Hundreds of dead fish and other creatures were found washed up on Montreal’s South Shore along the St. Lawrence River. The die-offs are being investigated and could be due to recent low water levels or the warm winter weather. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-montreal-fish
The Great Lakes region has a lower risk of extreme weather compared to other parts of the country and is referred to as a “climate haven.” But before it can be considered as such, researchers emphasize the importance of urban planning and addressing social and environmental challenges that Great Lakes cities have. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-climate-migrants
Around the end of April, the Cleveland Water Alliance will be deploying two ‘smart’ buoys in Erie County, Ohio, to monitor water information in both Sandusky Bay and a Lake Erie tributary. There have been 13 smart buoys in operation so far; a 14th will be added this year, and a 15th will be added this year or next year. Read the full story by The Courier.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-smart-buoys
The Cuyahoga, the oldest Canadian lake boat still in operation, and one year shy of the oldest boat on the Great Lakes, caught fire on Friday. The ship’s master and crew were accounted for. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-cuyahoga-fire
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewas has been fighting for decades to save the Great Lakes from a potential oil pipeline rupture. The new documentary Bad River takes viewers into that ongoing fight against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. Read the full story by WBBM-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-bad-river
A federal judge has found the city of Flint, Michigan, in contempt after years of delays to replace lead service lines at tens of thousands of homes. Lead line replacement efforts were supposed to be done in 2020, but have dragged on, leaving many residents with cratered yards and broken sidewalks from previous pipe replacement. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-flint-lead
The Line 5 oil pipeline has become a household name in the Great Lakes region, creating intense concern over its potential risk to water quality and its infringement on tribal rights. Summarized are its history, its controversies, and its legal battles. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-line5-issues
After more than three years of legal delays, work will begin this spring on the long-planned construction of an experimental fish passage system in Traverse City, Michigan. FishPass construction will take until 2026 to complete and will also include a new research facility and improvements to the surrounding parkland. Read the full story by the Traverse City Ticker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-fishpass-construction
Lake Michigan’s food web has been impacted by overfishing and invasive species. Now, climate change is flexing its muscles in the Lake Michigan ecosystem, impacting lake turnover, plankton, and fish. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-food-web
Last week, a divided Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that limited the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ ability to regulate PFAS and other emerging contaminants under the state’s long-standing spills law. The case is one of two efforts to weaken the spills law. Read the full story by Wisconsin Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-pfas-regulation
As the Berrien County, Michigan, government continues working through an emergency request to help dredge a portion of the St. Joseph River, one of the factors in play is what to do about the fish. There’s a narrow window between now and mid-May — the start of sturgeon spawning season. Read the full story by WSJM – Benton Harbor, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-dredging-sturgeon
The two 600-foot stacks towering over the Detroit River at the idled Trenton Channel power plant in Trenton, Michigan, have been demolished. The rest of the nearly 100-year-old coal-fired power plant, which was idled in 2022, will be demolished on May 17, bringing southeast Michigan closer to a carbon-free future. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-trenton-stacks
New York Department of Environmental Conservation biologists provided an update on the black bass population in Lake Ontario’s eastern basin and the St. Lawrence River. Catches have either been stable or have increased in the past 10 years. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-bass-fishery
Silver Harbour, just outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, is known for its natural beauty and its public access to Lake Superior. During the last few winters, many people have flocked to the area to observe something called blue ice. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-blue-ice
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing adding a site in and near Ann Arbor, Michigan, to the Superfund National Priorities List. The “Gelman plume,” primarily 1,4-dioxane, an industrial solvent, is slowly moving through groundwater and threatening a source of Ann Arbor’s water supply. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-gelman-plume
The upcoming Great Lakes cruising season is expected to bring 20,000 visitors and $200 million in economic impact to the region. The region’s cruise marketing program announced its forecast for the 2024 cruising season, which follows a record-breaking season in 2023. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-cruise-forecast
The Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Conservancy has bought over 200 acres of land along Lake Superior and the Gratiot River in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to link five conservation areas in a large, contiguous block. The organization is now planning to create a trail network for hiking, skiing, and environmental education. Read the full story by WJMN-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-keweenaw-trails
Imagine if the world’s longest trail in Canada connected people even further, into another country, via Michigan’s longest trail. That happened last month when the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority announced that the Gordie Howe International Bridge would become part of a binational trail system. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-binational-trail
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced $3.85 million in grant awards for fish and wildlife restoration efforts across several Great Lakes states. Michigan received more grant money than any other state under the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-research-funded
At Lake Simcoe in southern Ontario, February has traditionally been the peak of ice fishing season. But this year, the lake’s freezing cycle is in purgatory, continuing to fuel what many locals are calling Ontario’s worst ice fishing season in decades. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-ice-fishing
With the help of community members, the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is monitoring migratory suckers like the longnose and white sucker. By tracking sucker migration from Lake Michigan to inland rivers and streams, zoo officials are hoping to aid their conservation. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-tracking-suckers
A tank barge that has been grounded in Lake St. Clair near Peche Island in Windsor, Ontario, since Monday has been successfully lightened and is once again floating. The tank barge Margaret ran aground in soft mud in American waters on Monday while carrying approximately 15 million liters of diesel fuel. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-grounded-barge
A Northern Michigan beach town’s decades-long struggle to bring restrooms to its popular waterfront continues as plans for a $560,000 building come under fire. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-bathroom-pushback
Despite what has been an unusual winter, water level changes in the Great Lakes over the past month have been business as usual and around average. In February, water levels were slightly below average in the Lake Superior basin and slightly above average in the Michigan-Huron basin. Read the full story by SooToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240306-lake-levels
This week, a group of 30 tribal nations sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking the administration to fulfill its commitment to support tribal sovereignty. In December, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requested federal input in a legal battle regarding Enbridge Line 5, but the Biden administration has yet to respond. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-sovereignty-letter
Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota, received a designation from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration which will provide more opportunities for students who want to work in the maritime industry. Read the full story by KBJR-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-maritime-college
The Canadian federal government is earmarking $50 million for predevelopment work at the Bruce Power site on Lake Huron in Tiverton, Ontario, for what would be the first new nuclear construction project in Canada in 30 years, if approved. Read the full story by The Sun Times (Owen Sound).
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-bruce-power
The nascent cruise industry in Cleveland, Ohio will take a hit this summer as one of the major players in Great Lakes cruising, American Queen Voyages, is going out of business. Last year, its two ships made as many as 30 stops in Cleveland – far more than any other cruise line. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-erie-cruising
Lake sturgeon have been listed as threatened in Michigan for decades, but now the federal government is considering a petition to list sturgeon as endangered throughout the region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether the petition moves forward to public comment by the end of June. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-sturgeon-petition
Starting July 1, service charges for water and wastewater services are going up 3-3.25% in southeast Michigan under a new budget approved by the region’s water authority to make up for cost hikes absorbed in the past. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-water-charges
A new documentary, “Bad River,” details the fight of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewas to shut down the Line 5 oil pipeline that traverses their ancestral land. An interview with the filmmaker dives into the details of the film. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-bad-river
The Indiana House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill requiring life rings at Lake Michigan entry points. The Indiana Senate unanimously passed the bill earlier this month, meaning it will soon go to the Indiana governor. Read the full story by WBBM-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-indiana-life-rings
Ferries to Put-in-Bay and Middle Bass Island, Ohio, will start on March 2, nearly a month early, due to lack of ice on Lake Erie. The early start allows construction workers to get a head start on work and allows residents and businesses to re-stock supplies ahead of schedule. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-erie-ferries
Ice clearing on the St. Lawrence River is scheduled to begin on Monday as part of preparations to open the Seaway for the season on March 22. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240301-seaway-ice
A proposed bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct high-resolution bathymetric mapping of Great Lakes lakebeds and authorize $200 million in appropriations. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-lakebed-mapping
The Duluth Economic Development Authority approved funding to plan to dredge an area where cruise ships can safely navigate to a shoreside U.S. Customs and Border Control facility in Duluth, Minnesota. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-duluth-dredging
Fodor’s travel guide added Lake Superior to its 2024 “No List,” a group of beloved destinations to reconsider for travel, alongside such over-touristed sites or environmental disasters as Venice, Athens, and Chile’s Atacama Desert. Read the full story by The Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-fodors-list
Chicago will remain the supplier of Lake Michigan water to DuPage County, Illinois for the next 17 years despite plans to seek an alternate supplier. If the DuPage Water Commission cuts ties with Chicago, it could take 12-15 years to build the infrastructure necessary to connect with a different supplier and cost upward of $7 billion. Read the full story by The Daily Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-dupage-water
The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards reached a new agreement on icebreaking to allow for Great Lakes shipping, which brings international commerce to Northwest Indiana and iron ore to regional steel mills when the Great Lakes are frozen over. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-icebreaking-agreement
The Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) endorsed a plan that will protect the Hillman Marsh near Leamington, Ontario with a high crest, preventing damage from Lake Erie. Without protection from the lake, there’s concern that nearby homes and farmland could flood. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-hillman-marsh
The state of Michigan seeks public input on a plan to shape the next decade for Silver Lake State Park, home to nearly 3 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 2,000 acres of sand dunes. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-silver-lake
Can lake whitefish, an imperiled mainstay of the Great Lakes fishery, learn to reproduce in northern Michigan rivers? Fishery managers think they can. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-michigan-whitefish
While the sinking of the recently discovered S.S. Arlington is well known, less is understood about the captain who went down with his ship and the events leading up to that fateful decision. Read the full story by Bradford Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-arlington-captain
A reauthorization of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week. Under the introduced bill, GLRI funding would increase to $500 million per year. Read the full story by WSJM – Benton Harbor, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-glri-bill
Since 1994, the R/V Lake Guardian has taken educators on a nine-day cruise called the Shipboard Science Workshop. This year, teachers will tour Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-lake-guardian
As apex predators, adult muskie occupy the very top tier of the Great Lakes food chain. The Michigan Muskie Alliance is advocating for stocking of muskie to promote balanced fisheries. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240219-muskie-alliance
The Biden administration is poised to lend $1.5 billion for what would be the first restart of the shuttered Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan, the latest sign of strengthening federal government support for the atomic industry. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240131-palisades-nuclear
Lake Erie is the first of the Great Lakes getting connected to the internet with a series of offshore “smart” buoys via the Smart Lake Erie Watershed Initiative. The buoy project is providing invaluable data to researchers and anglers. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240131-smart-buoys
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is partnering with a Columbus-based company to destroy stockpiles of toxic firefighting foams containing PFAS. The program will destroy the aqueous foam and return PFAS-contaminated wastewater to non-detectable levels. Read the full story by Ideastream Public Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240131-pfas-annihilator
Progress is well underway on the $27.5 million Freshwater Research & Innovation Center just north of Traverse City, Michigan. Read the full story by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240131-research-center
