Large vessels passing through the environmentally sensitive Straits of Mackinac would be barred from anchoring or using any other equipment that could scrape the lakebed under bipartisan bills introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives Wednesday. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-line5
The annual memorial beacon lighting ceremony at Split Rock Lighthouse in Two Harbors, Minnesota, to commemorate the sinking of the freighter S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald and the loss of her 29 crew members, will be held virtually this year. Read the full story by Hometown Focus.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-shipwreck
A handful of women participated in an annual water walk, completing a half-marathon in distance along the Niagara River to raise awareness for protecting the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Niagara This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-water-walk
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights, the surprisingly successful ballot measure that conferred legal rights on Lake Erie, is hanging on by a legal thread. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-lake-stunt
Large swaths of Northeastern Minnesota’s wild country — including the Superior National Forest and North Shore state parks — are potential safe zones for nature to adapt to climate change, but only if they remain protected and undeveloped. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-wild-areas-MN
A family property with a long history of Great Lakes maritime heritage is now under the control of the Michigan Maritime Museum. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-maritime
In Port Clinton, Ohio, members of the Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy raised $47,000 to keep a bronze statue near the shores of Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-lighthouse
Painesville, Ohio, is celebrating its new $14 million, 4,000-foot raw water intake pipe in Lake Erie, which has been in the works since November 2016. It was the longest microtunneling project in the United States by tunneling 25 feet below the bottom of Lake Erie’s shale and clay for a total of almost 4,000-feet for the 60-inch pipe. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-microtunneling
With fall now in full swing, animals are preparing for the winter and birds have begun their migration. At Michigan’s Lake Erie Metropark, you can view the great migration, at a designated watch site for raptor migration. Read the full story by The News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-migration
In preparation for the winter months, a freighter dropped 20,000 tons of salt in Hancock, Michigan, last week. It’s the first of two deliveries to the forming mining town in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-freighter
The highest number of waterspouts/funnels ever recorded took place recently over the Great Lakes during a seven-day period. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-waterspout
Great Lakes steel production ticked up by 5,000 tons last week but remains depressed by nearly a fifth so far this year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-steel
Green Bay officials gathered Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the city’s five-year effort to remove more than 2,000 lead pipes. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-lead
An array of more than 80 marine-debris-turned-art works will be making another Great Lakes stop, adding a lake sturgeon sculpture when it’s installed at a Wisconsin site next year. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-trash-fish
The health of the environment in Northeast Wisconsin was up for discussion, at the annual Clean Bay Backers event Tuesday. There were challenges, and stories of success. Read the full story by WLUK-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-fox-river
Mike Smith spent most of his career as a diver with the Detroit Police Department recovering cars, guns, and sometimes bodies from the city’s murky rivers. Now, Smith works to clear invasive plants out of inland lakes using a 21-foot boat outfitted with a long vacuum tube. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-diving
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will soon begin a new project to create a series of treatment train wetlands and repair a stream along the Maumee River in Paulding County. Wetlands play a huge role in helping to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the water to keep the river as clean as possible. Read the full story by WNWO-TV- Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-wetland
Governor Mike DeWine said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he plans to sign a bill into law that would temporarily ban local governments from setting local bans on plastic bags and other single-use containers. Researchers recently estimated that Lake Erie includes 381 metric tons of plastic, much of which originates in city streets and makes its way into the lake via storm drains. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-bag-bans
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set mercury standards on the taconite industry, something the federal agency has avoided for 30 years. The agency cited a study that found 10% of tested Minnesota newborns in the Lake Superior Basin region had elevated mercury concentrations at birth. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-taconite
In a presentation to the Huron Water Protection Steering Committee, a recent study has found that shoreline erosion will continue and that ice cover may become rarer. Read the full story by Blackburn News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-erosion
The weather pattern is right for numerous waterspouts to develop on the Great Lakes between now and Saturday. The recipe for waterspouts is warm water, cold air aloft and significant wind-flow. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-waterspout
The Michigan Legislature on Tuesday finalized a bill that would lengthen the financing period of lake projects in the wake of flooding that damaged dams and drained lakes in the Midland area. The change would allow project costs to be spread out over more time and made more manageable for property owners. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-dam-bonds
Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler will be in Traverse City, Michigan, on Wednesday to discuss a new grant opportunity for those who want to fish litter out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-EPA
The National Museum of the Great Lakes is hosting its biggest fundraiser of the year this Saturday. The event will feature all kinds of amazing auction items — like a ride onboard the boat that delivers mail to sailors on the Great Lakes — plus the Luck of the Lakes raffle where you can win a freighter ride. Read the full story by WTVG-TV- Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-museum
Put on your rubber boots and grab your bug net because a socially distanced Thames River scavenger hunt is about to occur. The event offers Southwestern Ontarians the chance to learn about the Thames River while completing challenges and workshops, with prizes on the line. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-Thames
In New York, a Jefferson County based group is calling on the St. Lawrence Seaway to be flexible with the end of the shipping season this year. Read the full story by North Country Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-shipping
The city of Algoma, Wisconsin, is digging up land by Crescent Beach and the Lake Michigan shore to improve the health of the beach and the lake. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-runoff-ponds
The COVID relief package passed by Congress in March, specifically set aside $300 million to bolster the struggling fishing industry, which accounts for $7 billion annually in the Great Lakes. But when it came time to distribute that funding, most of the Great Lakes states were left out altogether. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-fisheries
A report by the International Joint Commission’s science advisory board report shows that the Great Lakes are victims of multiple stressors that interact with each other in different ways. Read the full story by WROC-TV- Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-stressed-lakes
Great Lakes steel production dipped by 3,000 tons last week and remains depressed by more than a fifth so far this year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-steel
In Wisconsin’s first-ever invasive carp case, a wholesale fish dealer is facing state charges for allegedly illegally selling Asian carp, the state’s most highly destructive and prominent invasive species. Read the full story by WMTV-TV- Platteville, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-illegal-fish
On a September day at an airline hanger in Freeland, Michigan, President Donald Trump trumpeted himself as a benefactor of the Great Lakes. But his critics say actions speak louder than words, and when it comes to actions, Trump’s administration has been focused on weakening environmental programs that help the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200923-trump
It’s mid-September and the annual fall salmon spawning run is sputtering a little, continuing on as it does every fall — despite low water levels and warm temperatures on Lake Ontario tributaries along the lake’s southern shore. Read the full story by New York Upstate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-salmon-run
The Cleveland Water Alliance, a nonprofit advocate for Lake Erie, has received a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration to test innovations in water technology. Read the full story by the Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-CWA
Plans to build Icebreaker Wind, the nation’s first freshwater wind farm, in Lake Erie cleared a major hurdle Thursday, as the Ohio Power Siting Board unexpectedly voted to lift restrictions on nighttime operation that threatened to doom the project. Read the full story by the Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-wind-farm
The 2020 walleye and yellow perch hatches in the western basin of Lake Erie this year are both above average, continuing an exceptional fishing era, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Read the full story by the Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-walleye-hatch
EPA inspectors in 2017 found contaminated water leaking out of a mining operation in northern Minnesota and started pursuing a federal enforcement action. That would likely have meant a multimillion-dollar fine for U.S. Steel Corp., which owns the giant Minntac iron ore mine, and strict requirements for a cleanup. But three years later, the case is going nowhere and the pollution continues. Read the full story by E&E News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-EPA-mining
Nova Chemicals, an Ontario based plastics manufacturer, is providing $200,000 to keep plastic out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Sarnia This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-plastic
International cargo volumes through the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes have fallen 8.4% to about 19.3 million tons so far this year in a shipping season that’s been described as “pandemic-plagued.” Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-cargo
A crusading researcher who first identified the corrosiveness of Flint water and elevated levels of lead in city water now says residents’ exposure to the poison was “not as bad as first feared.” Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-Flint
Commercial fishers in the Great Lakes have been left out of federal aid for fisheries nationwide, to the tune of $300 million. (The Great Lakes got zero.) A fettered market cost the regional fishery $50 million this spring, according to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-fisheries
Michigan regulators are ordering the owners of the Edenville dam in Midland to make critically needed repairs to the structure. The dam cracked on May 19, after days of heavy rain. Now four months later, there’s still a gaping hole in the dam. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-Edenville-dam
Prior Lake, Minnesota kayaker and Great Lakes veteran Mike Stout pushed aside any trepidation and paddled alone across Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200918-kayaker
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is warning people not to eat deer livers if the animal was harvested in the Marinette area due to PFAS concerns. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200916-PFAS-deer
High water Lake Michigan water levels are disturbing and eroding centuries old burial grounds. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200916-rising-lake
While the province of Ontario says it’s a necessary step, the widespread double-crested cormorant cull that began this week is drawing some pointed criticism. Read the full story by the Sudbury News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200916-record-high
As expected, the level of Lake Michigan declined slightly in August, though it’s no surprise to anyone who lives on or visits the shoreline that it remains extremely high. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200916-record-high
Bridge Michigan invites readers to join our team Sept. 29 for our monthly Lunch Break discussion, this time focused on a critical environmental issue facing communities along the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Bridge Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200916-water-levels
If you’re paddling anywhere in Michigan, a statewide program called MI Paddle Stewards will train you to spy on and report invasive species, like plants, fish, snails, viruses or other organisms that threaten the health of ecosystems, farms and even ourselves. Read the full story by the South Bend Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200916-invasive
As the COVID-19 pandemic marches on, the Soo Locks has seen a decrease in vessel traffic this year. According to the Lake Carriers’ Association, shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 3.5 million tons in July, a decrease of 46.5% compared to a year ago. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-soo-locks
