The Essex Region Conservation Authority will receive nearly $660,000 in funding from the Great Lakes Protection Initiative for habitat restoration in the Detroit River, listed as one of 43 Areas of Concern showing severe environmental degradation in the Great Lakes Basin. Read the full story by Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-detroit-river-aoc
The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin aims to make Wisconsin a global leader in water science and technology through its work on climate change, pollution and over demand in the water industry. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-freshwater-collaborative-wisconsin
Due to shoreline erosion caused by high lake levels, the Illinois city of Evanston hired a coastal engineering group to assess lakefront damage and start construction. View the full story by The Daily Northwestern.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-erosion-construction-illinois
A University of Missouri researcher is conducting studies to figure out a way to reduce the amount of light that is reaching toxic algae in waters like Lake Erie using glacial rock flour. Read the full story by Phys.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-algae-light
More than 10 years and nearly $60 million after the city of Oswego, NY and environmental regulators reached a settlement to resolve persistent problems with unpermitted sewer overflows, the three-phase sewer separation effort is coming to an end. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-sewer-overflow-new-york
Wisconsin environmental regulators are asking Tyco, a Marinette Wisconsin manufacturer of firefighting foam, to expand sampling of fish for chemicals known as PFAS. The move comes after sampling in private ponds near Tyco’s fire training facility showed fish had PFAS concentrations that would trigger restrictions on eating fish. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-wisconsin-pfas
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy unveiled plans Thursday, Nov. 12, for an emergency project to stabilize the Edenville Dam site, located on the border of Midland and Gladwin counties. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-dam-michigan
Hamilton’s Heddle Shipyards will be the primary supplier for ladders, gratings and hand rails for Vancouver-based Seaspan Shipyards, which has been awarded a contract to build joint support ships (JSS) for the federal government. The agreement is expected to create at least 50 jobs and “tens of millions of dollars” in economic activity in Ontario, the province announced on Thursday. Read the full story by the Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-shipyard-ontario
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has made decisions granting the remaining eight of 10 required DNR permits, licenses and approvals for the proposed Enbridge Line 3 pipeline replacement project. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-line-3-pipeline
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ most recent update suggests that the big lakes will continue to float at above-average water levels for the foreseeable future. Read the full story by Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-high-waters
Ducks Unlimited Canada has announced purchase of the now-protected 197-hectare St. Luke’s Marsh which is adjacent to the federally protected St. Clair Wildlife Area; these coastal wetlands are part of the most important wetlands south of James Bay. Read the full story by Chatham Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-ducks-unlimited-wetland-conservation
State health officials in Wisconsin are recommending groundwater quality standards for 22 substances found in Wisconsin waters, including pesticides and PFAS chemicals. These recommendations initiate a multi-year rulemaking process before the proposed standards become law. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-wi-gw-health
A new report by a binational group of scientists found that climate change has a compounding impact on multiple environmental stressors in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-climate-stress
An innovative Canadian company is launching a dog food made from the invasive Asian carp that currently threaten the Great Lakes. The Montreal-based company expects to import 50 to 100 tons of Asian carp over the next year from fishers in Illinois. Read the full story by Radio Canada International.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-carp-to-kibble
High lake levels and storms on Lake Superior are pushing toxic sands into Grand Traverse Harbor on Lake Superior, forcing operators to continue to dredge these sands to prevent them from covering important whitefish spawning habitat in the lake. Read the full story by the Daily Mining Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-dredge-sand
Bipartisan members of Congress from the Great Lakes states are advocating for increased Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding to address coastal erosion in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-erosion
The disruption from the coronavirus pandemic forced environmental regulatory agencies to modify operations and temporarily allow looser compliance with regulations. As the pandemic has continued, agencies have adjusted to resuming normal enforcement actions. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-covid-compliance
The gales of November are known to be treacherous for ships out on the Great Lakes, including the Schooner Pathfinder, which sank off the coast of Wisconsin near Manitowoc in 1886. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-pathfinder
The company responsible for illegally storing limestone on a riverfront property that partially collapsed into the Detroit River last November will pay the city of Detroit $15,000 in damages. Environmentalists believe the settlement is insufficient to deter future reckless actions. Read the full story by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-dock-settlement
Michigan health officials plan to study the potential long-term health effects of PFAS exposure on people in West Michigan communities. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-pfas-study
After years of fishing companies closing, Lake Superior is adding on a new fishery this month in northern Wisconsin. The new company, Red Cliff Fish Company, will work with tribal fisherman to sell sustainably caught fish. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-new-fish-co
Across Michigan and throughout the nation, cherished landmarks are threatened by record crowds as budgets and staffing at properties managed by the National Parks Service have failed to keep up with their skyrocketing popularity. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-shorelines
A plan that has addressed coastal erosion in multiple Ohio counties with frontage on Lake Erie through the creation of special improvement districts could be coming to Lorain County. Read the full story by The Chronicle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-lorain-improve
The Minnesota Supreme Court is weighing whether the groundwater around U.S. Steel’s leaking Minntac tailings basin should be regulated as drinking water, and Minnesota regulators say the outcome could have vast impacts on other water permits throughout the state. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-water
On stretch of Lake Superior shoreline between Marquette and Big Bay, Michigan, deep emotions surrounding economic viability and environmental sustainability are colliding. A feasibility study is being conducted to build a vertical rocket launch site. Read the full story by the Upper Michigan Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-rocket-launch
An estimated 9,887 metric tonnes (22 million pounds) of plastics make their way into the Great Lakes every year. Now a new project aims not only to suck out some of that plastic but stop it from getting into the lakes in the first place. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-plastic-pollution
In Michigan, after a $3.9 million dredging project to protect a Lake Superior fish habitat was completed over the summer, workers are back at it as high-water levels and forceful fall storms push mining pollution back toward Buffalo Reef. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-whitefish-superior
In Ontario, the Royal Botanical Gardens is receiving a chunk of funding from a $5.1 million federal investment in protecting and restoring the Great Lakes. The money will go toward 46 projects that aim to improve the quality of the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative. Read the full story by Y108 – Hamilton, Ontario.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-restoration
This year, “the gales of November came early.” In his haunting ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” Gordon Lightfoot sang of a very real phenomenon: 40% of all Great Lakes shipwrecks have occurred during the month of November. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-gales
The most notable Great Lakes ship to go down during the gales of November is the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. There is another ship, however, that was taken down in November — the Schooner Pathfinder. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-pathfinder
A new report by a scientific committee of the International Joint Commission examines seven problems plaguing the Great Lakes to learn how they interact with one another. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-climate
Mariners’ Church of Detroit will observe the 45th anniversary Sunday of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald during its yearly memorial service for those who have died in Great Lakes shipwrecks. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-fitzgerald-shipwreck
Lake Erie and Cleveland could soon be home to the first offshore wind facility in the Great Lakes, and the first freshwater wind farm in North America. Read the full story by Spectrumnews1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-wind-lake-erie
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to reverse dozens of Donald Trump’s environmental policies while emphasizing a crackdown on polluters in Illinois and beyond. Read the full story by Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-environmental-policies
The Pyatt Lake Trail on Old Mission Peninsula in Michigan had been experiencing high water levels due to rising waters in the Great Lakes and frequent rainstorms, which blocks off parts of the trail. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy is building boardwalks and improving the trailway and observation platforms, making it the peninsula’s first universally-accessible trail. Read the full story by 9&10News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-accessible-trails-michigan
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the Center for EcoTechnology, RTI International and the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio have been awarded grants totaling $170,907 to support sustainable materials management projects in Ohio. Read the full story by Waste Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-recycling-waste-grants
A vast chunk of Mississauga’s prime lakeshore in Ontario will be converted from a former oil refinery. Highlights of the redevelopment named Brightwater will include nearly 3,000 new residences in a mix of condominiums and townhomes, as well as up to 150 affordable housing units. Read the full story by The Globe and Mail.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-oil-refinery-redevelopment
Historically sailors often found Lake Erie to be the most challenging of the Great Lakes, as its shallowness can cause violent waves. As Great Lakes shipping increased in the 19th century, during the time the Lake Erie Canal was built, three lighthouses were constructed in Monroe, Michigan guiding ships through the perilous waters. Read the full story by Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-lake-erie-lighthouses
Officials on Monday celebrated the completion of the Route 5 break wall repair project in Hamburg, New York. The break wall has, for years, deteriorated so much to the point that cars were splashed by the waters from Lake Erie during storms. The upgrades will prevent these hazards with the installation of 1,325 foot stones and a ten-foot “splash apron”. Listen to the full story by WBEN-FM, Buffalo NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-break-wall-erosion
The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. board of directors met Monday and adopted the Buffalo Outer Harbor’s general project plan (GPP). The Outer Harbor GPP outlines future improvements including recreational facilities to improve what is currently vacant, substandard or underutilized property along a nearly one-and-a-half mile stretch of Lake Erie waterfront. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-harbor-plan-improvements
A $40 million data center that will serve the Chicago area has opened in northwestern Indiana at a former coal-fired power plant site along Lake Michigan that was shuttered in 2012 and had long been one of the Chicago area’s worst polluters. The 105,000-square-foot Digital Crossroads data center was designed to serve soaring demand for data storage, such as for streaming movie and music services. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-coal-data-indiana
New York Senators are calling on the EPA to extend a written comment period for proposed vessel incidental discharge standards. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-vessel-indidental-discharge
A businessman from central Illinois has combined two wildly divergent opportunities into what is now likely the only legal cannabis and Asian carp business partnership on the planet. Read the full story by the Pekin Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-asain-carp-business
Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy worked with the local government to purchase a piece of private property on Lake Michigan that will open up an area of natural freshwater and forested dunes off the Lake Michigan coast to the public. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-lake-michigan-coastline
Over $1 million is needed for the first steps of the planned restoration of the Flint River-Swartz Creek confluence in mid-Michigan. Read the full story by East Village Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-restoration-project
After decades of state oversight of polluter-funded cleanup efforts for the Gelman dioxane plume, the city of Ann Arbor in southeast Michigan is seeking federal intervention. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-epa-intervention
Even as fishing in Lake Erie, the “Walleye Capital of World”, has certainly been living up to its name over the past two years, experts are projecting it could be on the verge of getting even better. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-walleye-fishing
Although the Great Lakes’ water levels generally drop this time of year, all of them are decreasing above average levels. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-water-levels
The Great Lakes Historical Shipwreck Society is planning a virtual live ceremony on November 10 to commemorate the singing of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-edmund-fitzgerald
The new Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park located in northern Door County, Wisconsin should be completed by the end of 2020 and will open to the public in the spring of 2021. Listen to the full story by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-eagle-tower
