Michigan’s attorney general on Monday asked a judge to shut down the Line 5 pipeline in the Great Lakes after Enbridge discovered that an anchor support had shifted deep below the surface. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-shut-down-pipeline
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has issued a safety notice for paddlers along a popular stretch of the Boardman River in Traverse City due to high water. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-dnr-issues-caution
Following flooding that caused the failure of two dams on the Tittabawassee River, officials say hundreds of residents in Gladwin and Midland counties are experiencing issues with their water wells. Some of the wells aren’t working properly, others are dry. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-water-issues
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is holding a series of webinars to introduce a “Total Maximum Daily Loads for Total Phosphorus and Total Suspended Solids in the Northeast Lakeshore Basin” (TMDL) study. Watch the full story by The Kewaunee County Comet.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-tmdl-webinar
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer demanded that Enbridge Energy provide proof that the damage to one of its dual oil pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac will not pose a threat to the area. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-pipeline-answers
A new culvert may replace the existing one that drains South Bar Lake into Lake Michigan. The current culvert is failing, with high water, winds and waves clogging it with sand about once a week. Read the full story by Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-culvert
Port of Monroe received the Robert J. Lewis Pacesetter Award, a recognition given to domestic shipping industry leaders by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-port-award
Three months after Ontario declared its COVID-19 emergency, nixing crowds and shutting down many public spaces, Southwestern Ontario’s two biggest beach enclaves – Grand Bend and Port Stanley – threw open their lakeside stretches of sand for the first time Monday since the pandemic began. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-ontario-beaches-open
“The Forever Chemicals” examined the impact of PFAS contamination in west Michigan communities: private wells that tapped into groundwater near industrial dump sites were delivering PFAS-laden drinking water to unsuspecting residents for years until the contamination was detected and reported. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-forever-chemical
Conditions across the Lake Superior were drier than average in May and the water level rose less than it typically does. Nonetheless, an exceptional volume of water remains in the system and all of the Great Lakes remain near or above record-high water levels for this time of year. Read the full story by Sault Online.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200623-superior-water-levels
Enbridge Energy shut down part of the Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac following “significant damage” to an anchor support on the lake bottom. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer demanded that Enbridge cease all oil transport in the pipeline, including the undamaged segment, until they could provide the pipeline’s integrity. Read the full story by Bridge Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-line5
The new H2Ohio initiative will fund voluntary conservation efforts by Ohio farmers to improve soil quality and reduce runoff from crop fields that contributes to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. Proponents support the collaborative, science-based approach of the initiative, but some environmentalists remain skeptical that it will achieve the intended outcomes. Read the full story by Civil Eats.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-h2ohio
As Chicagoans return to the lakefront following easing coronavirus restrictions, they will find a transformed shoreline with flooded pathways and disappearing beaches. High-lake levels along the lakes are forcing cities to spend money on repairing and reinforcing damaged shoreline to keep city residents and municipal infrastructure safe. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-lakefront
The U.S.’s first freshwater wind farm is in limbo after regulators in Ohio told wind developers that they must do more to understand how their turbines will impact migrating birds. Environmentalists critical of the windfarm say that the stipulations to monitor bird and bat activity at the sites prior to installation is a critical step that should be the precedent for any wind turbines going on Lake Erie. Read the full story by Washington Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-erie-wind
Michigan’s Muskegon County has applied for a $10 million state grant to buy a former sand mining site on Lake Michigan and convert it to a public park that would include space for camping, hiking, fishing and kayaking. Read the full story by WNEM – TV – Bay City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-muskegon-park
The Joliet, Illinois City Council will convene for a workshop to study the options and understand public comments as it considers the options between building a Joliet pipeline to Lake Michigan or getting water from the city of Chicago to increase its drinking water supply. Read the full story the Herald News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-joliet-dw
Two buoys have been deployed in Green Bay to monitor weather conditions as well as the quality of the water, which will help researchers understand under what conditions toxic algal blooms form in lower Green Bay. Read the full story by WFRV-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-water-safety
During periods of high-lake levels on Lake Erie, residents and businesses along the shoreline face new realities that affect daily life and force people to either adapt or leave. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-erie-angst
A mass of vegetation and grasses was discovered floating in Muskegon Lake near Lake Michigan last week. The origin of the floating vegetation is unknown but is thought to be a consequence of high lake levels eroding dunes along the western shore of Michigan. Read the full story by the Daily Mail.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-floating-isle
Multiple law enforcement agencies used the clear weather to do dive team training in Lake Michigan to practice search and rescues, evidence collection, and salvage operations. Read the full story by WWUP – TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200622-dive-teams
Two buoys have been deployed in Green Bay to monitor weather conditions as well as the quality of the water, which will help researchers understand under what conditions toxic algal blooms form in lower Green Bay. Read the full story by WFRV-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-buoys
Years of discussion, argument, and litigation about how to deal with the aging Line 5 pipes under the Straits of Mackinac have left everyone involved with a bad taste in their mouths. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-tunnel
With Chicago beaches still closed, some Indiana parks and beaches are seeing a big influx of visitors from Illinois. That’s good for local businesses, but also creates new safety concerns. Read the full story by WLS-TV- Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-Indiana-Dunes
The Town of Gore Bay, Ontario, formally agreed to support a resolution seeking for the federal government to intervene to better manage and control the water levels of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Manitoulin Expositor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-lower-water
Channel dredging is underway to clear the path for a new navigational lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Read the full story by Northern Ontario Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-Soo-Lock
Montrose Beach in Illinois is once again the home of a newborn piping plover chick, after their parents Monty and Rose successfully mated at the lakefront for the second consecutive year. Read the full story by Block Club Chicago.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-Piping-plover
Citizens in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, are illegally pumping water from their flooded properties into the public sewer system, contributing to numerous sewage overflows into the Boardman River in recent weeks. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-illegally-pumping
Federal environmental regulators have fined Enbridge $6.7 million for allegedly violating a 2017 consent decree, saying the company failed to remedy pipeline-safety issues in a timely manner. Read the full story by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-Enbridge-fines
International cargo on the Great Lakes fell 10% at the start of the shipping season, as the coronavirus pandemic greatly disrupted the global economy. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-shipments-down
With Great Lakes water levels setting records this season, a popular recreation site in Door County, Wisconsin, is taking steps to save its shrinking shoreline by limiting access to those headed to the beach. Read the full story by WLUK-TV-Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200619-beach-access
The Land Conservancy of West Michigan is seeking to buy 43 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline property near Montague, 75 percent of which is designated critical duneland. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-dunes
Local government leaders up and down Michigan’s coastlines are in triage mode as they grapple with the layered crises of high water and COVID-19 budget cuts. Read the full story by Bridge Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-coast
Mackinac Island officially kicks off the summer season Friday, nearly a month after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer allowed the opening of restaurants, bars and other businesses in the Upper Peninsula and the Traverse City region. Instead of welcoming throngs of tourists Memorial Day weekend, the island remained closed, opting for a slow, measured reopening. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-tourism
Newly hatched piping plover chicks would normally be scurrying around the sand at Sauble Beach in Ontario around this time of year under the careful watch of their protective parents, but the endangered birds have not yet been spotted in the area. Read the full story by The Owen Sound Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-plover
Post-tropical depression Cristobal crossed Lake Superior on its way to Canada last Wednesday, making it the first tropical or post-tropical cyclone over Lake Superior in 170 years of records kept by the National Weather Service. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-cristobal
More than 30,000 gallons of toxic fluorochemical foam has been collected from municipal fire departments and commercial airports in Michigan in an effort that state officials believe is the nation’s largest collection and disposal program of its type. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-pfas
The future of 45,000 baby salmon hung in the balance as schools across Michigan abruptly closed their doors in March. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-salmon
Ohio officials have signed on to an offshore wind project on Lake Erie. If completed, the six windmills planned off the coast of Cleveland would be the first of their kind on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WBEZ – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-wind
Just weeks before North America’s new trade agreement is due to take effect, regulators in the United States have launched a formal investigation into Canada’s plan to change the rules that govern shipping on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200618-shipping
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) wants to create a new federal entity focused on reviving the Great Lakes region, improving water quality, and creating jobs in states hit hard by the pandemic and unemployment. Read the full story by E&E News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-kaptur
Public records released Tuesday indicate that the state of Michigan knew as early as January 2019 that the Edenville Dam did not meet state flood control standards and was aware of safety concerns. Read the full story by Bridge Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-edenville-dam
A new cleanup project of the Kinnickinnic River near Milwaukee, WI, designed to remove trash from the Great Lakes is the first project funded by the EPA’s Trash-Free Great Lakes Grant. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-kinnickinnic
The state of Michigan announced it was awarding grants to six school districts in Michigan to support place-based learning approaches that teach about the Great Lakes, Michigan watersheds and the impact people have on water resources across the state. Read the full story by Upper Michigan’s Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200616-great-lakes-dams
The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) announced that it will start its investigation into whether Canada’s proposed ballast water regulations discriminate against U.S.-flag shipping vessels operating in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Read the full story by Freight Waves.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200616-great-lakes-dams
The Porcupine Mountains wilderness area in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula offers 100 miles of hiking trails, over 93 waterfalls and the one of the only remaining tracts of old growth forest between the Adirondacks and the Rocky Mountains. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-porkies
Several hundred wells in Michigan near the now-drained Wixom Lake are reportedly dry, leaving residents to rely on bottled water while officials investigate causes. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-wells
The company responsible for a dock collapse along the Detroit River is proposing a new seawall on the river to support large boats dropping off piles of gravel-like material at the site. The proposal was met with skepticism by environmental activists in Detroit. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-detroit-river
Terrestrial and aquatic invasive species have a major effect on the Great Lakes and Michigan ecosystems, and scientists in Oakland County, Michigan, are working to map invasives and halt their spread. Read the full story by Downtown News Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-invasives
The Lake Erie Foundation supports Ohio’s decision to place strict conditions on the Icebreaker offshore wind power project in Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200617-wind-farm
Michigan’s dam safety program has been under intense scrutiny since the epic failure in Midland in May displaced 10,000 people, but how does Michigan compare to other Great Lakes states? Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200616-great-lakes-dams
