one is working on the buoys because of the partial shutdown of the federal government. LimnoTech is working under a federal contract.

You can't bill during the shutdown. You know, you can't get paid. If you work, you risk not getting paid when they turn back on. So, contractors⁵ are really affected⁶ during the shutdown, Verhamme said.

If the government doesn't start back up soon, there will be no time to put new equipment on the buoys. They should be back in the water in March.

John Bratton is a Senior Scientist at LimnoTech. He used to run a federal government lab, the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Bratton says the shutdown also means no data about the Great Lakes are being gathered by the many federal agencies that monitor the lakes. That has real-world on the ground –or in this case in the water-consequences.

Lake effect snow, for instance, there's active research going on on that. There's monitoring of ice cover that's done by researchers, but is used by the Coast Guard. So, without that information, they're kind of running blind, Bratton said.

That's just the beginning. For example, the nuclear power plants on the shores of the Great Lakes use the federal data because they use a lot of lake water. They want to know if some kind of debris⁷ is headed for their intake³ pipes. Also that reactor⁸ cooling water that’s released back into the lake becomes slightly radioactive. That's part of the normal operation of nuclear power plants. It would be good to know whether the currents are taking that toward a town's water intake. None of that is happening because of the partial government shutdown.

At the Michigan Environmental Council offices in Lansing, Charlotte Jameson says there are other issues that are not being worked on.

Issues like PFAS where we're doing quite a lot of coordination⁹ with the EPA and with the Department of Defense¹⁰, and obviously we can’t do that right now, Jameson noted¹¹.

She said there are so many agencies that would be gathering¹² data useful to businesses and university researchers if not for the shutdown. Those data help determine everything from wildlife management to stormwater flooding to the Department of Defense monitoring PFAS contamination near its current and closed bases.

Obviously, the longer the shutdown goes on, the greater the risk is to the Great Lakes, she said.

Perhaps the biggest concern would be an oil spill right now.

You need to know about ice cover, you need to know about current movements, and so that becomes, it's already a challenging thing to respond to an oil spill in the Great Lakes during the winter and it becomes even more challenging without the federal government fully¹³ operating, she said.

There is a spill response team ready to put out booms and skimmers depending on how much ice there is, but John Bratton, who ran the government lab, said a lot of federal employees would not be immediately available.

They could be called back in the event of an emergency, but they're going to come back at reduced strength. They don't have their full lab up operating. They don't have all their staff available, he said.

No matter what, an oil spill would be bad. Without federal employees on the job, things could go sideways pretty quickly.

1 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

2 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

3 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

4 intakes   

吸入( intake的名词复数 )； （液体等）进入口； （一定时期内）进入或纳入的人数； （采煤）进风巷道

参考例句：

• The Tornado jet fighter-bomber has two air intakes. 旋风式喷气轰炸机有两个空气入口。
• The air intakes to the carburetors were filling up with freezing snow. 汽化器的进气道被积雪封住了。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821

5 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

8 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

9 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。