This shipping season has witnessed an influx of international freighters on the Great Lakes, many transporting wind turbine parts to drop off in Duluth bound for wind farms in the northern plains. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-shipping-windmills
Lake Ontario is slightly above its long-term average water level, and forecasts predict that levels will decrease over the next month. However, some are concerned about flooding over the winter and spring and are calling for more water to be released from the Moses-Saunders dam to avoid this scenario. Read the full story by WRVO – Oswego, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-ontario-levels
Nearly two months after a new law went into effect restricting the use of hazardous PFAS foams, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is still trying to write rules for enforcing it amid disputes over what is considered foam and how to define effective treatment. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-wi-pfas
The Port of Thunder Bay in Ontario is on track to have shipped its highest per-tonne volume of goods in well over two decades this year, bucking the downward trend seen by most ports during the pandemic. The port has been buoyed by a strong global market for Canadian grain. Read the full story by TVO News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-shipping-grain
A new survey of the towns of Somerset and Yates in New York found that 83% of residents oppose a wind power project on Lake Ontario. Read the full story by Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-wind-opposition
Michigan announced it will retain an international civil engineering firm to provide a technical review of Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel project after environmental groups raised concerns about the Michigan’s ability to adequately evaluate the project. Read the full story by WKAR – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-line5
The Superior Watershed Partnership won the 2020 Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award for their habitat restoration projects along the shores of Lake Superior. Read the full story by the Daily Mining Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-superior-watershed-partnership
The Erieau Marina in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, along Lake Erie is getting help from the Ontario government to tackle plastic pollution using new plastic capture technology. Read the full story by CTV – News Windsor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201028-ontario-plastic-marinas
Canadian grain shipments through the St. Lawrence Seaway topped 6.2 million tonnes at the end of September, maintaining its 20 per cent increase over the 2019 season, according to the latest results. While the ‘grain rush’ has helped lift cargo totals, Great Lakes-Seaway shipping also reported decreases in commodities related to steel production, and the energy and construction sectors. Read the full story by Manitoba Co-operator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-shipping-seaway
A western Michigan city has been selected to receive a $5.1 million federal water infrastructure improvement grant to help pay for lead service line replacement. The grant will help fund 1,700 lead service line replacements in the coming years. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-water-lead-infrastructure-grant
Approximately 20 households in East Bay Township near Traverse City, Michigan could have drinking wells contaminated with PFAS chemicals linked to cancer and other health risks with state and local health officials seeking to test the properties, provide bottled water as a short-term safety precaution, and potentially switch the homes to municipal hookups going forward. Read the full story by The Ticker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-pfas-pollution-michigan
The oil pipeline company Enbridge pushed to limit what a state regulator could consider regarding relocating the Line 5 twin pipelines across the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-line-5-review
Rainstorms dumped 4.4 inches in 36 hours on Traverse City, and its sewage system didn’t overflow has it had in previous large rain events. City officials continue to investigate infiltration to prevent a repeat of the past three spills; the worst sent more than 50,000 gallons of sewage into the Boardman River. Read the full story by The Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-sewer-traverse-city-infrastructure
The Great Lakes Sports Commission has awarded $150,000 in grant funding for infrastructure development at the Tech Trails. The Tech Trail system is part of a larger trail system, providing both extensive mountain biking and ski trails. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-recreation-trails-grant
A graduate student’s road trip around Lake Michigan revealed the effects of small streams and their nutrient loads on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Science Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-tributaries-nutrients-pollution
State studies show an encouraging drop in PFAS levels along the Huron River. Though it’s still not safe to eat the fish, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) said last week that ongoing monitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance levels in the Huron River are on the decline. Read the full story by WHMI-FM, Howell MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-pfas-huron-river
The current approach to nonpoint source pollution and polluted urban runoff is insufficient to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. To achieve the goals of the Clean Water Act, Congress must provide grant funding and financing to state and local authorities, as well as private landowners, commensurate with the scope of the pollution challenge. Read the full story by Center for American Progress.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-pollution-non-point-nutrient
Perhaps no other Great Lakes shipwreck has as much notoriety as the ill-fated SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729-foot iron ore carrier that sunk to the bottom of Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, during a fierce November gale. Read the full story by WiscNews.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-edmund-fitzgerald
The Wisconsin DNR has proposed new permanent administrative rules that would increase fees for nonferrous mining exploration and operation permits, licenses and fees by about $502,000 per project. Applicants also would be required to provide substantially greater detail in feasibility reports, operational plans and construction documentation as conditions for permits. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201027-mining-dnr
Research shows chemicals banned years and even decades ago are showing up in some Great Lakes shorebirds, such as the common tern. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-shorebirds
Pointe Mouillee State Game Area in southeast Michigan is considered the largest fresh water marsh restoration project in North America, with about 5,200 acres dedicated to wildlife and water quality. Read the full story by The Daily Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-pointe-mouillee
The City of Benton Harbor in southwest Michigan was awarded a $5 million grant to replace lead pipes and make sure everyone has access to clean drinking water. Read the full story by WSBT-TV – South Bend, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-water-pipe-grant
After more than two decades of cleanup and community efforts, Lake Erie’s Presque Isle Bay became the second heavily contaminated place in the United States to be removed from the Great Lakes toxic waters list. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-pennsylvania-bay
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler visited two Michigan cities to announce the distribution of utility grant funds that will help replace lead water pipes of the type that contributed to tap water poisoning in Flint. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-utility-grants
A Michigan state commission considering a permit for a controversial tunnel project to house a new section of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac will not look at the potential impacts the proposed project could have on climate change. Read the full story by the MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-climate-impacts-line-5
The Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a lawsuit against a Washtenaw County landfill over environmental violations related to air quality issues. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-landfill
Michigan is lacking statewide septic system rules that would help protect our precious water resources from aging and failing home sewage systems that are prevalent in communities across Michigan. Read the full story by Iron Mountain Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-septic-rules
Wisconsin’s air quality has improved over the last 15 years, according to a report by state environmental officials. Read the full story by Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-air-quality
The Michigan Public Service Commission has some authority over Enbridge’s plans to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath the channel that connects two of the Great Lakes and can evaluate the need for the project and whether it would be designed, constructed and operated safely, a state administrative law judge ruled last week. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201026-pipeline-tunnel
Researchers and indigenous activists in Michigan found numerous patterns of evenly-spaced stones near Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinaw that are thought to be man-made patterns potentially dating back 10,000 years. This potential archaeological discovery may halt the construction of an underground tunnel for Line 5. Read the full story by the Wall Street Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-archaeology
The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund has invested more than $1.2 billion in receipts from oil and gas extraction into conservation of Michigan’s natural resources and outdoor recreation opportunities in Michigan. Read the full story by Upper Michigan’s Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-mi-nrtf
An $18.3 million payout to current and former Crestwood residents who alleged the village’s longtime use of well water contaminated with a known carcinogen caused them health issues is in doubt after a recent Illinois Appellate Court ruling. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-crestwood
A group in Chicago is advocating for a different solution to slowing the spread of invasive carp into the Great Lakes: eating the fish. Read the full story by WTTN–TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-eat-the-carp
A historic 400-ton pavilion in Orchard Beach State Park in Manistee, Michigan, will be moved a quarter mile away from an eroding bluff high above Lake Michigan. The pavilion was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Read the full story by WZZM–TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-orchard-state-park
The village of Ephraim, Wisconsin, is exploring ways to avoid further damage to their waterfront as Lake Michigan remains several feet above its average levels and continues to impact the shoreline. Read the full story by the Door County Pulse.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-ephraim
Emmet County and other local governments in northern Michigan are participating in a pilot program that may help provide resources and training to Michigan communities facing coastal erosion issues. The initiative is led by the Michigan Association of Planners and helps communities in the state draft long-term plans for maintaining coastline resiliency. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-coastal-resilience
State environmental regulators are investigating whether some residents in East Bay Township in northern Michigan have been using drinking water contaminated with PFAS. Read the full story by The Association Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-pfas
Ontario launched an initiative to collect and analyze the different types of plastic waste at a dozen marinas on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WDIO–TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201023-marina-trash-cleanup
The public comment period is over for the proposed Line 5 pipeline tunnel below the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. Read the full story by WLNS-TV- Lansing, MI
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-line-5
A Grand Traverse County, Michigan neighborhood is being notified that drinking wells may be contaminated by PFAS. Read the full story by UpNorthLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-traverse-pfas
Michigan is not doing well in caring for its beaches, according to a recently released report. The state was given a ‘D’ in the Surfrider Foundation’s annual State of the Beach report, which issues letter grades to beaches across the U.S. Read the full story by Patch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-michigan-beaches
After five years of requests to the Minnesota Legislature, the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District has received $6.75 million that will allow the facility to take the next major step on its long-term path toward energy self-sufficiency. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-sewage-energy
In more than half of the states affected by coastal flooding, people who purchase homes receive information about flood risk. What’s more, many homeowners in the most flood-prone areas are required to purchase flood insurance, which means mortgage lenders inform them of their flood risk. That’s in stark contrast with tenants: The vast majority of renters are not entitled to any information about flood dangers. Read the full story by Capital Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-renters-flooding
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District issued a public advisory for Edgewater Beach because of a sewage overflow into Lake Erie that occurred as a result of Wednesday morning’s rainfall. Read the full story by WOIO-TV-Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-sewage-erie
Any long-term and effective solution to improving the health of Ohio’s waters, and reducing the extent and severity of future HABs, must incorporate the strategic protection and restoration of wetlands and floodplains surrounding our streams, rivers, and lakes. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-protect-nature
Daniel Gildea, a scuba diving hobbyist, has discovered a centuries-old ship in the Henderson Bay area of Lake Ontario. Read and view the full story by WWNY-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-Ontario-ship
Grain shipments have been a bright spot in a tough year for shipping on the Great Lakes, to ports such as the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor and the Port of Chicago. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-grain-shipment
The State of Michigan should adapt state-wide rules that require septic system inspections before a home can be sold. It’s the kind of move that helps protect our precious water resources from aging and failing home sewage systems that are prevalent in communities across Michigan. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201022-septic-rules
Great Lakes steel production rose by 19,000 tons last week but remains depressed by more than 19% so far this year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201021-steel-production
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and former Governors Rick Snyder, Jennifer Granholm, John Engler, and Jim Blanchard discuss Proposal 1 and its impact on Michigan’s natural resources. Read the full story by the Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201021-michigan-governors
