By Matthew Daly, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered an Ohio utility to stop dumping dangerous coal ash into unlined storage ponds and speed cleanup of the site.
The order to the Gen.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/ap-epa-orders-ohio-power-plant-stop-dumping-coal-ash/
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Daniel Merino, The Conversation and Gemma Ware, The Conversation
(THE CONVERSATION) Humans do a lot of different things to the environment, and there aren’t many natural processes – aside from an asteroid impact or the like – that can rival the scale of change brought on by human activity.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/humans-now-a-driver-of-evolution-in-the-natural-world/
By Kari Lydersen, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
More than nine out of 10 coal ash impoundments nationwide are contaminating groundwater in violation of federal rules, according to environmental groups’ comprehensive analysis of the latest industry-reported data.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/analysis-finds-lack-of-compliance-with-coal-ash-rules-groundwater-at-risk/
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s governor is planning his fifth overseas trip of the year, this time to attend a U.N. climate conference in Egypt.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office announced Wednesday that he would take part in the COP27 climate change conference. Holcomb’s schedule includes giving a speech about Indiana’s efforts to increase use of clean energy in the state, the governor’s office said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/ap-indiana-governor-traveling-climate-summit-egypt/
By Andrian Lee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Melissa Scanlan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
When storms like Hurricane Ian strike, many people have to cope afterward with losing water service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/money-drinking-water-sewer-upgrades-communities-need-most/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Illinois Gov.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/energy-news-roundup-line-3-protests-renewable-energy-efforts-growing/
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — State regulators on Monday ordered a Flint chemical company to truck wastewater to a water treatment plant, weeks after it was blamed for an oily discharge in the Flint River.
The 11-page order describes disputes between Lockhart Chemical and the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/ap-state-cracks-down-on-flint-company/
By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/powerful-industry-torrent-manure-overwhelms-state-regulators/
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge has given tentative approval to a $54 million settlement involving 3M Co., a shoe manufacturer and property owners in western Michigan who said their land and wells were contaminated by toxic “forever chemicals.”
The deal involves approximately 1,700 properties north of Grand Rapids.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/michigan-property-owners-settle-pfas-case/
By Laura Gersony, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/failed-algae-strategy-hurts-poor-communities/
By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/year-of-water-quality-reckoning-national-imperative-impeded/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features stories from “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash,” a collaborative project featuring the reporting work of students at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications on Great Lakes Now and Energy News Network programs and websites.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/the-catch-coal-ash-regulation/
“The Erie Situation,” a new documentary about toxic algae blooms will air simultaneously on six PBS stations in four states at 9 p.m. ET on Monday Sept. 12. To see if your station is one of them, click HERE.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/cleveland-water-organization-looking-to-support-business-innovation-beyond-lake-erie/
Great Lakes Now episodes are packed with important information on current topics.
In “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash,” learn about the complicated policy and impacts of coal ash in the Great Lakes in this special collaboration with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/poisonous-ponds-the-great-lakes-now-episode-quiz/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features stories from “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash,” a collaborative project featuring the reporting work of students at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications on Great Lakes Now and Energy News Network programs and websites.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/the-catch-lincoln-stone-quarry-coal-ash/
The amount of coal ash in the United States is hard to fathom. There are over 700 impoundments holding more than 2 billion cubic yards of ash — enough to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania one-half inch deep.
Coal ash includes heavy metals like chromium, arsenic and selenium — linked to higher rates of cancer and other diseases — that can leach into groundwater.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/reuse-divert-coal-ash-from-landfills-challenges-remain/
As the Great Lakes Now-Northwestern University journalism project “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” continues to publish, Great Lakes Now producer Anna Sysling made a return to public radio to share more about the issue with Detroit audiences.
Sysling, who left WDET, Detroit’s NPR station last year to join Great Lakes Now full-time, spoke with Morning Edition Host Pat Batcheller about the project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/great-lakes-now-anna-sysling-talks-poisonous-ponds/
Eighty-eight-year-old Hilda Barg hunched her shoulders and rested her forearms on her hardwood dining table, talking fiercely about coal ash contamination in her neighborhood. Barg, a lifelong resident and former supervisor of Prince William County, Virginia, is leading a local fight against how Dominion Energy — the state’s largest electric utility — is dealing with toxic coal ash at its Possum Point plant 3 miles from Barg’s home.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/excavate-toxic-coal-ash-question/
A special segment for Detroit Public Television’s public affairs program, “One Detroit,” features Great Lakes Now’s collaborative reporting project about coal ash.
A toxic substance, coal ash is what’s left over after burning coal. While the use of coal is declining across the Great Lakes region, the ash that remains from decades of producing energy with it is a problem.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/poisonous-ponds-featured-on-one-detroit-program/
Joliet, Illinois, a city of about 150,000 people southwest of Chicago, has long depended on a deep sandstone aquifer for drinking water – an increasingly strained resource that city officials hope to supplement with a billion-dollar pipeline from Lake Michigan.
But while this highly publicized search for a new source of municipal water unfolds, some residents who rely on private well water face a different threat.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/coal-ash-contaminating-groundwater-near-joliet-to-stay/
The village of Dresden is nestled amid charming vineyards and the placid blue waters of Seneca Lake, the largest of Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes.
Wineries, breweries, dairy farms, and state parks dot the lake’s shoreline, making it a picture-perfect vacation destination.
But for local residents, the three auburn-colored smokestacks of Greenidge Generation’s plant towering above the trees are an unnerving reminder that their natural resources are at risk.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/bitcoin-mining-plant-dirty-coal-ash-problem/
At almost 300 sites on the Great Lakes and coast to coast, unregulated buried and landfilled coal ash is putting water supplies at risk, alleges a federal lawsuit filed August 25.
This threat is in addition to contamination from up to 700 coal ash repositories that are covered by 2015 federal coal ash rules.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/unregulated-coal-ash-poses-brewing-threat-to-lake-michigan/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Solar, storage projects set to bring jobs, tax revenue to Illinois coal communities — Energy News Network
Six retired coal plants in downstate Illinois will soon receive solar panels and become renewable energy storage sites.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/energy-news-roundup/
Poor housing conditions can have an effect on people’s health both mentally and physically by posing a threat to the family or individual living there, especially for young children and babies.
The health and wellbeing of residents are impacted especially in areas where there’s both industry and older housing.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/home-hazards-what-can-you-do/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
Bipartisan legislation to help cities get money to fix their water systems has been signed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
A lot of Michigan’s drinking water systems are in bad shape.
“We have been very behind in maintaining and upgrading our infrastructure across the state,” Charlotte Jameson with the Michigan Environmental Council.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/new-laws-community-access-water-infrastructure/
By Ed White, Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder and others in the Flint water scandal, saying a judge sitting as a one-person grand jury had no power to issue indictments under rarely used state laws.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/ap-court-kills-flint-water-charges-ex-governor/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/mapping-great-lakes-cities/
By Mylène Ratelle, University of Waterloo, and Jessie Yakeleya, Sahtu Renewable Resources Board, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
In Indigenous communities that have lacked access to safe water for years, getting access to a safe water supply is crucial.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/northern-indigenous-communities-drinking-water/
In February 2021, Detroit’s Michelle Martinez was excited like she hadn’t been in years about the potential of progress on core environmental and climate justice issues.
President Donald Trump, who took the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords and was rolling back Obama-era environmental protections, was out of office.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/michigan-gov-plan-action/
By Eleanore Catolico, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
This article is co-published by the Energy News Network and Planet Detroit with support from the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative at the Damon J.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/agencies-environmental-data-residents/
By Diana Kruzman, Grist
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.
Northeastern Minnesota’s Iron Range has been a major mining hub since the 1860s. Nestled among thick forests and many of the state’s famed “10,000 lakes,” open-pit mines there produce low-grade iron ore that’s shipped to steel mills around the country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/minnesota-polymet-mine-renewable-energy-tribes/
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Legislation criticized by opponents as a vehicle for-profit water companies to take over municipal water authorities in Pennsylvania by imposing expensive regulations on them passed the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday.
Opponents also warned that the bill will precipitate ratepayer increases when water authorities must meet the new regulations or after they are forced to sell out to for-profit water companies.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/ap-pennsylvania-senate-bill-rates/
By Kathiann M. Kowalski, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
Ohio cities are using new data mapping tools to identify and respond to disparities in energy burdens, climate risks, and pollution impacts.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/mapping-tools-ohio-environmental-justice/
By Michael Casey, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Brenda Hampton first came across the toxic industrial compound PFAS after finding it was part of the cocktail of contaminants that tainted the drinking water in her North Alabama community.
Hampton, who believes the contaminated water contributed to kidney problems she and other residents suffer, soon learned the chemicals were found in another source that hit close to home — fast food wrappers, boxes and plates.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/ap-pressure-growing-remove-pfas-wrappers/
By J. Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/waters-true-cost/
By Tara Lohan, The Revelator
This story originally appeared in The Revelator and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
This month regulators greenlighted a transmission line that would bring power generated from Canadian hydroelectric dams to New York City.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/stock-methane-emissions-reservoirs/
This is part one in a two-part series looking at the cost of water in Ontario. Find the Great Lakes News Collaborative’s series on cost of water in Michigan here.
Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin have perhaps become spoiled at the seemingly endless availability of water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/canada-aging-infrastructure-rising-costs/
Lynn Broaddus has little patience for cities who focus on the reasons why they can’t replace lead service lines.
She understands that finances are a big part of the problem but says too often cities focus on the barriers, instead of what’s possible.
Broaddus is the recent past-president and now a trustee with the international group Water Environment Federation, a non-profit focused on increasing the awareness of the impact and value of water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/water-executive-creative-replacing-lead-service-lines/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
Electricity costs will soar beginning in June in central and southern Illinois, due to inadequate power supplies following coal-fired plant closures.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/energy-news-roundup-numerous-great-lakes-outages-rising-rates/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigan-water-systems-overbuilt-underfunded/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Federal funding mechanisms for improving Indiana’s water infrastructure work but need more flexibility to help eliminate lead service lines, PFAS and other issues, according to testimony from one of the state’s top finance officials.
Jim McGoff, Indiana Finance Authority chief operating officer and director of environmental programs, testified March 29 before the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/indiana-finance-authority-house-drinking-water-hearing/
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A judge granted a seven-week extension Monday to file claims for a share of $626 million settlement over Flint’s lead-contaminated water.
U.S. District Judge Judith Levy approved a request to stretch the May 12 deadline to June 30.
“Although it is clear that all involved are working diligently to compile the information and documentation necessary to support claims, some claimants have experienced delays or difficulties in obtaining certain required documents,” Levy said, quoting a summary by special master Deborah Greenspan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/flint-residents-extension-file-claims/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/high-cost-water-hits-home-michigan/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigans-septic-system-problems-lakes/
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
In 2014, the legacy problem of lead pipes throughout the nation came to a head in Flint, Michigan, when the city emergency manager’s decision to switch the water source and not treat it to prevent corrosion led to lead leaching from the pipes into the city’s drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigans-water-systems-city-populations/
By Kelly House
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/water-woes-michigan-suburbs-disinvestment/
By Lester Graham
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/rural-towns-drinking-water-systems/
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
PONTIAC, Mich.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/bill-michigans-water-infrastructure/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers on Friday signed an executive order creating a new office of environmental justice, announcing the move on Earth Day.
Republicans last year removed the office from Evers’ proposed budget. But the Democrat up for reelection this November got around them by creating it through an executive order.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-evers-office-environmental-justice/
By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
With climate change, plastic pollution and a potential sixth mass extinction, humanity has made some incredible messes in the world.
But when people, political factions and nations have pulled together, they have also cleaned up some of those human-caused environmental problems, including healing the ozone hole, clearing perpetually smoggy air and saving many species from the brink of extinction.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-healing-ozone-hole-smog-eagles/
