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
On stretch of Lake Superior shoreline between Marquette and Big Bay, Michigan, deep emotions surrounding economic viability and environmental sustainability are colliding. A feasibility study is being conducted to build a vertical rocket launch site. Read the full story by the Upper Michigan Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-rocket-launch
An estimated 9,887 metric tonnes (22 million pounds) of plastics make their way into the Great Lakes every year. Now a new project aims not only to suck out some of that plastic but stop it from getting into the lakes in the first place. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-plastic-pollution
In Michigan, after a $3.9 million dredging project to protect a Lake Superior fish habitat was completed over the summer, workers are back at it as high-water levels and forceful fall storms push mining pollution back toward Buffalo Reef. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-whitefish-superior
In Ontario, the Royal Botanical Gardens is receiving a chunk of funding from a $5.1 million federal investment in protecting and restoring the Great Lakes. The money will go toward 46 projects that aim to improve the quality of the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative. Read the full story by Y108 – Hamilton, Ontario.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-restoration
This year, “the gales of November came early.” In his haunting ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” Gordon Lightfoot sang of a very real phenomenon: 40% of all Great Lakes shipwrecks have occurred during the month of November. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-gales
The most notable Great Lakes ship to go down during the gales of November is the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. There is another ship, however, that was taken down in November — the Schooner Pathfinder. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-pathfinder
A new report by a scientific committee of the International Joint Commission examines seven problems plaguing the Great Lakes to learn how they interact with one another. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201111-climate
Mariners’ Church of Detroit will observe the 45th anniversary Sunday of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald during its yearly memorial service for those who have died in Great Lakes shipwrecks. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-fitzgerald-shipwreck
Lake Erie and Cleveland could soon be home to the first offshore wind facility in the Great Lakes, and the first freshwater wind farm in North America. Read the full story by Spectrumnews1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-wind-lake-erie
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to reverse dozens of Donald Trump’s environmental policies while emphasizing a crackdown on polluters in Illinois and beyond. Read the full story by Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-environmental-policies
The Pyatt Lake Trail on Old Mission Peninsula in Michigan had been experiencing high water levels due to rising waters in the Great Lakes and frequent rainstorms, which blocks off parts of the trail. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy is building boardwalks and improving the trailway and observation platforms, making it the peninsula’s first universally-accessible trail. Read the full story by 9&10News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-accessible-trails-michigan
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the Center for EcoTechnology, RTI International and the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio have been awarded grants totaling $170,907 to support sustainable materials management projects in Ohio. Read the full story by Waste Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-recycling-waste-grants
A vast chunk of Mississauga’s prime lakeshore in Ontario will be converted from a former oil refinery. Highlights of the redevelopment named Brightwater will include nearly 3,000 new residences in a mix of condominiums and townhomes, as well as up to 150 affordable housing units. Read the full story by The Globe and Mail.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-oil-refinery-redevelopment
Historically sailors often found Lake Erie to be the most challenging of the Great Lakes, as its shallowness can cause violent waves. As Great Lakes shipping increased in the 19th century, during the time the Lake Erie Canal was built, three lighthouses were constructed in Monroe, Michigan guiding ships through the perilous waters. Read the full story by Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-lake-erie-lighthouses
Officials on Monday celebrated the completion of the Route 5 break wall repair project in Hamburg, New York. The break wall has, for years, deteriorated so much to the point that cars were splashed by the waters from Lake Erie during storms. The upgrades will prevent these hazards with the installation of 1,325 foot stones and a ten-foot “splash apron”. Listen to the full story by WBEN-FM, Buffalo NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-break-wall-erosion
The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. board of directors met Monday and adopted the Buffalo Outer Harbor’s general project plan (GPP). The Outer Harbor GPP outlines future improvements including recreational facilities to improve what is currently vacant, substandard or underutilized property along a nearly one-and-a-half mile stretch of Lake Erie waterfront. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-harbor-plan-improvements
A $40 million data center that will serve the Chicago area has opened in northwestern Indiana at a former coal-fired power plant site along Lake Michigan that was shuttered in 2012 and had long been one of the Chicago area’s worst polluters. The 105,000-square-foot Digital Crossroads data center was designed to serve soaring demand for data storage, such as for streaming movie and music services. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201110-coal-data-indiana
New York Senators are calling on the EPA to extend a written comment period for proposed vessel incidental discharge standards. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-vessel-indidental-discharge
A businessman from central Illinois has combined two wildly divergent opportunities into what is now likely the only legal cannabis and Asian carp business partnership on the planet. Read the full story by the Pekin Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-asain-carp-business
Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy worked with the local government to purchase a piece of private property on Lake Michigan that will open up an area of natural freshwater and forested dunes off the Lake Michigan coast to the public. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-lake-michigan-coastline
Over $1 million is needed for the first steps of the planned restoration of the Flint River-Swartz Creek confluence in mid-Michigan. Read the full story by East Village Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-restoration-project
After decades of state oversight of polluter-funded cleanup efforts for the Gelman dioxane plume, the city of Ann Arbor in southeast Michigan is seeking federal intervention. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-epa-intervention
Even as fishing in Lake Erie, the “Walleye Capital of World”, has certainly been living up to its name over the past two years, experts are projecting it could be on the verge of getting even better. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-walleye-fishing
Although the Great Lakes’ water levels generally drop this time of year, all of them are decreasing above average levels. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-water-levels
The Great Lakes Historical Shipwreck Society is planning a virtual live ceremony on November 10 to commemorate the singing of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-edmund-fitzgerald
The new Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park located in northern Door County, Wisconsin should be completed by the end of 2020 and will open to the public in the spring of 2021. Listen to the full story by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-eagle-tower
Wildfires are not just a problem in the western United States. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have vast amounts of forestland, and forested portions of the region have a mixed-pine ecosystem that is home to many fire-loving coniferous trees such as the jack pine. Read the full story by the Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201109-wildfires
As a region whose economy relies heavily on tourism, Ohio’s Lake Erie area has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. To stay viable, businesses in the area pivoted to offering more socially distanced outdoor activities for visitors. Read the full story by the Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-erie-tourism
The Minnesota Supreme Court must decide whether the company planning to build the state’s first copper mine engaged in “sham permitting” and intentionally misled state regulators about the intended size of the mine. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-polymet
A new wetlands project in Sandusky County, Ohio that plans to turn 54 acres of frequently flooded farmland into a public nature preserve will begin next week. The property was purchased by the Black Swamp Conservancy and will provide habitat for a diversity of wildlife. Read the full story by the Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-h2ohio
A recent study found that the invasive round goby fish in the Great Lakes can eat juvenile invasive zebra and quagga mussels and prevent mussel colonization of bare rocks. The findings suggest possible pathways for preventing the spread of invasive mussels. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-goby-eat-mussel
The 1940 Armistice Day storm on Lake Michigan was among the deadliest storms to cross the lake, sinking multiple ships and claiming 164 lives. As the 80th anniversary of the event approaches, a new exhibit in Holland, Michigan, will commemorate the stories of the lives and boats that were lost. Read the full story by Second Wave Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-holland-diver
A small group of people lined a patch of grass in the moorings for the U.S Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock Thursday night in Port Huron, holding signs and flashlights and waving small American flags. They were waiting for the return of the Hollyhock, which left 74 days prior for the East Coast to help with post-hurricane reconstruction of ports and waterways. Read the full story by the Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-uscgc
While Wisconsin does have a history of occasional large wildfires, like the one in 2013, wildfires in the state are less common than the west due to climate, rainfall, and forest ecology. Read the full story by WPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-wisconsin
The Community Foundation of Marquette County in Michigan announced the completion of four rain gardens in the city of Marquette that will improve stormwater retention in the city and prevent pollutants from entering Lake Superior. Read the full story by the Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201106-marquette-raingarden
The largest initiative to clean plastic from our Great Lakes and waterways is happening in several marinas across Georgian Bay with what appear to be floating trash bins. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-georgian-bay
While large tributaries get lots of attention from researchers and regulatory agencies, a research team from the University of Wisconsin found that small streams were largely ignored despite playing a large role in feeding algal blooms and in nearshore water quality. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-small-streams
The National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio is offering special guided tours for “The Fitzgerald Experience” this weekend to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-edmund-fitzgerald
We Energies of Milwaukee, Wisconsin will retire the oldest part of its coal-fired power plant complex in Oak Creek in 2023 and 2024. The We Energies Oak Creek generating site occupies 1,000 acres on the shore of Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Business Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-we-energies
Ducks Unlimited Canada has purchased the almost 200-hectare (488-acre) St. Luke’s Marsh, one of the few remaining coastal wetlands on Lake St. Clair in Southwestern Ontario. Read the full story by Chatham This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-st-lukes-marsh
By the time the 2020 shipping season ends more than 150 ocean-going vessels, or salties, will have dropped anchor in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Read and hear the full story by Thunder Bay News Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-thunder-bay
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler writes about the agency’s efforts to restore and maintain the overall health and ecosystems of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Holland Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201105-epa-anniversary
Long-lived chemicals that were banned years or even decades ago in the U.S. and Canada are still turning up in the bodies of fish and migrating terns in the Great Lakes, and they continue to affect the health of those threatened birds. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-lingering-chems
The Canadian federal government announced Tuesday that it is contributing $14.8 million toward flood prevention in LaSalle, Ontario. Rising water levels in Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie mean that LaSalle is increasingly vulnerable to floods. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-ottawa
Small municipalities in northeast Ohio should work together and combine their drinking water supplies to improve operational efficiencies and provide affordable drinking water to their residents. Read the full story by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-regionalize
Two Québec forestry firms have been fined a total of $40,000 after a judge found they had destroyed the habitat of an endangered species of frog, the western chorus frog, in La Prairie. Read the full story by the Montreal Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-quebec-forestry
While wildfires in the West are usually larger, the forests in Michigan and Wisconsin have frequently seen large uncontrolled burns, some as recent as 2013. Like forests out West, forests in the Great Lakes region are dependent on recurring fires for ecological health. Read the full story by The County Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-lake-levels
Researchers with the Michigan DNR recently conducted an electrofishing survey in Port Sanilac and Lexington harbors to track populations of salmon and other fish present in the area. Read the full story by Sanilac County News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-electric-fishing
The Great Lakes produced a new high record in its number of 232 waterspouts from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4. It tops the previous highest waterspout outbreak of 88 waterspouts in the month of August. Read the full story by the Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201104-waterspouts
