Calling their communities sacrifice zones for being home to hazardous waste storage sites, residents in a Detroit neighborhood are taking a stand.
Last week, residents with support from the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center filed a formal complaint …
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Controversial open-pit sulfide mine in UP faces major delays due to COVID-19, utility companies in Ohio and Illinois set…
Michigan is at the forefront of states in the U.S. when it comes to taking action against per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of manmade chemicals found in a wide range of consumer products as well as firefighting foam.
On Monday, Mic…
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Guy O. Williams knew very little abo…
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up wi…
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water…
By John Funk, Energy News Network, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
A bipartisan coalition of 32 state lawmakers from Northeast Ohio has interceded on behalf of the Lake Erie Energy Development Company’s 20.7-megawatt demonstration offs…
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Great Lakes states join others to sue EPA over new reading of Clean Water Act rule limiting their oversight capacities, …
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Recent damage that prompted the temporary shutdown of an Enbridge oil pipeline in a channel linking two of the Great Lakes may have been done by vessels working for the company, accor…
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer criticized Enbridge Inc. on Wednesday for what she described as the company’s refusal to make an airtight pledge to pay for damages caused by a po…
With two segments in the latest episode of the Great Lakes Now monthly program, producer David Ruck is bringing audiences insight about two major issues in the Great Lakes region: how pollution from farmland impacts water quality and what financial cos…
By Jessica Heiges, University of California, Berkeley and Kate O’Neill, University of California, Berkeley, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
COVID-19 is changing how …
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan sought a written pledge Friday from Enbridge Inc. to cover costs that would arise if oil were to leak from its dual pipelines that extend across a channel linking two of the …
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water…
Environmentalists contend the state Department of Natural Resources held a public hearing on Enbridge Inc.’s plans to reroute a northern Wisconsin pipeline prematurely.
Line 5 runs from Superior to Ontario, crossing about 12 miles of the Bad River Band…
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: 713-mile Rover Pipeline at center of legal dispute between Ohio EPA and Ohio Supreme Court; Hi-Crush Inc., frac sand com…
By Beth Edwards, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Once known as the City of Mineral Water for the healing power of its spring-fed spas, Martinsville, Indiana, now faces the specter of health threats caused by the contamination of its water supply.
For th…
Fatbergs — massive buildups of wipes and hygiene products congealed with greases and oils — make for a cringe-worthy topic. And the damage they cause to sewer systems can be a huge amount of trouble for the people in charge of those sewer systems.
That…
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer doesn’t need another crisis.
For six of her 18 months in office she’s been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic that grips Michigan and shows few signs of abating. Then came a May rain deluge that contributed to the failu…
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge Wednesday allowed Enbridge to resume pumping oil through a Midwestern pipeline, nearly a week after shutting it down because of damage to a structure that anchors a s…
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine you are on a roller coaster ascending the first and highest hill on the ride. You hear the click, click, click as the car slowly climbs to the top and you start getting excited, even nervous, the closer you get …
By Ed White, Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) — A judge shut down an energy pipeline in Michigan’s Great Lakes on Thursday, granting a request from the state after the owner reported problems with a support piece far below the surface.
Enbridge Inc…
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Ontario Power Generation formally withdraws its application to construct a repository for nuclear waste near Lake Huron;…
MACKINAW CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s attorney general on Monday asked a judge to shut down a pipeline in the Great Lakes after an energy company discovered that an anchor support had shifted deep below the surface.
Enbridge Inc. insists the Lin…
In March, COVID-19 brought the Great Lakes economy and society in general to a grinding halt.
Three months later, it’s not yet business as usual and challenges remain.
That’s the consensus of a group of Great Lakes industries and scientific researchers…
The Trump administration has made a habit of rolling back federal environmental protections over the past few years.
According to The New York Times, 100 environmental rules have been reversed since President Donald Trump took office. Among those rules…
By Herbert G. McCann, Associated Press Writer
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer demanded Friday 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.
The Alber…
This is the third in a three-part series that will explore the history of Lake Superior and the Boundary waters, the communities affected by two proposed copper mines, the arguments in favor and against the mines, and what the mines might mean for the …
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Federal grant launches pilot program for nuclear plants to produce hydrogen for fuel cells; Canadian barge loaded with f…
This is the second in a three-part series that will explore the history of Lake Superior and the Boundary waters, the communities affected by two proposed copper mines, the arguments in favor and against the mines, and what the mines might mean for the…
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that legislators did not violate the state constitution by allowing construction of an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a channel linking two o…
This is the first in a three-part series that will explore the history of Lake Superior and the Boundary waters, the communities affected by two proposed copper mines, the arguments in favor and against the mines, and what the mines might mean for the …
A $126 million, 20.7-megawatt wind turbine project on Lake Erie has the go-ahead from state regulators after years of halting progress.
If construction is completed, the six-turbine Icebreaker Wind farm in Lake Erie, 8 miles northwest of Cleveland, wou…
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
A new study on cleaning up Great Lak…
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Wind farm project in Lake Erie approved by regulators with potentially major handicap, Minnesota legislature approves fi…
The controversial project to replace the existing 67-year-old Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac with a pipeline in a tunnel under the straits remains an issue between Enbridge Energy and the state of Michigan.
A new point of contention in the …
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — It took seven years to settle on a plan for cleansing two rivers and floodplains polluted with dioxins from a Dow Chemical Co. plant in central Michigan. The work itself has lasted ne…
By John Flesher, Associated Press Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Clare Nagrant earns her living from tourism, so she’s taken a beating during the coronavirus-imposed shutdown. A few months ago, she was juggling four jobs. Now she’s down…
By Oliver Morrison, PublicSource, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
COVID-19 cost jobs, closed businesses and limited travel. But the economic ruin has also led to record low levels of pollution and huge reductions in climate change emis…
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Michigan Public Service Commission reigns in planned rate hike by DTE Energy, Michigan’s Lower Peninsula failed to meet …
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to hear from the public on Enbridge’s proposal to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac after determining the company submitted a comple…
By Walker Orenstein and Gabe Schneider, MinnPost, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
In late April, former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign held a virtual event with Minnesota supporters to promote the Democrat’s plans to address clima…
By Frank Jossi, Energy News Network, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Armed with her cellphone, Ellen Biales spent an hour last month transmitting video of her St. Paul home to an energy expert who asked questions and dispensed advice.
…
The state agency that has to green light Enbridge Energy’s controversial pipeline in a tunnel project in the Straits of Mackinac hit the pause button on the process last week when it told the company it needs additional information.
The new pipeline wo…
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Indiana residents are worried about insufficient measures being taken to address pollution during coal ash pond closure;…
The contested case of the Icebreaker Wind Farm has implications for renewable energy in the region.
Read Now at Great Lakes Now.
An administrative law judge ruled this week in favor of Nestle in the long-running dispute over whether the company would be allowed to increase its withdrawals of groundwater to support its water bottling operation in Michigan.
Grassroots activists ch…
Lake Erie fishing charters reel from stay at home orders, and lake freighters idle due to industry shutdowns.
Read Now at Great Lakes Now.
There has been a growing climate movement in Duluth, a city that advertises itself as an outdoor haven with access to fresh air, clean water and Lake Superior.
Read Now at Great Lakes Now.
The Port of Duluth-Superior is one of the largest ports in the U.S., and its second largest commodity is coal.
Read Now at Great Lakes Now.