To the Journal editor:

The recent decision of the Michigan Tax Tribunal to dramatically reduce the taxable value of big box stores such as Lowe’s, Target and Menard’s is impacting more than local units of government and the Peter White Public Library.

It is also impacting local water quality and Lake Superior. While most of the big box stores are located in Marquette Township they share a common watershed with the city of Marquette and Lake Superior.

The Dead River Watershed includes several tributaries such as Midway Creek, Brickyard Creek, Wolner Creek and Badger Creek that receive the untreated stormwater runoff and snowmelt from hundreds of acres of parking lots owned by the big box stores.

Spring is the best time to document the impact from this contaminated runoff although the impacts occur year round. Runoff from these parking lots includes a host of contaminants including but not limited to; oil, grease, nitrates, phosphorus and bacteria.

These receiving tributaries adjacent to the big box stores then empty into the Dead River just before it reaches Lake Superior. Monitoring has linked stormwater entering Lake Superior from the Dead River to public beach closures in Marquette.

Springtime is also when a phenomenon known as “toxic shock syndrome” can occur. Toxic shock syndrome occurs when most of the stockpiled snow from large parking lots melts very quickly, usually during the first warm days of spring, and the snowmelt can release a winters-worth of accumulated de-icing salts and other pollutants in a very short period of time.

These sudden events can literally kill off aquatic insects and vulnerable fish species. If it doesn’t kill fish the toxic surge can push their tolerances, weaken their immune systems and affect reproduction.

What does this have to do with big box stores? When the Michigan Tax Tribunal reduces the taxes of big box stores by over two thirds it is local units of government that must scramble to make do with less revenue and ultimately reduce services.

Those reduced services can include stormwater management projects, water quality monitoring, habitat restoration projects, landowner outreach, public education and more. Services that help protect water quality.

The Superior Watershed Partnership urges the Michigan Tax Tribunal to reconsider their recent ruling and to examine all of the potential repercussions of such a drastic tax reduction for these big box stores. In Marquette and Marquette Township those tax repercussions include impacts to local rivers and Lake Superior.

Carl Lindquist, executive director

Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Trust