CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago bus driver looking for a way to relieve stress during the coronavirus pandemic jumped into Lake Michigan for a 365th straight day on Saturday.
Dan O’Conor said he started jumping into the lake at Montrose Harbor on the city’s North Side last year to relieve stress.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-chicago-man-jumps-into-lake-michigan-for-365th-straight-day/
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed state regulators’ key approvals of Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project, in a dispute that drew over 1,000 protesters to northern Minnesota last week.
A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that the state’s independent Public Utilities Commission correctly granted Enbridge the certificate of need and route permit that the Canadian-based company needed to begin construction on the 337-mile (542-kilometer) Minnesota segment of a larger project to replace a 1960s-era crude oil pipeline that has deteriorated and can run at only half capacity.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-minnesota-court-approves-line-3-oil-pipeline/
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Keystone XL is dead after a 12-year attempt to build the oil pipeline, yet the fight over Canadian crude rages on as emboldened environmentalists target other projects and pressure President Joe Biden to intervene — all while oil imports from the north keep rising.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-fight-canadian-oil-pipelines/
As Enbridge Energy prepares to finish rebuilding an oil pipeline across rural northern Minnesota, protesters are occupying part of the construction area and pledging a “summer of resistance” on the ground and in court.
Enbridge, which has obtained all necessary state and federal permits for the Line 3 project, says it will be finished by year’s end.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-explainer-line-3-pipeline-climate/
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — More than 500 wells on French Island have been contaminated with some level of PFAS chemicals, according to final results of state testing.
The La Crosse Tribune reported Friday that 538 wells on the island just west of La Crosse showed some level of the chemicals and 165 of them had levels above the state’s recommended 20 parts per trillion hazard standard.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-tests-pfas-contamination-500-french-island-wells/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources issued new consumption warnings Wednesday for fish taken from the Yahara chain of lakes and waterways in Dane and Rock counties after tests showed elevated levels of PFAS contamination.
The advisories apply to fish taken from Wingra and Starkweather creeks, lakes Monona, Kegonsa, Waubesa, Upper and Lower Mud lakes and the Yahara River downstream to the Rock River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-wisconsin-dnr-pfas-fish-consumption-warning/
MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) — The largest city in the Upper Peninsula is getting 1,000 feet of valuable shoreline along Lake Superior.
The Marquette City Commission recently voted to accept the land at no cost from We Energies, a utility, the Mining Journal reported.
“There’s no contamination that we’re aware of and we’re not taking on a problem area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-marquette-1000-feet-great-lakes-beach/
MICHIGAMME TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A conservation corridor with links to existing protected areas is planned for a remote region in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula.
The nonprofit Nature Conservancy said the 6,172-acre (2,497-hectare) Wilderness Lakes Reserve in the Michigamme Highlands area is being expanded by 4,854 acres (1,964 hectares) of forest and wetlands.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-conservation-corridor-planned-michigan/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Algal blooms have forced health officials to close five Madison-area beaches.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported Friday that the first tests of the season revealed blue-green algae blooms at beaches at BB Clarke, Olbrich and Warner parks and the Hudson Park lake access point.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-algae-blooms-wisconsin-beaches/
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Lawyers are defending the use of a handheld device to check for lead in Flint residents, despite the manufacturer’s warning that it wasn’t designed for that work.
The bone scan device has been a source of controversy in a $641 million settlement with people who were exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-dispute-flint-bone-scan-device/
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration said the results of a statewide sampling program does not indicate widespread contamination of drinking water supplies by a class of highly toxic chemicals used in products like nonstick cookware, carpets, firefighting foam and fast-food wrappers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-pfas-pennsylvania-third-samples/
Oxygen levels have dropped in hundreds of lakes in the United States and Europe over the last four decades, a new study found.
And the authors said declining oxygen could lead to increased fish kills, algal blooms and methane emissions.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-hundreds-lakes-united-states-europe-losing-oxygen/
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A popular Lake Michigan beach town has been discussing whether to bring lifeguards back to the waterfront.
The South Haven Beach Safety Committee recently voted against recommending lifeguards or a second line of buoys, said City Manager Kate Hosier.
The committee’s work will be reviewed by the city council in South Haven, 60 miles southwest of Grand Rapids.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-lifeguards-south-haven-lake-michigan/
CHICAGO (AP) — Beaches in Chicago were washed out by high waves Friday on the first day the city was to reopen Lake Michigan to swimming since summer 2019.
Waves reached up to 11 feet (3.35 meters) high, closing many of the beaches that had been set to open for the first time since Sept.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-high-waves-chicago-beaches-lake-michigan/
PORTAGE, Ind. (AP) — The National Park Service says the Portage Lakefront at Indiana Dunes National Park has reopened after a project to install boulders to protect the pavilion and assure safer access to the shoreline.
It says the joint effort by the City of Portage and the Park Service involved the installation of more than 1,000 tons of boulders needed to protect the lakefront and the Riverwalk from erosion.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-boulders-lakefront-indiana-dunes-lake-michigan/
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest reversal of a Trump-era policy, the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is restoring a rule that grants states and Native American tribes authority to block pipelines and other energy projects that can pollute rivers, streams and other waterways.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-epa-state-tribal-power-protect-waterways/
SAUGATUCK, Mich. (AP) — A plan to turn a former church camp into luxury homes in a sand dune area near Lake Michigan can be challenged by some neighbors, the Michigan Supreme Court said Thursday.
After objections arose, the developer sold some land to create a buffer between the project and critics.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/challengers-to-dune-development-win-appeal-at-top-court/
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roughly a sixth of the planet’s land and freshwater area now lies within protected or conservation areas, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.
Next comes the hard part. The world needs to ensure that those regions are actually effectively managed to stabilize the climate and to curb biodiversity loss while also increasing the total area of protected places, scientists say.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-protected-areas-sixth-earth-land-freshwater/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers on Wednesday proposed spending $500 million to repair aging dams a year after a hydroelectric dam failed to hold back floodwaters in the Midland area, causing more than $250 million in damage, draining lakes and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-michigan-lawmakers-500m-repair-dams/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A spell of dry, mild weather is giving the Great Lakes a break after two years of high water that has shattered records and heavily damaged shoreline roads and homes, officials said Monday.
Although still above normal, the lakes have dropped steadily since last fall and are expected to remain below 2020 levels for most of this year, according to a U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-great-lakes-water-surge-eases/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — An Upper Midwestern oil pipeline continued operating Wednesday, despite a shutdown demand from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that the operator warned could lead to fuel disruptions similar to those resulting from a cyberattack on an East Coast system.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-enbridge-defies-michigan-governor-close-pipeline/
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Sprawling wind farms located off the coast. Hydropower transmission lines that cut through some of America’s most beloved forests and rivers. Solar megaprojects of unprecedented size.
As President Joe Biden’s administration plans to fight climate change by weaning the nation off fossil fuels, these large-scale renewable energy projects are the source of conflict within a seemingly unlikely group: environmentalists.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-clean-megaprojects-divide-environmentalists/
PEWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — The company whose underwater power cables were damaged by an anchor strike in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac three years ago said Monday it was beginning to install replacements.
A ship anchor in April 2018 struck three of American Transmission Co.’s six cables, which moved electricity between the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-transmission-company-underwater-cables-damaged-anchor/
DETROIT (AP) — Now that’s a whopper — a very old whopper!
A 240-pound (108.8 kilograms) sturgeon that could be more than 100 years old was caught last week in the Detroit River by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-240-pound-fish-sturgeon-detroit-river/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Months after President Joe Biden snubbed Canadian officials by canceling Keystone XL, an impending showdown over a second crude oil pipeline threatens to further strain ties between the two neighbors that were frayed during the Trump administration.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-oil-pipeline-disputes-raise-tensions-us-canada/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed a lower court’s reversal of a critical mining permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, handing environmentalists a victory in the long-running battle over the $1 billion project, though the company also declared a win.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-supreme-court-block-key-polymet-mine-permit/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Almost half of the respondents to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress’ spring hearings questionnaire say they would support the organization if it opposes reconstructing Enbridge Inc.‘s Line 5 pipeline across northern Wisconsin.
The company decided to reroute the pipeline after the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued to force removal of the line from its reservation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-spring-hearing-respondents-oppose-new-line-5/
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded grants to Central Michigan University and Clarkson University to continue monitoring coastal wetlands and fish contaminants throughout the Great Lakes basin.
Central Michigan will receive $10 million to monitor approximately 1,000 wetlands over the next five years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-epa-great-lakes-grants-central-michigan-clarkson/
DETROIT (AP) — For President Joe Biden to reach his ambitious goal of slashing America’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, huge reductions would have to come from somewhere other than one of the worst culprits: auto tailpipes.
That’s because there are just too many gas-powered passenger vehicles in the United States — roughly 279 million — to replace them in less than a decade, experts say.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-america-gas-fueled-vehicles-biden-climate-goals/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan agency delivered a split decision Wednesday in a high-stakes battle over a pipeline that carries oil beneath a channel that connects two of the Great Lakes.
The Michigan Public Service Commission is considering Enbridge Inc.’s application to replace the section of its Line 5 that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-michigan-climate-line-5-tunnel-permit-review/
CHICAGO (AP) — In the modest bungalows and two-flats of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, there’s never a shortage of needed home repairs staring residents in the face. And then there is the less obvious but more ominous problem lurking in their pipes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/the-problem-within-biden-targets-lead-pipes-pushes-equity/
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Lawmakers approved two environmental bills Tuesday that critics say could damage the state’s ecosystems by scaling back current policy affecting water, energy and other resources.
A measure seeking to remove protections from Indiana’s already diminished wetlands would eliminate a 2003 law that requires the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to issue permits in a state-regulated wetland and end enforcement proceedings against landowners allegedly violating current law.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-controversial-indiana-environmental-bills-near-passage/
FRANKFORT, Mich. (AP) — A popular summer town along Lake Michigan is trying to improve beach safety through technology.
Frankfort will use cellular phone networks and weather data to regularly update lights installed at the beach entrance and at the pier, 9 & 10 News reported.
Signs will explain the different lights and beach conditions.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-lake-michigan-town-lights-beach-safety/
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Duluth’s mayor is pressing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to investigate whether the agency is responsible for erosion along a six-mile stretch of Lake Superior beach.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Mayor Emily Larson sent a letter March 12 to the corps to investigate whether its maintenance work on shipping channels has caused erosion on Park Point.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-duluth-mayor-army-corps-beach-erosion/
NEWBERRY, Mich. (AP) — Repairs and restoration are coming to three historic lighthouses in Michigan.
More than $126,000 in grant funding from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office have been awarded to the Crisp Point Light Historical Society, the North Manitou Light Keepers and St. Clair County Parks and Recreation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-grants-repairs-rehabilitation-3-lighthouses/
DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Friday rejected a sudden effort to extend Monday’s deadline to register for a share of a $641 million Flint water lawsuit settlement.
U.S. District Judge Judith Levy said she won’t upset a well-publicized 60-day deadline that was baked into a settlement involving Flint, the state of Michigan, residents who were exposed to lead-contaminated water, and other parties.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-judge-rejects-effort-to-extend-sign-up-for-flint-water-cash/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said Thursday that the state will provide free bottled water to about 4,300 residents of French Island in La Crosse County due to concerns about groundwater pollution from PFAS “forever chemicals” that have been linked to causing cancer and a wide array of other illnesses.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-pollution-concerns-bottled-water-french-island/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard arguments over Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 replacement project in northern Minnesota, which opponents are calling unnecessary due to an eventual decline in the demand for oil.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce, along with the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and several Indigenous and environmental groups, argued before the three-judge panel that Enbridge failed to show long-term need for the Line 3 project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-need-for-line-3-pipeline-argued-minnesota-appeals-court/
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — More than 30,000 registration forms have been received from people who want to participate in a $641 million Flint water lawsuit settlement.
The deadline is next Monday.
“The registrations are coming in at a pretty brisk pace but timing matters so I just want to repeat that deadline,” U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-more-than-30000-registrations-flint-water-deal/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Chippewa tribal officials in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan have blasted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for putting on what they say was a poorly planned wolf season during which state-licensed hunters blew past their quota in a matter of days.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-chippewa-tribes-blast-wolf-hunt/
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The number of lake trout that are reproducing in Lake Champlain is up, meaning there is less of a need to stock the fish this year, biologists say.
A stocking program begun in the 1950s by Vermont, New York, and the federal government through the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative has in recent years been stocking 82,000 yearling trout in the lake annually.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-biologists-lake-trout-champlain/
By Todd Richmond, Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Legislature moved Tuesday to kill limits on PFAS pollution and to allow therapists, counselors and social workers to continue to try to change gay and transgender people’s sexual orientation.
The Senate and Assembly both took up a bill blocking a state Department of Safety and Professional Standards rule that would have prohibited so-called conversion therapy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-wisconsin-legislature-moves-to-kill-limits-on-pfas-protect-conversion-therapy/
WHITEHALL, Mich. (AP) — A change in Lake Michigan water levels has revealed a shipwreck from the 1880s that is visible in western Michigan for the first time since 2018.
Experts believe it’s the wooden spine of the Contest, said Craig Rich, director of the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-shifting-sand-water-shipwreck-1880s/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers.
Extremely high winds occasionally churn up deep water with low oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in Erie’s central basin and shove it into the shallower western section, creating a hazard for fish and insects on which they feed.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-scientists-climate-whipped-winds-great-lakes-hazards/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration released a plan Friday to make sure Michigan will have enough propane if a controversial pipeline is shut down.
The strategy addresses a frequent objection to the Democratic governor’s demand that Enbridge Inc.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-whitmer-plan-supply-propane-line-5-pipeline/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday it was delaying the effective date of a policy intended to prevent lead pollution of drinking water, continuing a decades-old debate over how to remove a serious health hazard to children.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it was suspending a regulatory rewrite completed by the Trump administration in December, which is being challenged in court by numerous states and advocacy groups.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-biden-epa-trump-rule-lead-drinking-water/
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development and North Carolina regulator Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, picking up the pace for confirmations in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-senate-confirms-fudge-regan-epa/
DETROIT (AP) — Lawyers who negotiated a $641 million settlement for victims of Flint’s lead-contaminated water are asking a judge to set aside up to 32% for fees and expenses for years of work on the case.
If granted, the request would total $202 million in fees and $7 million in expenses for dozens of attorneys who made a deal with the state of Michigan, Flint, a hospital and an engineering firm, according to a court filing Monday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-lawyers-32-percent-641m-flint-tainted-water-settlement/
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Payments for dead wolves. Unlimited hunting of the animals. Shooting wolves from the air.
Wolf hunting policies in some states are taking an aggressive turn, as Republican lawmakers and conservative hunting groups push to curb their numbers and propose tactics shunned by many wildlife managers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-us-states-wolf-kills-pushed-by-republicans/
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — The city of La Crosse filed a lawsuit Thursday against a host of chemical manufacturers that produced firefighting foam linked to groundwater contamination around the city’s airport.
Tests have revealed at least 40 wells around the airport on French Island are contaminated with man-made chemicals known as PFAS.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-la-crosse-sues-foam-makers-pfas-pollution/
