By David A. Lieb, Michael Casey and Michelle Minkoff, Associated Press
Constructed four generations ago, the massive rock and clay dam at El Capitan Reservoir is capable of storing over 36 billion gallons of water, enough to supply every resident in San Diego for most of a year.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ap-analysis-growing-number-of-dams/
By Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal
This story first ran on The Narwhal, a non-profit news organization that publishes in-depth stories about Canada’s natural world.
From warming water to shifting growing seasons, Ontario is already seeing the effects of climate change. But for the most part, Doug Ford and his government say, the province’s natural resources are doing just fine.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/report-ontario-natural-resources/
By Kathiann M. Kowalski, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
Major weather events accounted for more than a third of the time Ohio customers of regulated electric utilities went without power last year, according to an Energy News Network review of data filed with state regulators.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/storms-ohio-electric-grid-climate-change/
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/
By David Sharp, Associated Press
California and 15 states that want the U.S. Postal Service to electrify its mail delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its delivery fleet.
Three separate lawsuits, filed Thursday by the states and environmental groups in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ap-states-electrify-usps-lawsuits/
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 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/
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State regulation of streams that flow temporarily after rainfall will be restricted under legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Construction companies, the mining industry and other business groups say removing so-called ephemeral streams from regulation would make Ohio’s practice consistent with federal law.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ohio-law-state-regulation-streams/
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.
There are many similarities between Toronto’s lower Don River and metropolitan Detroit’s Rouge River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/great-lakes-moment-don-rouge-rivers/
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/
The issue of invasive species has haunted the Great Lakes region for decades, but a recent study shows that regulatory intervention can actually help stem the problem.
The study, released by McGill University and the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, looked at the bi-national regulation of ballast water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/regulation-invasive-species-great-lakes/
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Coal-related interests sued on April 28 to block the centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change, a carbon-pricing policy that will impose a cost for emitting planet-warming carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
The lawsuit filed in Commonwealth Court by owners of coal-fired power plants, owners of coal mines and labor unions that mine coal and maintain the power plants say the regulation written by Wolf’s administration is “patently unlawful.”
The regulation took effect Saturday after a long regulatory vetting process and fights with a hostile Legislature controlled by Republicans who are historically protective of Pennsylvania’s coal and natural gas industries.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/coal-interests-carbon-policy/
The Great Lakes region may be best known for its freshwater resources, but another resource it has in abundance is its maple syrup. Canada is the world’s leading producer of maple syrup, generating 75% of the global supply. Within Canada, the province of Quebec is the top producer (96.4%) of maple syrup products followed by Ontario.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/mapping-the-great-lakes-sugar-maples/
By Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal
This story first ran on The Narwhal, a non-profit news organization that publishes in-depth stories about Canada’s natural world.
When the Doug Ford government first announced plans to expand Ontario’s Greenbelt, it called the move a “once in a generation opportunity.”
The initial concept, presented by Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark in February 2021, involved ambitious plans to include waterways under the Greenbelt’s protection and stretch its boundaries to encompass a large swath of land west of Toronto.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/doug-fords-expansion-ontario-greenbelt/
By Marc Levy, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — More than two years after he started work on it, Gov. Tom Wolf is set to enact the centerpiece of his plan to fight climate change, making Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy — but it might be a short-lived victory.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-greenhouse-gas-state-climate-step/
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — As climate change bakes the planet, dozens of nations and many local governments are putting a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions that are increasing flooding, droughts and other costly catastrophes.
Pennsylvania on Saturday becomes the first major fossil fuel-producing state in the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/climate-change-pricing-carbon/
By Beth Edwards, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Some northern Indiana residents remain skeptical that communities in the area will be free of contamination from toxic coal ash, despite a renewed commitment by government agencies and one of the state’s biggest energy companies to clean up polluted sites and transition to renewable energy sources.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/indiana-residents-coal-ash-cleanup/
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/
By Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press
Michigan’s Democratic governor wants a nuclear power plant on Lake Michigan to stay open and she’s asking the federal government to pay for it.
But the owner of the Palisades Power Plant says it’s too late — the plant will be shut down in May as scheduled.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-whitmer-federal-aid-nuclear-plant/
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:
On April 15, 2022, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA, IEPA, or Agency) approved a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for Williamson Energy, LLC Pond Creek Mine No.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/energy-news-roundup-ontario-natural-gas-energy-department-cybersecurity/
By Steve Karnowski, Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a challenge by environmentalists over portions of a lower court ruling involving a key permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals in January reversed a 2018 decision by state regulators to issue PolyMet Mining Corp.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-minnesota-supreme-court-polymet-case/
By John Flesher, Associated Press
LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) — Sprawled like a gigantic swimming pool atop a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan is an asphalt-and-clay pond holding enough water to produce electricity for 1.6 million households.
It’s part of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, which uses simple technology: Water is piped from a lower reservoir — the lake, in this case — to an upper one, then released downhill through supersized turbines.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-worlds-largest-batteries/
An area like the Great Lakes that has rain and higher temperatures in the summer, followed by a cold, snowy winter, is best suited for maple production.
But the Great Lakes maple season is evolving as climate change increasingly impacts maple syrup production with shorter harvest seasons, less sugar production and unreliable sap flow.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-sugaring-season/
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has asked the state’s highest court to let the centerpiece of his plan to fight climate change take effect and make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy.
The filing late Thursday in the state Supreme Court appealed a two-day old decision by the lower Commonwealth Court which, in a one-line unsigned order, barred the official publication of the Democratic governor’s regulation “pending further order.”
The regulation had been scheduled to be published on Saturday, making it official.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-governor-appeals-court-order-carbon-emissions/
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part story. Read the first part here.
Ed Matusik and his wife were in their new summer vacation trailer for just a month at Bay Point Resort and Marina in 2006 when they received an eviction letter: the investment group which recently purchased the site had plans for a new development in that section of the resort.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/trailer-parks-campgrounds-waterfront-developments/
By Marc Levy, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican Bill McSwain pledges to be a pro-energy governor by “turning on the spigot of natural gas.” Another hopeful, Dave White, says he wants Pennsylvania “to be the energy capital of the world.” A third candidate, Lou Barletta, says having a glut of natural gas in the ground without a pipeline is “like being in college and having a keg of beer without a tap.”
In Pennsylvania, the No.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-energy-promises-face-limits/
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 with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pfas-news-roundup-pennsylvania-regulations-climate-change-defend/
By Jonathan Oosting and Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/04/michigan-infrastructure-problems/
PFAS research is still in the early stages, which means issues with PFAS crop up all the time to surprise researchers like Michigan State University professor Cheryl Murphy.
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are known as Forever Chemicals because of their reluctance to break down in humans. They can be in the food chain, drinking water and are found in common items in everyday commercial use like water-repellent clothing, dental floss and non-stick cookware.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pfas-solution-widespread-sources/
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part story. Look for the next part next week.
Every summer for the last decade, James Peterson, his wife and two daughters traveled from Charleston, West Virginia, to Kaspar’s Lake Breeze Cottages in Marblehead, Ohio, to fish, relax and soak up the beauty and restorative power of Lake Erie.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/water-access-grows-out-of-reach/
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Mario Koran, Wisconsin Watch
This story is part of a collaborative series, “At the Crossroads,” from the Institute for Nonprofit News, Indian Country Today, Wisconsin Watch and eight other news partners, examining the state of the economy in Indian Country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pandemic-shock-pushes-wisconsin-tribes-to-diversify-economy/
By Marc Levy and Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania court on April 5 blocked the centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change, the latest challenge to the Democrat’s effort to make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pennsylvania-court-blocks-governors-carbon-emissions-plan/
By Mitchell Beer, The Energy Mix
This story originally appeared in The Energy Mix and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
The fossil and transportation sectors get a relatively free ride and electricity producers do the most to decarbonize in the much-anticipated 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan released March 29 by Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/climate-funding-ottawa-2030-plan/
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal officials slated millions of dollars for rural water projects in several states, with the Biden administration looking to shore up infrastructure needs made more urgent by long-term drought conditions that have been exacerbated by climate change.
The U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-420m-water-supplies-climate-change/
By Kari Lydersen, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
Illinois activists who led fights to close coal plants and ban petroleum coke storage are now leading the charge for a bill that would provide new powers and funding to environmental justice communities.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/illinois-environmental-justice-bill-prevent-pollution/
By Frank Jossi, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
A lack of state funding to help Minnesota homeowners clean up mold, asbestos and other hazards is limiting the reach of federal weatherization programs in the state, preventing some of those most in need from accessing benefits.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/minnesota-bill-funding-pre-weatherization-work/
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.
The Great Lakes represent one-fifth the standing freshwater on the Earth’s surface, provide ecosystem services or benefits to approximately 34 million people living in the basin, and serve as the foundation for the $5 trillion regional economy that would be one of the largest in the world if it stood alone as a country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-moment-historic-great-lakes-agreement-anniversary/
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:
The lawsuit filed against Marathon Pipe Line in Madison County Court alleges multiple violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/weatherization-money-low-income-homes-misinformation-energy-projects/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is investing more than $4.7 billion to improve infrastructure, including drinking water upgrades, internet access and fixing roads, bridges and dams.
The spending plan includes some of the biggest infrastructure investments in state history, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday before signing the bipartisan legislation in Grand Rapids.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-gov-whitmer-signs-4-7b-infrastructure/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/03/climate-change-threatens-michigan-chemical-sites/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/03/michigan-parks-struggle-staff-up-summer/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced March 25 it will issue a permit that will make it harder for a Kewaunee County factory farm accused of contaminating drinking water to expand.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the permit caps the number of cows at the Kinnard Farms facility at about 8,000 head, the number of cows the farm currently houses.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/dnr-issues-expansion-permit-for-kewaunee-county-factory-farm/
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-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
The Village of Gladstone is warning residents with infants younger than 6 months of high levels of nitrate in the town’s drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/drinking-water-news-roundup-best-tasting-water-ohio-worst-waterways-indiana/
By Suman Naishadham, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — In southwestern Pennsylvania, eight locks and dams that for decades helped barges move goods along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers will in a few years also generate enough power for 75,000 homes.
Rye Development, a Boston-based hydropower company, is retrofitting the dams with turbines to generate electricity and says the upgraded structures will limit damage to the rivers’ water quality and fish.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-hydropower-bigger-energy-role-less-environmental-harm/
During the March “Great Lakes Week” organized by the Great Lakes Commission, Rep. Marcy Kaptur talked about the Great Lakes Authority.
The Great Lakes Authority, which would be a federal entity focused on the economic interests of the Great Lakes region, is an idea that the congresswoman has fought to put into legislation for a few years already.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/legislation-great-lakes-authority-federal-entity/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The comment period on a draft analysis of the environmental impact of rerouting an oil and gas pipeline around an American Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin will run for an additional month, state regulators announced Wednesday.
The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline carries oil and natural gas liquids from Superior to Sarnia.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-dnr-extends-comment-period-enbridge-reroute/
In Lake Huron’s Les Cheneaux Islands, a school is preserving the craft of building wooden boats.
Opened in 2005, the Great Lakes Boat Building School is located in Cedarville, Michigan, a small town tucked in the scenic bays and natural harbors of the area. A few dozen students a year learn how to build wooden boats.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/great-lakes-boat-building-school-grant-funding/
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-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
Three of the loan recipients qualified for a total of more than $3 million in principal forgiveness.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/drinking-water-news-roundup-illinois-new-york/
If you notice your packages arriving much faster than they did at the start of the pandemic, it isn’t just a minor coincidence – rather, it could be the Great Lakes shipping industry making a comeback after weathering the effects of COVID-19’s spread.
“(This) has been a bounce-back season from the COVID-induced lows of 2020,” said Jason Hron, director of communication and marketing for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/2022-great-lakes-shipping-season-infrastructure-improvements-covid-19/
By Mike Householder and John Flesher, Associated Press
STANDISH, Mich. (AP) — Bridget Wheelock knelt onto the frozen surface of Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay, reached a gloved hand into the frigid water below and pulled out a large chunk of ice.
“There’s a little bit of prism effect.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-scientists-rare-great-lakes-frozen-surfaces/
