Federal, state and local officials on Wednesday celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative that’s pumped $2.75 billion into cleaning up toxic hotspots and restoring habitat along the region’s most degraded waterways. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201211-glri-10yr
A bipartisan bill to address rising water levels and shoreline erosion in the Great Lakes has passed the Senate. The bill would provide support for local communities facing rising water levels, coastal erosion, and flooding that have put homes and property at risk, and caused millions of dollars in damages. Read the full story by WSYM – TV – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201212-senate-bill
Members of Congress touted the passage of the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2020 as a victory in preventing the introduction of invasive carp into the Great Lakes. The bill authorizes a greater federal cost-share of funding for Brandon Road lock and dam project in Joliet, Illinois. Read the full story by the Herald News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201211-wrda
Ducks Unlimited has joined with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and more than 40 other organizations to implement H2Ohio, a data-driven water quality plan to reduce harmful algal blooms, improve wastewater infrastructure and prevent lead contamination across Ohio. Read the full story by Richland Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-h2ohio
The Ohio Senate voted unanimously this week to strip away a House-approved, long-term funding plan for cleanup of Lake Erie and other waterways. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-ohio-senate-bill
The small Michigan regulatory panel charged with deciding whether to let Enbridge build a tunnel-encased pipeline under the Mackinac Straits is shifting gears, announcing that it has ordered a rehearing for Enbridge’s application now that the company’s 1953 easement has been revoked by the state. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-enbridge-permit
Michigan lawmakers planned to begin swiftly passing a plan to borrow $600 million to fund the state’s proposed settlement with the residents of Flint, who sued after their municipal water supply was contaminated with elevated levels of lead for 18 months. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-flint-water-settlement
The U.S. House voted to authorize the Brandon Road Lock & Dam project in Illinois as part of the final Water Resources and Development Act, an infrastructure bill that’s among several major year-end pieces of legislation moving right now through Congress. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-carp
Farmers use underground systems to manage rainwater, including many located where a massive swamp once made up the Ohio landscape. All those farms face challenges managing fertilizers and water in their fields with drainage systems. The level of success at managing those challenges can be seen in the size and severity of the yearly harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-field-tiles
The Great Lakes Water Authority will unveil a long-range, 40-year plan aimed at keeping more of the unmentionable stuff we flush out of our waterways while also keeping a lid on water and sewer rates. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-detroit-sewage
Flint has taken important steps toward resolving the lead contamination crisis that made the impoverished Michigan city a symbol of the drinking water problems that plague many U.S. communities, officials said earlier this week. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-flint-water-crisis
A decision is near on whether the monarch butterfly, an iconic and beloved pollinator that migrates through the Great Lakes region each year, warrants listing as an endangered species in the U.S. as its population counts dwindle due to habitat loss. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-monarch-butterfly
If the permitting and development go just right, the site of a former iron ore mine closed in 1981 could be generating enough solar power by 2023 to power 4,000 homes. Read and listen to the full story by WXPR Rhinelander.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-redeveloped-mine
With the announcement earlier this fall that Ontario’s Prince Edward County’s South Shore could be designated as a conservation reserve, the South Shore Joint Initiative (SSJI) hosted the first of a new webinar series where people learned not only what a conservation reserve is, but also what it’s not, and how it differs to a conservation area and a nature reserve. Read the full story by Countylive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201210-convservation-webinar
A plan to create a corridor of multimodal industrial hubs along the Welland Canal took its first step last week with a partnership between the Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority and Bioveld Canada Inc. Read the full story by the Welland Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-multimodal-hub
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the Niagara River ice boom installation is planned to begin December 10. Each winter, the Lake Erie-Niagara River Ice Boom has been installed near the outlet of Lake Erie to reduce the amount of ice entering the Niagara River. Read the full story by WKBW-TV- Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-ice-boom
New York’s two U.S. senators joined the call for faster outflows from Lake Ontario Tuesday, as the International Joint Commission met to discuss whether to grant permission to send more water down the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by the Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-ontario-outflows
A crowd of 50 people were up bright and early Tuesday morning, prepared to stop heavy equipment from removing a part of Sauble Beach’s sand dunes, which are located alone Ontario’s Lake Huron shoreline. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-sauble-beach
After setting or tying multiple records for high water marks in 2019, Lake Superior in 2020 retreated somewhat from levels that have caused erosion and damaged shoreline infrastructure. Read the full story by Thunder Bay News Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-water-level
The state of Michigan has begun its emergency work to partially breach the Edenville Dam’s Tobacco River spillway following the catastrophic dam failure in May. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-dam-repair
In Michigan, the Superior Watershed Partnership Land Conservancy will be protecting and restoring a 4–mile stretch of the Sturgeon River, after being awarded $2.1 Million from the Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund Board. Read the full story by WBUP-TV- Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-sturgeon-river
Duluth is expecting an improved but slower than normal tourism economy in 2021 as the prospect of the pandemic’s gradual end gives more certainty visitors will eventually flock to the region at previous levels. Read the full story by the Duluth Star-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-duluth
After four years in the making, a set of maps has been created to show what lies underneath the water in the Milwaukee Harbor and what restoration efforts could help get the harbor removed from the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration’s list of heavily contaminated Areas of Concern. Read the full story by the Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-milwaukee-harbor
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to authorize construction of the long-studied waterway project that lawmakers hope will halt the progress of Asian carp toward the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-carp
Groups are collaborating, for example, in the Algonquin to Adirondacks area, from Ontario through the state of New York, to protect forest and wetlands considered the best remaining potential for wildlife movement across the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-st-lawrence-wildlife
The U.S. Coast Guard wants to retire its oldest cutter on the Great Lakes, the 57-year-old, Sault Ste. Marie-based buoy tender Buckthorn, but it may take several years. A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says the Coast Guard is waiting for Congress to approve its proposal to replace up to 35 aging cutters, which average 56 years old. Read the full story by the Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-coast-guard-ship
The Trump administration recently announced that it will remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the lower 48 states. The gray wolf population in those states, including Michigan, has reached more than 6,000 and has met recovery goals that make it unnecessary for protection, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-endangered-wolf-protection
Ducks Unlimited Canada celebrates an announcement by the Province of Ontario, which renews their longstanding conservation partnership. The Wetlands Conservation Partner Program will provide $6 million this year for wetland projects in the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie drainage basins. View the full story by Globe Newswire.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-wetlands-ontario
Port Milwaukee is entering into a lease agreement with Pearl Seas Cruises to give the company priority docking rights for its cruise ships at Pier Wisconsin, the downtown dock immediately east of Discovery World museum. Read the full story by The Maritime Executive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-wisconsin-cruises
A researcher at Southern Illinois University Carbondale studying invasive grass carp has published their findings about a tiny bone in the ear of the grass carp that is exposing an important clue to controlling their numbers in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Southern.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-grass-carp
Flathead catfish, gizzard shad, alewife and white perch are among the fish species that have shown up in a variety of our state’s waters, ones where they had not previously been. When they become established in waters where they did not previously exist it’s often at the expense of other species. Read the full story by Indiana Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-indiana-invasive-species
Canadian Energy company Enbridge’s request for a permit to build a tunnel surrounding Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, was met with lots of scrutiny and criticism in an online public hearing as environmental groups argue it could have potentially detrimental effects on coastal wetlands. Read the full story by WJRT-TV-Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-line-5-enbridge
The City of Marquette has been awarded a grant from the Native American Heritage Fund for a project that will promote Native history in the area. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-native-history-grant-trail
The Great Lakes Conservation Coalition is criticizing the U.S. EPA’s ballast water rule proposal which would exempt cargo ships that only travel in the Great Lakes from having to treat their ballast water to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-epa-proposal
Applications to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy for shoreline protection permits tripled this year compared to 2019. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-lakefront-protections
The mayor of Waukegan, Illinois, is chairing the recently formed Mayors Water Equity Commission of the binational Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, exploring ways to make fresh water more accessible and less costly. Read the full story by The Lake County News-Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-waukegan-water-quality
Lake Superior water levels continued to drop in November, but more slowly than usual, as the big lake continues with higher-than-normal water levels. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-superior-water-level
A new 214-acre “quiet” recreation area on Lake Michigan and featuring a large inland lake near Muskegon, Michigan, could be open to the public next year. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-muskegon-park
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a water safety nonprofit, is rolling out an online learning program to give water safety presentations to schools throughout the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana TImes.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-water-safety
A project supported by the Stratford Perth Community Foundation in Ontario is helping landowners in the region shore up their properties to provide environmental benefits, add bank stability, and improve the quality of water that ultimately ends up in Lake Huron. Read the full story by The Beacon Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-restoration-project
The Saugeen Ojibway Nation has now been joined by more partners in an effort to stop the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, from cutting back the dunes at Sauble Beach on Lake Huron and installing a concrete-block retaining wall. Read the full story by The Owen Sound Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-sauble-beach
A Minnesota regulatory panel on Friday denied a request from two tribes to prevent Enbridge Energy from moving forward with its contentious Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement, which broke ground this week after receiving its final state permit. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-line-3
The government of Ontario estimates that “hundreds of thousands” of the province’s lakes, islands, beaches, bays and other geographic features still don’t have an official name, and anyone can make a name submission to the Ontario Geographic Names Board. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-ontario-lakes
Michigan’s outdoor recreation is expected to get a boost of nearly $37.8 million in 2021, and Muskegon County is the biggest winner of funds with a single grant for $5 million. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-michigan-recreation-grant
The Lower Menominee River remediation project, located in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, has been officially delisted as an Area of Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. However, there is work still to be done. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-michigan-river-remediation
St. Clair County, Michigan, has secured funding to acquire a 10-acre parcel along the North Channel of the St. Clair River with help from Six Rivers Land Conservancy. Read the full story by The Voice.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-michigan-land-conservation
The Harvest Spirit is anchored in Canadian waters after having run aground in the Detroit River near Grosse Ile, Michigan, on Dec. 3. Up to 18 vessels had anchored and were awaiting passage during the incident. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-freighter-shipping
A crustacean is invading the Great Lakes and eating plankton, leaving small fish nothing to feed on. Native to the Baltic Sea region in Russia, the water flea reached Lake Ontario in the early 1980s, and Lake Superior by 1987. Read the full story by The Science Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-invasive-species-water-flea
Enbridge Energy has all the permits it needs to start construction on a controversial new crude oil pipeline in Minnesota, more than five years after the Canadian company first asked state regulators to approve the Line 3 project, but hurdles still remain. View the full story by MinnPost.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-enbridge-line-3
The U.S. House on Thursday approved legislation to require the updating of Great Lakes environmental maps for use in response to an oil spill. The maps, which are maintained by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, summarize resources near the lakeshore like shellfish beds, marshes, tidal flats, public beaches, parks and endangered and threatened species that would be at risk in oil spill. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-erie-threat-priorities
