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How would you like to spend a hot summer day, in a parking lot?

That's what two environmental groups say could happen if Congress doesn't stick up for Minnesota lakes.

Members of Environment Minnesota and Clean Water Action Minnesota held a concrete beach party today in St. Paul.

Watching the tall ships float through the Duluth-Superior Harbor this summer reminded me of how much we depend on our natural environs. The wind that filled the ship’s sails and the water on which they rode are critical but fickle partners in their journey.

The large sailing ships may be no more than a novelty today, but the health of Lake Superior is still critical for our communities.

"As parents’ awareness of potential toxins in the home has grown in recent years, so has their anxiety. Minnesota has helped lead the way to regulate worrisome chemicals, and federal reform may be next."

The article quotes Clean Water Action organizer Kim LaBo, speaking with concerned parents at a recent event in St. Paul. "We're operating in this virtually unregulated environment," she says. " We have 80,000 chemicals put into products, and less than 10 percent have been tested. There is an opportunity coming out that would really change how we do things in the United States. We have a 30-year-old law. It's broken. It's not protecting our health."