In Lake Erie’s western basin, toxic algal blooms lasted into November for the first time in the past 20 years of data gathering. Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are analyzing the impacts of weather conditions and the species of algae on the bloom’s extended stay. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-algae-conditions
In a major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered the Gen. James Gavin Power Plant in Cheshire, Ohio, to stop dumping dangerous coal ash into unlined storage ponds and speed cleanup of the site. This marks the first time the EPA has formally denied a utility’s request to continue disposing toxic coal ash after a deadline to stop such disposal has passed. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-coal-ash-order
In Lisbon, New York, the Eel Protection Study, a five-month study that investigates the use of light to guide adult American eel through hydroelectric power stations, aims to guide, collect, and transport the eel during its migration from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Read the full story by Seaway News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-eel-protection
Angelica Vazquez-Ortega, a Bowling Green State University geochemist, obtained more than $1 million in grants to study the effects of using dredged lake sediment from Lake Erie as a farm soil amendment to mitigate nutrient overflow into the lake. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-sediment-fertilizer
A new report led by St. Paul, Minnesota-based Freshwater Society reveals how groundwater is governed and serves as a reference for water policy and resource professionals to build future policy work. The authors conclude that the current structures, cobbled together over decades in response to different kinds of stressors and crises, does not adequately provide for a sustainable and equitable groundwater management for the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions. Read the full story by The Waynedale News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-groundwater-governance
The Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort, a watchdog group, has tracked a particular bird that has foregone its migration to Michigan to forage in Florida over the past several breeding seasons. Even though this bird has apparently taken herself out of the nesting business, 150 piping plover chicks were fledged in the wild at dozens of nesting sites along the Great Lakes shoreline – a huge step in the numbers game for this small bird. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-piping-plover-migration
On November 26, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw will travel from Cheboygan, Michigan, to Chicago with its annual shipment of 1,200 Christmas trees to deliver holiday cheer to families in need. This is the 23rd year of carrying on the tradition of the schooner Rouse Simmons, which sank in Lake Michigan in 1912 with a cargo full of Christmas trees. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-christmas-ship
COMMENTARY: In the St. Clair River, northern madtoms are one of the species that helps researchers gauge the overall health of the river and its inhabitants as they eat some of the tiniest organisms in the system, which are also some of the most sensitive and vulnerable to pollutants. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221123-catfish-indicator
In the effort to continue promoting a more dynamic and diverse supply chain for U.S. soybean farmers, the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) has continued its partnership with The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) to encourage the greater utilization of the Seaway in accessing international markets. Specifically, the partnership extends the SLSMC’s “Gateway Incentive Program,” a 50% reduction on shipping tolls for new shipments of soybeans and agricultural freight via the Seaway. Read the full story by Ohio’s Country Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-seaway-shipments
The city of Lakewood, Ohio, has agreed to spend approximately $85 million to improve its sewer system to significantly reduce the amount of raw sewage discharges from Lakewood’s system into Lake Erie and the Rocky River. Department of Justice officials said the city of Lakewood allegedly discharged untreated sanitary sewage into the bodies of water on at least 1,933 occasions from January 2016 to now. Read the full story by WOIO – Shaker Heights, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-sewer-improvements
Earlier this week, dozens of Cleveland residents attended the first of six listening sessions to learn about four proposals that aim to bridge the gap between Cleveland’s downtown and its Lake Erie shoreline. Read the full story by WEWS-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-shoreline-access
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held its first meeting with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) in Michigan to begin a technical assistance project funded by the American Rescue Plan on Tuesday. Officials met to discuss the risk to human health and the environment from contaminated waste and coastal erosion in specific areas along the Keweenaw Bay shoreline on Lake Superior. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-habitat-protection
In northwestern Ontario, the Municipality of Marathon and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation signed an agreement that would allow them to move forward on a port authority development on the site of Marathon’s former pulp mill. A board of directors was established including representation from both Marathon and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation. Read the full story by Northern Ontario Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-port-development
The city of Cleveland is seeking a consultant to study the economic impact of downtown’s Burke Lakefront Airport and whether the land could be better used in other ways. The analysis will consider a range of options for alternative development of the airport, from a public park to mixed-use development at maximum density, according to the city. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-landuse-study
Researchers have begun a five-month study on the St. Lawrence River to see if light can be used to guide eels into collection points so they can be captured and transported around hydropower dams. The American eel is presently listed as endangered by the province of Ontario and is considered a “species of concern” in Canada and the United States. Read the full story by Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-eel-protection
Under new provincial housing legislation in Ontario, Hamilton conservation authorities, which are responsible for protecting and regulating the drainage areas of local creeks that flow into Lake Ontario or the harbour, would be asked to streamline regulatory processes to ramp up home construction amid a provincewide housing and affordability crisis. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-housingpolicy-wetlandsimpact
The “100% Whitefish” campaign spearheaded by the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, a coalition of state and provincial leaders from around the region, is pushing for commercial fisheries to use more than just the filets to incorporate the fish into products such as fertilizers, cosmetics, and fish leather. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-whitefish-campaign
After two years of delay caused by the COVID pandemic, the 4th Great Lakes Islands Alliance (GLIA) Summit finally took place on October 2-5 on the islands of Lake Erie, north of Ohio. The Summit was packed with meetings, tours and discussion about issues of interest and concern to islanders. Read the full story by The Manitoulin Expositor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221104-summit-islands
Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) has announced $1.5 million have been awarded to five projects focused on combatting the harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes. The funding will support a variety of research and technological projects that are being led by national partners in both private and public sectors. Read the full story by WTVG – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-habs-funding
The Justice Department announced a proposed modified consent decree with Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge on Tuesday that would no longer require the company to conduct internal inspections of certain kinds of cracks in its nearly 70-year-old, twin underwater oil and natural gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-pipeline-inspections
Karen Murchie, director of freshwater research at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and a dedicated group of volunteers have forged ahead with studies that monitor whether suckers are loyal to the same spawning sites year after year and whether climate change is impacting their migratory patterns, drawing attention from the broader scientific community. Read the full story by WTTW – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-sucker-research
Ashley Watt, a University of Windsor doctoral student studying conservation, runs a YouTube channel about the redside dace and recently published a children’s book about the dangers it faces and how people can help protect it. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-minnow-education
The FishPass project in Traverse City, Michigan, can move forward following an opinion issued by a panel of judges with the Michigan Court of Appeals. The project would replace the Union Street Dam with a facility where scientists could test sorting technology to limit the amount of fish passing through the Boardman River. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-fishpass-project
On Friday, October 21, volunteers and big boat owners will come together to put away their boats for winter storage at the annual end-of-the-sailing-season ritual at the Milwaukee Sailing Center. Read the full story by WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-sailing-season-ends
One of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin’s, most important streams for spawning fish is nearing a return to its natural state following years of disruption due to the habitat being destroyed by heavy rainfall and an emergency response. Read the full story by Ozaukee Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-fish-stream
Author David Hoppe of Long Beach, Indiana, recently published a book about life in the Indiana Dunes. Hoppe’s “Letters from Michiana: Reflections Along Lake Michigan’s Southern Shore” is a collection of essays on subjects that vary from public access to Indiana’s beaches to raking leaves in a forest. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-lake-michigan-book
The Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO) held a Tekakwitha Island, Québec, “clean-up operation” on Saturday for the second time – last year’s haul included a propeller, a bicycle, and a manhole cover. For KEPO, collaborating with environmental groups helps the organization pursue its larger goals around helping Kahnawa’kehró:non connect to and protect the natural world. Read the full story by The Eastern Door.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-river-cleanup
In Seneca and Oswego counties, New York, state training workshops will help guide local governments through a variety of watershed issues, including floodplains and watersheds, why these features are important, and how they can be better protected with land use tools and best management practices. Read the full story by The Citizen.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221021-watershed-workshops
Top research scientists from across the country are working to control the impacts of the invasive zebra and quagga mussels with biocontrol agents in labs, while others are experimenting with blunt instruments, deep down on the bottom of Lake Michigan. Read and listen to the full story by WIAA – Interlochen, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-mussel-control
Two months after a break in the Great Lakes Water Authority pipeline that supplies Flint, Michigan’s drinking water, the city has completed the process of reintroducing GLWA water into its distribution system. On Thursday, Oct. 13, Flint’s water supply returned to a mix of 95% water from GLWA and 5% from Genesee County. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-flint-water
An oil spill at Oswego Harbor, New York leaked between 500 to 750 gallons of fuel oil into Lake Ontario from March 8 to March 11, 2022. Remediation and site restoration work concluded in August, while monitoring of groundwater quality, storm sewer discharges, and the shoreline will continue for at least another year on a quarterly basis. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-oil-spill-report
A 20 year-long restoration effort on the Boardman-Ottaway River in Traverse City, Michigan is nearing completion, but a legal roadblock has delayed the effort which includes a “FishPass” component to identify methods of sorting fish moving through a new dam. Read the full story by the Cheboygan Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-fish-sorting
As climate change threatens the water supplies of the American Southwest, scientists from multiple research centers in the Great Lakes anticipate rising interest in migration to the water-abundant Great Lakes region. Read the full story by WJBK – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-climate-migration
Toronto, Ontario residents living above a tunnel designed to reduce the discharge of untreated stormwater and combined sewer overflows into Lake Ontario have complained of the foul stench from accumulated sewage in the pumping station. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-sewer-overflow-tunnel
With the help of the University of Toledo’s expert faculty, important advancements have been made in monitoring cyanotoxin levels in Lake Erie during the harmful algal bloom season, including testing a new real-time algae sensor inside a water treatment plant. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-algal-bloom-sensors
At the Great Lakes Commission meeting on Wednesday, several local leaders gathered at one Bayfront hotel. Each year, stakeholders meet to discuss their progress, voice concerns and talk about solutions to challenges facing the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-glc-meeting
The Michigan Maritime Museum reopened its campus in South Haven in August after a nearly year-long rebuild. A grand opening of the new $3.6 million Maritime Heritage Center took place on September 30, 2022. Read the full story by WWMT – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-museum-opening
The Fresh Coast Film Festival, a documentary film festival that celebrates the outdoor lifestyle, water-rich environment and resilient spirit of the Great Lakes, lasts from Wednesday, October 13 to Sunday, October 16, 2022. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221014-film-freshwater
The State of the Great Lakes report, issued by the United States and Canada in July, assessed the overall condition of Lake Erie as poor and unchanging. Jill Jedlicka, Executive Director for the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, believes that land use, development and individual decisions can change this trend for the better. Read the full story by WGRZ – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-erie-condition
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Metropolitan Sewerage District and Ducks Unlimited are leading a multi-year, multi-watershed effort to mitigate climate change in southeastern Wisconsin. The Reforestation & Wetland Restoration Program aims to plant six million trees and restore 4,000 acres worth of wetlands. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-restoration-wetland-forest
The Butler County agriculture conservation education site, established in 2019, provides an eight-acre plot to teach Ohio farmers different practices to make their soil healthier such as grassed waterways, pollinator plots and cover crops. Read the full story by WVXU – Cincinnati, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-farm-education
Scarborough, Ontario’s Rouge Beach has been closed for repairs three times in six years, and Parks Canada has started a “stabilization strategy” which could involve hardening parts of the shoreline around the mouth of the Rouge River. The strategy involves implementing measures to reduce erosion and stabilize and grow the beach through natural long shore deposition. Read the full story by Metroland Media Toronto.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-beach-stabilization
Near Cleveland, Ohio, Lake Erie’s water temperature is reading 64 degrees Fahrenheit which is slightly cooler than the normal 66 degrees Fahrenheit this time of year. The water temperature on the lake is closely watched by meteorologists as it is used as a guide to figure out if the lake will be able to produce lake effect clouds and precipitation. Read the full story by WKBN-TV – Youngstown, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-erie-temperature
The Great Lakes Water Authority announced Monday that a major water main — which distributes drinking water to several Metro Detroit communities — has resumed normal operations. A leak was detected in the water main’s 10-foot-diameter pipe on Aug. 13, causing the main to close for repairs since. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-main-repair
The behavior of Lake Superior’s fish can be affected by noise pollution, according to Allen Mensinger, a University of Minnesota marine biologist. Loud underwater noises mask other important sounds from fish, impairing their communication and the ability to avoid danger. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-superior-winters
State, local and federal dignitaries, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, gathered recently at the St. Lawrence Seaway Eisenhower Lock in Massena, New York to break ground for a new Seaway Visitors Center. Read the full story by NNY 360.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-seaway-visitorcenter
Inspired by the true story of Port Hope, a community along the shores of Lake Ontario in southern Ontario, “King of Hope” addresses to the looming issue of nuclear facility decommissioning, which will soon be a reality for the Great Lakes region, according to the book’s author Kim Conklin. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-novel-nuclearwaste
In 1905, a fierce storm on Lake Superior sank 29 ships, including the Madeira near Gold Rock. Researchers are now using 3D photogrammetry software to assemble images of the ship and create a 3D model of it. Read the full story by CBS Minnesota.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20221005-ship-model
As the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) retires a century-old power plant on the shores of Lake Michigan shuts down, some residents and activists are warning the region’s water supply could be at risk. Advocates say the coal ash NIPSCO plans to leave on the site puts groundwater and Lake Michigan in danger of contamination in Michigan City and beyond. Read the full story by WTTW-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220928-contamination-risk
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has announced plans to stop the spread of invasive carp in the Great Lakes with an engineered channel in the Brandon Road Lock. A series of high-tech barriers will prevent invasive carp from travelling upstream to Lake Michigan while still allowing boats to pass through. Read the full story by The Manitoulin Expositor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220928-invasivecarp-plan
