In the eight Great Lakes states, officials at every level along 4,500 miles of coastline are scrambling to save what they can from the rising water, competing for scarce state and federal dollars and rubber-stamping permits to build private seawalls at an unprecedented pace. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201019-rising-waters
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy awarded funds to the city of Marquette to restore a critical section of Lake Superior coastline home to a diverse habitat including wetlands, dunes, beach and coastal upland. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201019-coastal-grants
The Trowbridge Dam removal is slated to be completed in 2022, which will be the final State of Michigan-owned dam to be removed from the Kalamazoo River. The removal and remediation of the Trowbridge Dam will help to restore the Kalamazoo River watershed. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201019-trowbridge-dam
The Black River Canal, a popular waterway connecting the Black River and Lake Huron, is facing issues with erosion that Port Huron, Michigan, officials are looking to address in the short and long term. Read the full story by the Port Huron Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-canal
A wildlife biologist is finding easy-to-access spots within Toronto, Ontario, where people can go look for migrating hawks, falcons, vultures, eagles and other raptors. The birds prefer to skirt, rather than cross, the immense Lake Ontario on their way south for the winter. Read the full story by Radio Canada International.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-hawks
Researchers recently completed a project with the aim of analyzing coastline changes in the Town of Lincoln, Ontario from 1934 to 2018 using historical air photographs. The research highlights the changes over time to several areas of the Lincoln coast that may be more vulnerable to erosion. Read the full story by Niagara This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-lincoln
The comment period for permit applications for Enbridge’s Straits Tunnel project through the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) ends Monday. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-enbridge
Josina Morita, a commissioner with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, says Chicagoans should embrace the taste of the invasive fish species that threatens Illinois’ waterways — and she is giving out samples for free. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-carp-burgers
More than $125 million in state dollars will be coming to the Duluth, Minnesota, region as part of the bonding bill that advanced Thursday. Duluth officials are cheering the $13.5 million set aside for Lakewalk and sea wall repair, the city’s one big request. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-lakewalk-MN
Large vessels passing through the environmentally sensitive Straits of Mackinac would be barred from anchoring or using any other equipment that could scrape the lakebed under bipartisan bills introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives Wednesday. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-line5
The annual memorial beacon lighting ceremony at Split Rock Lighthouse in Two Harbors, Minnesota, to commemorate the sinking of the freighter S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald and the loss of her 29 crew members, will be held virtually this year. Read the full story by Hometown Focus.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-shipwreck
A handful of women participated in an annual water walk, completing a half-marathon in distance along the Niagara River to raise awareness for protecting the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Niagara This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-water-walk
Researchers from Pennsylvania State University at Behrend and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have leveraged the Comet system at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) to examine the distribution of plastics in one of the Great Lakes: Lake Erie. Read the full story by HBC Wire.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-lake-erie-plastics
Later this morning as part of an effort to help protect the great lakes, two state representatives will be holding a discussion on a new bill for protecting the great lakes ecosystem. Read the full story by WLNS-TV – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-great-lakes-legislation
Great Lakes steel production rose by 7,000 tons last week but remains depressed by nearly a fifth 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/20201015-great-lakes-steel
The new tunnel for the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac is closer to becoming a reality. According to Enbridge, about 90% of the initial design work on the anticipated state-of-the-art tunnel is complete. Read the full story by Up North Live.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-enbridge-design
The pandemic and record-high waters on Lake Michigan this year threatened to undo decades of painstaking progress for a species iconic to the Great Lakes and the region’s dunes, but one piping plover was saved along the Lake Michigan shoreline before a storm threatened to wash its nest away. Read the full story by Sierra.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-piping-plover
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) today announced more than $1.1 million in coastal management grants to fund 13 projects and statewide initiatives. EGLE also has opened the application period for project proposals seeking funding in 2022. Read the full story by WLUC-TV -Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-egle-grants
A local photographer managed to capture some peculiar images of what appears to be a group of witches taking part in some wholesome fun on the water near the Credit River Inlet, just west of downtown Toronto. Read and hear the full story by BlogTo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-lake-erie-witches
The Department of Natural Resources said it is on track to meet its quota for stocking fish in Lake Michigan for 2020. Read the full story by WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-DNR-fisheries
A bonding bill being considered during a special session of the Minnesota Legislature includes nearly $125 million for projects in northeastern Minnesota. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-minnesota-funding
The former site of Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna is in line for (at least) an estimated $35 million cleanup, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced. Read the full story by Buffalo Rising.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201015-erie-cleanup
A team of nonscientists utilized a remote-operated underwater vehicle in the Straits of Mackinac and found stones they say appear arranged in patterns on the lake floor, potentially done by humans 10,000 years ago. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-ice-age-culture
Foreign commercial ships traversing the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsula would be required to get special help under a resolution approved by the Michigan House on Tuesday. Read the full story by WJRT-TV – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-federal-designation
The International Joint Commission posted an online questionnaire for owners of property along Lake Ontario that could lead to revisions to the agency’s lake level management plan. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-ijc-management-plan
Lawyers for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine and state regulators urged the Minnesota Supreme Court to defer to the judgment of the state Department of Natural Resources and reinstate three critical permits for the project. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-polymet-mine
The history of the decade-long fight over what to do about the aging oil and gas pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac is untangled. Listen to the full story by WDET – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-pipeline-history
Conneaut in northern Ohio has received a $19.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, for critical infrastructure work on the city’s port. Read the full story by Star Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-port-grant
Three new all-terrain wheelchairs have been added for guest use at Indiana Dunes State Park, provided access to trails and the Lake Michigan beach. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-wheelchairs
The old lighthouses of the Great Lakes are believed to hold the unsettled spirits of those who kept them, and those who met tragic, untimely deaths. Read the full story by Fodor’s Travel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-haunted-lighthouses
Construction on a pipeline in Waukesha, Wisconsin that is designed to return treated water back to Lake Michigan, is slated to begin later this month. Read the full story by GM Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-pipeline-construction
After twenty-seven years, two states and one Great Lake, a small wooden boat was discovered on a remote beach on Lake Superior. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201014-toy-boat
The Ports of Indiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are working to have the northern and southern portions declared as maritime districts; the alignment will create one district for Lake Michigan shipments and one district for Ohio River shipments, allowing the state to be better represented in national rankings. Read the full story by The Center Square.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-ports-martime
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District, has completed construction for the final phase of the Fort Sheridan Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration project at Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve in unincorporated Lake County, including 60 acres of shoreline and placement of artificial underwater reefs. Read the full story by the Daily Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-fort-sheridan-restoration
The owner of a Detroit River dock that collapsed in November 2019, spilling large piles of gravel-type rocks into the river, has been fined $60,000 by state regulators for violating state environmental laws. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-detriot-dock-collapse
The Duluth City Council approved a resolution that will halt any further work to advance the path and redirect $915,000 in federal disaster aid that had been earmarked to repair a crushed stone shoreline path, to be used to help fund repairs of other storm-damaged areas. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-duluth-construction
Consumers Energy spent from May through mid-September pulling four to eight 46 kV cables from the water. The cables had been installed in 1956 to carry electricity to the Upper Peninsula. Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-mackinac-energy
The project on Detroit’s Oakman Boulevard will drain 64 acres to prevent flooding by installing permeable medians as much as 15 feet below the street surface. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-green-infrastructure
According to the Chamber of Marine Commerce, from April through the end of August, cargo volumes in the St. Lawrence Seaway, was down 8% compared to 2019’s figures. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-shipping-slowdown
More than 91,000 dams impede the passage of rivers all around the United States. Most dams have a lifespan of about 50 years, and many that exist in the United States were built long before the 1970s—including the Edenville Dam in Michigan, which failed earlier this year. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-aging-dams
The ongoing disaster striking the coastal communities of the Great Lakes has not captured national attention like hurricanes and wildfires in other parts of the country, but those communities are reeling from untold billions in damage and the prospect that climate change will make things worse in the years to come. Read the full story by Wisconsin Examiner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201013-coastal-damages
University of Wisconsin-Superior researchers are trying to figure out how to better regulate small invasive organisms that stow away in the ballast water of large vessels traversing the Great Lakes Basin. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-ballast-water
Community members, local officials and supporters celebrated the grand opening of a free water testing lab in Flint, Michigan, that fosters STEM education, job-skill training, and trust in the community amid the Flint water crisis. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-flint-water-testing
A new study reveals that other invasive species may be impacting invasive mussel populations in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-invasive-mussels
Record setting amounts of water flowed through some Michigan rivers this year on the way to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-michigan-rivers
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula residents are waiting to see how much of the $500 million for water infrastructure upgrades announced by Michigan Gov. Whitmer last week will make it to the region. Read the full story by Your Daily Globe.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-indrastructure-investment
Nearly three dozen public health and environmental organizations are calling on Wisconsin state officials to require thousands of public water systems to test for hazardous chemicals known as PFAS. Read the full story by Kenosha News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-pfas-testing
A smell that some residents in Saginaw, Michigan, have noticed in their tap water is due to a seasonal turnover in the city’s water source out of Lake Huron. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-tap-water-odor
Lawmakers in Washington are again making bipartisan efforts to push for funding to protect the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-great-lakes-support
Lakefront erosion is not hurting property values for communities along Lake Michigan’s shoreline, where housing prices have been on the rise since months after the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full story by the Post-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-lake-michigan-property
