This week, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) introduced a bipartisan amendment that would delist the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes region, including Wisconsin, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Read the full story by WKOW – TV – Madison, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200612-gray-wolf
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 of the Great Lakes, clearing the way for the project to proceed unless another court intervenes. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200612-line5
In 2019, ODNR staff rediscovered four species thought to be extirpated from the state. Read the full story by Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-high-water-impact
Communities along the Georgian Bay find themselves uneasy as they brace for the high Lake Huron water levels. Read the full story by Barrietoday.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-high-water-impact
To help detect and guide efforts to prevent Lanternfly damages, a citizen science project called Operation Spot the Spot has been launched. Read the full story by Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-invasive-species
The only high-speed ferry on the Great Lakes celebrates its anniversary today. Read the full story by OnMilwaukee.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-lake-express
Lake Ontario water levels have gone down around 6 inches since cresting on May 5 and are expected to continue dropping through the summer, according to the International Lake Ontario St. Lawrence River Board. Read the full story by NYup.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-ontario-water-levels
Any resident, private company or public entity can operate a dam in the state of Michigan, but does that mean that the rules for dams with varied ownership follow different regulation and inspections? Read the full story by Midland Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-dam-regulation
Removal of the Brecksville Dam, known as the Station Road Dam, the Route 82 Dam and the Canal Diversion Dam – began May 21st, much to the benefit of the public and the Cuyahoga River itself. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-cuyahoga-dam-removal
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), co-chair of the Great Lakes Task Force, is exploring the possibility of a new federal entity to revitalize the region — a project that could mirror the scale of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the eight states that border the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Wisconsin Examiner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-great-lakes-agency
A new study on cleaning up Great Lakes pollution hotspots published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research finds that investing in pollution prevention and restoration pays off in the long run. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200602-great-lakes-pollution
Michigan City, Indiana officials said multiple circumstances factored into the decision to make Washington Park Beach a “swim-at-your-own-risk” area, issuing a news release to clear up “misunderstandings” surrounding the lack of lifeguards on the city’s shores. Read the full story by The Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-lifeguards
With record high Lake Michigan levels, in the Town of Clay Banks, in Door County, Wisconsin, some areas are seeing erosion among other damages and local leaders are asking the state to help with repair. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-erosion-michigan
Victory, which typically sails two ships in the Great Lakes during a six-month season, was scheduled to resume its itineraries in early July. Instead, the company announced this week that it wouldn’t sail this summer at all. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-cruise-greatlakes
Scientists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory advanced autonomous sensing with the rollout of the Real-Time Coastal Observation Network (ReCON) in 2005, and in response to the 2014 Toledo, OH algal-bloom caused water crisis additional sensors have been deployed throughout the Great Lakes system provide real-time data about episodic events such as incursions of low-oxygen water into municipal water intakes. Read the full story by The Conversation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-smart-lakes
Scientists with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, used advanced techniques to map underwater environments that helped scientists identify the depressions as sinkholes; continuing studies are occurring to explore the diverse microbial communities and other unique properties of these formations. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-huron-sinkholes
With record-breaking water levels for Lake Michigan and Huron being reported at 13.4 inches higher than last spring’s water level and nearly three inches higher than a record set in 1986, Escanaba and Gladstone, Michigan officials share how the situation has affected their communities. Read the full story by Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-ontario-plastic
A team of Rochester Institute of Technology researchers are studying how microplastic materials end up in Lake Ontario and the types of effects they have on the environment. Read the full story by WHAM-TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-ontario-plastic
Earlier this year, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee received a combined $3 million from the Canadian and U.S. governments to conduct an expedited review of the water management policy enforced by the International Joint Commission. Read the full story by NNY360.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200529-IJC-review
The H2Ohio initiative includes projects within the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio EPA, as well as efforts by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources focusing on wetlands; these projects help expand the permanent natural water-quality infrastructure to address nutrient pollution issues. Read the full story by Farm Progress.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200528-h2oh-wetlands
A Case Western Reserve University researcher has landed $700,000 in grants to try to remove excess nutrients from fertilizer and runoff that flows into Lake Erie and causes harmful algal blooms. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200528-erie-nutrients
The cool spring weather has slowed down the reproduction cycle of bait fish in Lake Erie, causing a shortage of minnows. Read the full story by WNWO – TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-erie-minnows
Water levels on Lake Michigan and other Great Lakes set a record for April, but that was no surprise to residents up and down whose homes and property flooded last weekend. Read the full story by Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-lake-levels
Funded by the H2Ohio initiative, a grant will turn an 18-acre property in Ohio into a recreational wetland, acting as a natural filter for nutrients from drained water of local farms before the water reaches Lake Erie. Read the full story by WTOL – TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-wetland-h2o
The third straight wettest May on record is sending a message: Every town and suburb in the Chicago region needs to do a better job of teaming up to prevent flooding. Read the full story by Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-chicago-flooding
Rapidly rising water overtook dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in central Michigan, where the governor said one downtown could be under 9 feet of water by Wednesday morning after a catastrophic dam failure caused by aging infrastructure. Read the full story by The Washington Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-dams-flooding
The U.S. Senate committee that oversees water infrastructure projects approved legislation authorizing $18 billion for projects and included a provision that the federal share of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to stop Asian carp at Brandon Road Lock and Dam in the Chicago waterways system be increased from 65 percent to 75 percent. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-asian-carp-plan
A manufacturer of firefighting foam says the majority of more than 250 drinking water wells it’s tested in Marinette County, Wisconsin, turned up no trace of toxic chemicals known as PFAS; state regulators say it’s too early to tell the scope of PFAS contamination within drinking water in the area. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-pfas-wisconsin
U.S. EPA’s temporary policy regarding enforcement of environmental legal obligations during the COVID-19 outbreak has received sharp criticism as a step-back from the EPA-established enforceable limit for daily loads of phosphates and runoff published a month ago. Read the full story by Cleveland Scene.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-epa-algae-bloom
As Midland County, Michigan, grapples with flooding that collapsed one dam and overtopped another, plus evacuations of people and businesses, Dow Inc. officials have implemented the chemical company’s flood preparedness plan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-dam-failure
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel condemned the Navigable Waters Protection Rule as a replacement of the 2015 Waters of the United States rule, stating that the change would result in reduced protection under the Clean Water Act for many wetlands and smaller streams. Read the full story by WNEM – TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200520-clean-water-act-michigan
For the time being, the Toledo City Council will not be challenging a federal judge’s ruling on the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. Read the full story by WNWO – TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-lakers
A coalition of cities, business and labor leaders and environmental groups is calling on the Minnesota Legislature to provide at least $300 million to repair aging water infrastructure throughout the state. Read the full story by MPR News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-minnesota-pipeline
A team of Michigan State University researchers hope to make use of an unlikely tool in Michigan’s fight against the new coronavirus: human waste. Read the full story by The Bridge.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-corona-wastewater
As construction of the Great Lake Tunnel Project is set to begin in 2021, Earthjustice and Native American Rights Fund attorneys have filed a petition to participate as a party in the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel Project proceedings. Read the full story by Up North Live.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-enbridge
As Flint’s city council considered a possible backup source of drinking water from Lake Huron, some councilmembers expressed concern that the lake may become contaminated. Read the full story by WEYI – TV – Flint, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-flint-water
Water levels in the upper St. Lawrence River are close to peaking well below the record levels experienced during the flooding of 2017 and 2019, the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority said on Monday. Read the full story by The Recorder and Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-stlawrence
With improved weather conditions, sea wall construction has been continuous along the Lake Michigan shoreline for the past month. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-seawall
The water level forecast into summer from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows a range of possible outcomes; with heavier than normal precipitation Lake Michigan and Lake Huron could reach the highest level recorded since the late 1800s. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-lake-levels
The $922 million passage now under construction at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, would be large enough to handle the 1,000-foot lakers that carry taconite from Minnesota and Michigan to steelmakers along the lower lakes. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-lakers
Duluth, Minnesota, tourism leaders are ready for Minnesotans that may be looking for summer vacations close to home. Visit Duluth, the city’s tourism nonprofit, plans to use taglines like “Lake Superior: Big enough for everyone.” Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-duluth
Despite a delay, Emmet County, Michigan, is slated to open the Crooked River Lock later this month. The lock regulates water levels between the Crooked River and Crooked Lake, and is one passageway in the extended Inland Waterway connecting to Lake Huron. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-crooked-lock
As Ohio begins to open some businesses again, Lake Erie fishing guides will be back in operation. The guide operations will be taking customers fishing starting Friday, but only if the guides and their customers diligently follow the COVID-19 protocols mandated by Gov. Mike DeWine. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-charter
This month, waves and high water levels unearthed two historic shipwrecks on the shores of Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Smithsonianmag.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-shipwrecks
Beverly Shores, Indiana, looks to secure five million dollars in funding to mitigate erosion at Indiana Dunes National Park due to high water levels amid severe spring weather. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-indiana-shoreline
The municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario, is looking for public feedback when it comes to a highly-anticipated Lake Erie shoreline study. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-shoreline
The St. Lawrence Seaway has agreed to wake restrictions in narrow sections of the Seaway to help abate the threat of high water levels to the shorelines in the region. Read the full story by the Kingston Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-seaway
The first invasive grass carp capable of reproducing in Michigan was caught this spring during an annual fish survey by the Department of Natural Resources. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-carp
Proposed off the coast of Cleveland, Ohio, the Icebreaker Wind Project, a six-turbine array billed as a “demonstration wind farm,” faces opposition since the area is in the middle of a major pathway for migratory birds. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200501-wind-erie
Shipping season on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway opened on April 1, so the Windsor Port Authority issued a message Wednesday that it remains fully open for business and fulfilling its vital role during ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Read the full story by Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200423-port-authority
