The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, Ontario, launched a major fundraising campaign to renovate their new waterfront home and announced plans to acquire a Titanic-era steamship that will serve as a centerpiece for the new museum. Read the full story by Global News Canada.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-museum
National Geographic featured Isle Royale on Lake Superior as on the top places to visit in 2021 and described the island as “a best-kept secret of a national park” and “edge-of-nowhere remote.” Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-isle-royale
The city of Flint and two other defendants joined the $600-million Flint water crisis settlement the state of Michigan announced in August, bringing the total value of the settlement in the lead poisoning case to $641.2 million. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-flint-settlement
Following public opposition to the planned construction of a nuclear waste storage facility near Lake Huron, the Canadian federal government has launched a new initiative aimed at finding long-term solutions for the growing quantity of radioactive waste produced by Canada’s nuclear reactors. Read the full story by the Times Colonist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-nuclear-waste
A new mapping tool from The Nature Conservancy shows areas with habitat and ecosystems in Michigan that can adapt to allow native species to thrive. The map also highlights connecting corridors that would allow species to move safely within and between these climate-resilient areas. Read the full story by the Metro Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-resilience-maps
Volunteer search and rescue teams on Lake Ontario have responded to a record-breaking number of rescue missions this year as more Ontario residents flocked to the lake this year for “staycations” during the pandemic. Read the full story by Y108 – Hamilton, ON.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-marine-rescues
Three drownings in Lake Michigan this past summer and more than a dozen water rescues has prompted City Council members in South Haven, Michigan, to form a committee to examine whether changes need to be made to the current beach and water safety plan, including adding lifeguards to the beach. Read the full story by The Herald-Palladium.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020118-south-haven
U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) today applauded Senate passage of his bipartisan legislation to update the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WLNS – TV – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-great-lakes-bill
Over the decades, wetlands and other water bodies in Cook County, Illinois, have decreased by a third, while swamps and marshes have been drained or converted into lakes and ponds, causing havoc for wildlife, according to a recent study by a group of graduate students and their professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-chicago-landscape
Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement Friday that she will revoke the 1953 easement allowing the controversial Line 5 twin oil and gas pipelines to continue operation on the Straits of Mackinac lake bottom isn’t winning her fans among Canadian officials. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-line5
The policy debate over algae-forming farm nutrients in the western Lake Erie region drew a familiar face from the national political scene on Monday when U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) appeared as a featured speaker on a virtual seminar sponsored by the Environmental Law & Policy Center. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-cafo
WLS-TV Channel 7 in Chicago, Illinois, has partnered with National Geographic as they release a special cover story on “Saving Our Great Lakes” to discuss some of the challenges facing this precious natural resource. Read and hear the full story by WLS-TV- Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-natgeo
South Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada went to court Monday to argue it shouldn’t have been convicted of twice violating the Endangered Species Act by its 2017 raking and reshaping endangered piping plover beach habitat. Read the full story by The Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-plover-esa
A Canadian company has launched a new dog food product that provides pooches with protein while removing an invasive species from North American waterways. Read the full story by Seafood Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020117-carp-dog-food
The Great Lakes Commission is granting Fort Wayne $200,000 for the Colonial Heritage improvement project. Read the full story by WANE-TV – Fort Wayne, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-oil-pipeline
Ontario minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines says the province is “profoundly disappointed” with the Governor of Michigan’s decision to shut down the Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straight of Mackinac and will work to keep the pipeline flowing. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-oil-pipeline
The days may now be numbered for the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, but state regulators say permitting for the company’s proposed tunnel project is not affected by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s move to shut down the pipeline by terminating the easement that allows it to cross the lakebed. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-line-5-shutdown
An algal turf scrubber could be the solution to a problem that threatens to suffocate the ecosystem of the Great Lakes: algal blooms. The algal turf scrubber filters water over a designated area for algae to grow and eventually be harvested for use as biofuel. Read the full story by the Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-algae-biofuel
Urban wetlands in the Greater Toronto Area are under threat by a recent warehouse building proposal. Read the full story by The Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-wetlands-under-threat
The Great Lakes region contains one-fifth of the world’s freshwater supply. Environmental groups say that abundance will make states such as Minnesota a high priority for other regions wanting to bolster their dwindling supplies. Read the full story by Public News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-minnesota-water-supply
Area growers can take their farm management to the next level and help improve Western Lake Erie Basin water quality by taking part in a new cost-sharing funding opportunity to achieve nutrient and sediment reduction goals outlined in the S.S. LaPointe Watershed Management Plan. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-lapointe-drain
Environmental DNA is a genetic material Great Lakes researchers have used to detect the presence of species for about the last 10 years. Now it’s playing an increasingly important — but sometimes controversial — role in monitoring invasive species. Read the full story by the Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-edna
Daniel Gildea didn’t set out to find a shipwreck. But when he deployed his underwater equipment to Henderson Bay in Lake Ontario, New York, there it was: a three-masted wooden schooner that dated back to the mid-18th century. Read the full story by Pacific Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-shipwreck-discovery
It was a historic day on the Red Cliff Reservation Saturday as the band opened their first fishing company to share the fish caught in Lake Superior with the rest of the Northland. Read the full story by KBJR-TV – Bayfield, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2020116-red-cliff-band
Canadian oil transportation giant Enbridge may soon lose its permission to operate a controversial, aging, oil and gas pipeline on the Straits of Mackinac lake bottom. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Eichinger on Friday notified Enbridge that a 1953 easement allowing it to operate dual pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac to transport petroleum and other products is being revoked and terminated. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-michigan-line-5
Parry Sound-Muskoka’s MPP Norm Miller has introduced a Keeping Polystyrene Out of Ontario’s Lakes and Rivers Act at Queen’s Park. This is a private member’s bill designed to reduce polystyrene pollution by requiring any polystyrene foam used in the construction of docks and rafts to be fully encapsulated. Read the full story by Parry Sound North Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-pollution-plastic-ontario
The Essex Region Conservation Authority will receive nearly $660,000 in funding from the Great Lakes Protection Initiative for habitat restoration in the Detroit River, listed as one of 43 Areas of Concern showing severe environmental degradation in the Great Lakes Basin. Read the full story by Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-detroit-river-aoc
The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin aims to make Wisconsin a global leader in water science and technology through its work on climate change, pollution and over demand in the water industry. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-freshwater-collaborative-wisconsin
Due to shoreline erosion caused by high lake levels, the Illinois city of Evanston hired a coastal engineering group to assess lakefront damage and start construction. View the full story by The Daily Northwestern.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-erosion-construction-illinois
A University of Missouri researcher is conducting studies to figure out a way to reduce the amount of light that is reaching toxic algae in waters like Lake Erie using glacial rock flour. Read the full story by Phys.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-algae-light
More than 10 years and nearly $60 million after the city of Oswego, NY and environmental regulators reached a settlement to resolve persistent problems with unpermitted sewer overflows, the three-phase sewer separation effort is coming to an end. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-sewer-overflow-new-york
Wisconsin environmental regulators are asking Tyco, a Marinette Wisconsin manufacturer of firefighting foam, to expand sampling of fish for chemicals known as PFAS. The move comes after sampling in private ponds near Tyco’s fire training facility showed fish had PFAS concentrations that would trigger restrictions on eating fish. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-wisconsin-pfas
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy unveiled plans Thursday, Nov. 12, for an emergency project to stabilize the Edenville Dam site, located on the border of Midland and Gladwin counties. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-dam-michigan
Hamilton’s Heddle Shipyards will be the primary supplier for ladders, gratings and hand rails for Vancouver-based Seaspan Shipyards, which has been awarded a contract to build joint support ships (JSS) for the federal government. The agreement is expected to create at least 50 jobs and “tens of millions of dollars” in economic activity in Ontario, the province announced on Thursday. Read the full story by the Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-shipyard-ontario
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has made decisions granting the remaining eight of 10 required DNR permits, licenses and approvals for the proposed Enbridge Line 3 pipeline replacement project. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-line-3-pipeline
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ most recent update suggests that the big lakes will continue to float at above-average water levels for the foreseeable future. Read the full story by Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-high-waters
Ducks Unlimited Canada has announced purchase of the now-protected 197-hectare St. Luke’s Marsh which is adjacent to the federally protected St. Clair Wildlife Area; these coastal wetlands are part of the most important wetlands south of James Bay. Read the full story by Chatham Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201113-ducks-unlimited-wetland-conservation
State health officials in Wisconsin are recommending groundwater quality standards for 22 substances found in Wisconsin waters, including pesticides and PFAS chemicals. These recommendations initiate a multi-year rulemaking process before the proposed standards become law. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-wi-gw-health
A new report by a binational group of scientists found that climate change has a compounding impact on multiple environmental stressors in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-climate-stress
An innovative Canadian company is launching a dog food made from the invasive Asian carp that currently threaten the Great Lakes. The Montreal-based company expects to import 50 to 100 tons of Asian carp over the next year from fishers in Illinois. Read the full story by Radio Canada International.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-carp-to-kibble
High lake levels and storms on Lake Superior are pushing toxic sands into Grand Traverse Harbor on Lake Superior, forcing operators to continue to dredge these sands to prevent them from covering important whitefish spawning habitat in the lake. Read the full story by the Daily Mining Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-dredge-sand
Bipartisan members of Congress from the Great Lakes states are advocating for increased Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding to address coastal erosion in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-erosion
The disruption from the coronavirus pandemic forced environmental regulatory agencies to modify operations and temporarily allow looser compliance with regulations. As the pandemic has continued, agencies have adjusted to resuming normal enforcement actions. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-covid-compliance
The gales of November are known to be treacherous for ships out on the Great Lakes, including the Schooner Pathfinder, which sank off the coast of Wisconsin near Manitowoc in 1886. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-pathfinder
The company responsible for illegally storing limestone on a riverfront property that partially collapsed into the Detroit River last November will pay the city of Detroit $15,000 in damages. Environmentalists believe the settlement is insufficient to deter future reckless actions. Read the full story by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-dock-settlement
Michigan health officials plan to study the potential long-term health effects of PFAS exposure on people in West Michigan communities. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-pfas-study
After years of fishing companies closing, Lake Superior is adding on a new fishery this month in northern Wisconsin. The new company, Red Cliff Fish Company, will work with tribal fisherman to sell sustainably caught fish. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201112-new-fish-co
Across Michigan and throughout the nation, cherished landmarks are threatened by record crowds as budgets and staffing at properties managed by the National Parks Service have failed to keep up with their skyrocketing popularity. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-shorelines
A plan that has addressed coastal erosion in multiple Ohio counties with frontage on Lake Erie through the creation of special improvement districts could be coming to Lorain County. Read the full story by The Chronicle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-lorain-improve
The Minnesota Supreme Court is weighing whether the groundwater around U.S. Steel’s leaking Minntac tailings basin should be regulated as drinking water, and Minnesota regulators say the outcome could have vast impacts on other water permits throughout the state. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-water
