Port of Green Bay director Dean Haen says this year’s numbers on tonnage coming in are a positive for Northeast Wisconsin and have been aided by the record-high water levels on Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-greenbay-shipping
State officials at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) heard its first of two public hearings Tuesday afternoon on a permit request for Enbridge allowing the Canadian oil company to discharge a significant amount of wastewater into Lake Michigan as part of its Line 5 tunnel project. Read the full story by Patch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-line-5
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has, since August, been dredging sand to ease navigation at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-erosion-indiana
For more than a decade a group in Cleveland, Ohio has been working to harness Lake Erie’s wind energy with a proposed six turbine windfarm called Icebreaker. But the project ran afoul of regulators earlier this year and a provision to save migrating birds has left the future of Icebreaker up in the air. Read and hear the full story by WKSU- Kent, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-erie-windfarm
The 44-acre Refuge Gateway of Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, which runs from Jefferson to the river in Michigan, opened on Thursday. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-DRIWR
In simple terms we think of a cleanup as removal of something that, left unattended, will become a nuisance or a problem. But cleanup of toxic sites, especially in water, is not that simple. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-toxic-cleanup
In 2020, the Great Lakes cruising industry took a blow at the beginning of the pandemic when Canada closed its port visits. And while the loss of income forced some of the companies to close for good, the ones that remain already look ahead to next year. Read the full story by WZZM-TV-Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-great-lakes-cruises
Clayton, New York-based organization Save the River Upper St. Lawrence Riverkeeper sent a letter to both the Department of Transportation and Great Lakes Seaway Management Corporation addressing high water levels for the upcoming 2021 season. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-save-the-river
The Alliance for the Great Lakes is trying to reduce the amount of plastic debris found in the Great Lakes with annual Adopt-A-Beach events along the coasts of the Great Lakes as part of the International Coastal Cleanup, when people all over the world take time to clean debris from their shores. This year’s events are on Saturday. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-cleanup-days
Michigan Governor Whitmer says September 21-27 is Pollution Prevention Week. Whitmer says this time is used to reaffirm Michiganders’ commitments to protecting the state’s environment and natural resources. Read the full story by WEYI-TV- Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-michigan-pollution-week
The company that owns the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan is asking federal officials to approve its plan to fix “indications of cracking” on components used to generate power at the plant. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-palisades-nuclear
City Council recently passed a resolution approving a petition for the creation of a Shoreline Special Improvement District and for the levy of special assessments for shoreline improvement projects in Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio. Read the full story by the News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-ohio-erosion
While several bans and policies have offered some protection, the same chemicals threatening birds 60 years ago continue to accumulate in their bodies—and new chemical threats are adding to their toxic burdens, according to two new studies. Read the full story by Environmental Health News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-pollution-birds
It will cost nearly $31 million to repair and fortify the City of Hamilton, Ontario’s waterfront trails against rising lake levels, and the city will start by spending $17 million on part of the Hamilton Harbour shoreline. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-hamilton-shoreline
The Ohio State University will receive $74,600 in funding from the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program. These funds will be used to incentivize collaborator participation and rent equipment needed to compost solid manure in Ohio’s Fifth Congressional District. Read the full story by the Sentinel-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200922-osu-funding
Record-setting water levels on the Great Lakes have caused erosion and flooding that’s cost shoreline communities an estimated $500 million in damage. Many lakefront landowners and local governments are now examining ways to make their properties more resilient. Read and listen to the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-water-resilience
A Canadian teen recently became the youngest person ever to swim across Lake Erie. Her effort has raised more than $20,000 for Make-A-Wish Southwestern Ontario. Read the full story by CBC Kids News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-lake-erie-swim
The first wolf pups in several years have been born on Michigan’s remote Isle Royale, surprising researchers who have been tracking the large new batch of wolves transplanted into the wilderness there in the last two years. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-isle-royale-wolves
The final resting place of the Pere Marquette 18 is under about 500 feet of water roughly 25 miles off Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She was long sought-after by Great Lakes wreck hunters, driven in part by the mystery surrounding her final voyage. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-ferry-shipwreck
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has welcomed a new ice breaking tugboat designated to work in the Niagara River to help alleviate shoreline flooding and reduce the likelihood of ice limiting the power production at large hydro plants along the Niagara River. Read the full story by the Niagara Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-niagara-icebreaker
The controversial culling of cormorants in Ontario starts Tuesday, intended to protect the fish population, the province says, but many groups disagree. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-cormorant-hunt
Wild rice harvest season runs through mid-September in northern Wisconsin, and while many tribal and non-tribal people are enjoying their annual pilgrimages to their favorite rice wetlands, others are concerned about the effects of climate change on this unique crop. Read the full story by Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-wildrice
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, along with partners Michigan Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, have been granted permission to participate in a Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) regulatory case involving plans to construct the Line 5 pipeline into a tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by the Petoskey News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-line5
Sea lamprey control efforts have been so successful that some researchers now suggest a more permanent solution: complete eradication of the pest from the Great Lakes. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-lamprey
U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) have introduced the Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act. The bipartisan legislation aims to codify the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking mission on the Great Lakes and increase the icebreaking capacity of the Great Lakes fleet. Read the full story by MarineLog.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200915-icebreaking
Enbridge said Wednesday it will fully resume operation of a Michigan Great Lakes oil pipeline after a partial shutdown this summer because of damage to a support structure. Read the full story by The Associated Press
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-enbridge-pipeline
In Ohio, The Toledo Zoo’s popular lake sturgeon stocking event won’t happen this year, though a pause in the program – thanks to the international COVID-19 pandemic – won’t hurt the project. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-sturgeon
Indiana celebrated Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes during the second annual Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Appreciation Day this week. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-GL-appreciation-day
A new study has identified the most important coastal wetlands to focus on to preserve more than a dozen species of marsh birds on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-marsh-conservation
A river that marks the border between Michigan and Wisconsin has been removed from a federal list of heavily polluted sites in Great Lakes waters, although it continues to have contamination issues with toxic fluorochemicals. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-menominee-river
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking residents to keep an eye out and take precautions against spreading European frogbit. Read the full story by the Port Huron Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-frogbit
The Minnesota Court of Appeals will take its own look at the actions of the state’s Pollution Control Agency, after a district court judge found that the state agency did not break permitting rules when it pressured the federal Environmental Protection Agency to delay issuing public comments on its proposed water discharge permit for PolyMet. Read the full story by The Timberjay.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-Polymet-water
Land conservancies are often a critical partner in the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund process, pre-purchasing land that is later sold to municipalities or the state with trust fund money, arranging financing for the 25% matching funds required by the program, negotiating with landowners and performing ongoing stewardship. Read the full story by Second Wave Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-land-conservancies
Work to fix erosion issues along the Iron Ore Heritage Trail is ongoing along US-41 in Marquette, Michigan. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-ore-heritage+trail
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that improvements at Lewiston Landing Park on Lake Ontario as part of Cuomo’s Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative have been completed. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-lewiston-restoration
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed a budget bill that will fund a federal $300-a-week unemployment benefit, flood cleanup costs in the Midland area and Michigan’s contribution toward a project to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-carp-project
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution declaring Sept. 7, 2020 as Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Appreciation Day. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-september-7
The bipartisan Senate and House Great Lakes Task Forces requested that tribal, commercial, charter, and recreational fisheries in the Great Lakes be made eligible for future emergency funding provided by Congress because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full story by WNEM-TV- Bay City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-fisheries-support
Researchers at the University of Toronto published a paper on Wednesday revealing that they’ve detected microfibres from blue jeans in aquatic environments ranging from the shallow suburban lakes near Toronto, across the Great Lakes and all the way up to the Arctic Archipelago. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-water-pollution
A $3.9 million dredging project to restore a natural protection to an important fish spawning site in Michigan was completed this summer. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-buffalo-reef
The DuPage Forest Preserve District’s head-start program has helped raise and release young Blanding’s turtles for years. But Wednesday’s journey into an Illinois marsh featured the first cohort in the program’s 25 years that included captive-bred turtles from Brookfield Zoo. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-blandings-turtles
In the latest edition of National Geographic, you’ll find a big spread dedicated to exploring how ice coverage has dramatically decreased on the Great Lakes over the past 40 years. The photos you’ll see, of not-so-solid lakes, and people navigating warmer Michigan winters, were taken by Detroit photojournalist Amy Sacka. Read and listen to the full story by Michigan Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-great-lakes
The Shaw Point Historic District, located on the southeastern edge of Sand Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore off Wisconsin’s northern coastline, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in late-July. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-shaw-point
Perched on a spit of sand and rock across from Mackinac Island, the Round Island Lighthouse is one of the most photographed old beacons anywhere on the Great Lakes, but its future is in jeopardy due to the historically high water levels of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-round-island
A $1.4 million project is underway aiming to eradicate invasive plants and restore Port Clinton, Ohio’s scenic Lake Erie coast to a native coastal wetland habitat. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-port-clinton
The Lake Erie – Niagara Monitoring Hub is testing the recreational water quality at three locations along Lake Erie’s North Shore for the second year in a row. Read the full story by CKTB – Ontario, CA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-erie-monitoring
Keeping a 64-year-old oil pipeline in operation by running one portion through a proposed Great Lakes tunnel would safeguard the economy and energy supplies, supporters said Monday at a public meeting in Traverse City, Michigan, while opponents described the project as an unnecessary risk that would contribute to global warming. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200825-enbridge-pipeline
Water levels in lakes Huron and Michigan — considered one lake for measurement purposes — have been consistently above 177.4 metres throughout August, beating the previous record of 177.39 set in 1986. One expert warns residents may eventually have to “move the heck out” of some hazard zones. Read the full story by the Niagara Falls Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200825-huron-shoreline
The Canadian federal government is helping to restore and protect the St. Marys River with $95,000 from the Great Lakes Sustainibility Fund, Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan announced. Read and view the full story by SooToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200825-st-marys-river
The swimmers, kayakers and paddle boarders enjoyed perfect water conditions for the Lake Erie Challenge Saturday between Amherstburg and Leamington, Ontario. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200825-lake-erie-challenge
