2020 was supposed to be a banner year for Milwaukee’s cruise industry. Although some of the cruises have been cancelled, there still could be major economic benefits if they can begin operations later in the summer. Read the full story by WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-cruise
Crews are installing flood barriers near two water treatment facilities in South Haven, Michigan, to protect from rising water levels in Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – South Haven, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-barriers
Lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie set new monthly mean water level records for April 2020, records which were previously set in the 1980s. Read the full story by WLNS-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-record
The lack of lake ice on Lake Erie this year and record high water levels have led to significant erosion issues in Presque Isle, Pennsylvania. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-presque
The city of Gladstone, Michigan, recently received an enforcement notice to provide the state with a plan to fix previous sewer and wastewater issues that have occurred when the area received heavy rainfall that the city’s wastewater system was unable to handle. Read the full story by Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-wastewater
The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board is forecasting that water levels in Lake Ontario will peak between now and the next two weeks. Read the full story by Durham Radio News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-levels
The Flint City Council has approved the construction of a $14.7 million pipeline to supply Flint with clean water if its main transmission line is out of service. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-backup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a replacement clean water standard, rolling back regulatory standards designed to protect community rivers, creeks, streams and wetlands that provide safe clean drinking water, essential wildlife and fish habitat, and recreational use and enjoyment for many people. Read the full story by MLive
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-wotus
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to hear from the public on Enbridge’s proposal to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-enbridge
A broad coalition is coming together to seek investment in the Great Lakes region as Congress decides how to divvy up more coronavirus stimulus money. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200513-stimulus
For the time being, the Toledo City Council will not be challenging a federal judge’s ruling on the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. Read the full story by WNWO – TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-lakers
A coalition of cities, business and labor leaders and environmental groups is calling on the Minnesota Legislature to provide at least $300 million to repair aging water infrastructure throughout the state. Read the full story by MPR News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-minnesota-pipeline
A team of Michigan State University researchers hope to make use of an unlikely tool in Michigan’s fight against the new coronavirus: human waste. Read the full story by The Bridge.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-corona-wastewater
As construction of the Great Lake Tunnel Project is set to begin in 2021, Earthjustice and Native American Rights Fund attorneys have filed a petition to participate as a party in the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel Project proceedings. Read the full story by Up North Live.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-enbridge
As Flint’s city council considered a possible backup source of drinking water from Lake Huron, some councilmembers expressed concern that the lake may become contaminated. Read the full story by WEYI – TV – Flint, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-flint-water
Water levels in the upper St. Lawrence River are close to peaking well below the record levels experienced during the flooding of 2017 and 2019, the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority said on Monday. Read the full story by The Recorder and Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-stlawrence
With improved weather conditions, sea wall construction has been continuous along the Lake Michigan shoreline for the past month. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-seawall
The water level forecast into summer from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows a range of possible outcomes; with heavier than normal precipitation Lake Michigan and Lake Huron could reach the highest level recorded since the late 1800s. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-lake-levels
The $922 million passage now under construction at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, would be large enough to handle the 1,000-foot lakers that carry taconite from Minnesota and Michigan to steelmakers along the lower lakes. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200512-lakers
In 2021 Navy Pier will be home to Chicago’s newest marina. Navy Pier Marina will be the first marina on Lake Michigan to exclusively offer short term, transient docking facilities with immediate access to The People’s Pier dining, shopping and entertainment. Read the full story by WITI-TV-Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-Navy-Pier
May is typically a huge month for hunting and guiding businesses. Coronavrius shut-down restrictions will prevent most of that business from happening this year. Read the full story by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-fly-fishing
The walleye are out there, but Lake Erie charter boats not willing to engage in rule-breaking haven’t been; that is scheduled to change in Ohio on Tuesday. Read the full story by the Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-Erie-charter
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and concerns for employee safety, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will not collect lake sturgeon or muskellunge eggs this spring. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-DNR-stocking
PFAS compounds have been detected in Milwaukee Estuary, which was designated as an Area Of Concern. Thirteen locations in the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers, along with the inner and outer harbors, and one location in Lake Michigan, were sampled for 35 different PFAS compounds. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Examiner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-PFAS-milwaukee
The U.S. Navy has awarded a $795 million contract to Marinette, Wisconsin based Fincantieri Marinette Marine Corp. for detail design and construction of its FFG(X) class of guided-missile frigates. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-Navy-contract
A new Rochester Institute of Technology study estimated that Lake Erie includes 381 metric tons of plastic – more than 50 times greater than the previous estimates at the surface. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-plastic
The Ohio Lake Erie Commission recently approved its 2020 Lake Erie Protection & Restoration Plan. The plan reflects the state of Ohio’s strategic priorities for the next two years to protect, preserve, and restore Lake Erie and its watershed. Read the full story by The News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-Erie-Protection
Lake Michigan and Lake Huron have broken water records as predicted, and the levels are expected to rise further in the coming months. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200511-water-level
Hundreds of thousands of anglers will hit Minnesota’s lakes and rivers Saturday for the general fishing opener, but they will be doing it without professional guides or charter captains leading the way. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-charter
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy requested revisions to Enbridge Energy’s permit application to build a tunnel for the Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, specifically noting it was too long for the public to review. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-permit
Dozens of homeowners in northern Ottawa County who went decades without flooding problems are now seeing water infiltrate their basements. Heavy rains were not as damaging when the water table was lower. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-flooding
A seasonal ferry that sails Lake Huron between South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island and Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula, the Chi-Cheemaun usually launches in early May and runs until mid-October. This year, it will open in June but only for essential travel. Read the full story by Northern Ontario Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-ferry
The Port Hope Project and Port Granby projects, a $1.3-billion combined Canadian federal investment for a multi-year cleanup of low-level radioactive waste in the Lake Ontario communities, were set to enter their largest construction phase as the coronavirus pandemic began and effectively halted work. Read the full story by Global News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-cleanup
The Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association is still looking to the federal government for financial and marketing support of the industry as it is feeling the pinch with the COVID-19 pandemic, as none of the $62.5 million in federal funding for fisheries went to Ontario. Read the full story by the Manitoulin Expositor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-fisheries
Lakefront tourism officials were initially worried about the bad reputation beaches are getting due to major erosion issues, but then the coronavirus came along and made an uphill battle even harder. Read the full story by WSBT-TV – Mishawaka, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-tourism
Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan provides habitat for anywhere from one-third to half of all nesting Great Lakes piping plovers in a given year — and as such, is home to an active plover monitoring and protection program. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-plover
The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has broken ground on a 3,500-square-foot commercial fish processing facility for Red Cliff Fish Co. that will process commercial fish and provide packaged products to distributors and local markets. Read the full story by the Ashland Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-fish
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday will host a virtual field trip to learn about how scientists explore the bottom of Lake Huron and discover what lies below the surface. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-sanctuary
The University of Minnesota Duluth recently received a grant for half a million dollars to look more into how climate-driven disturbances are impacting the Great Lakes. Read the full story by KQDS-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-climate
Ohio residents voiced concerns about potential water pollution, air pollution and air quality Thursday night during an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency webinar addressing the issuance of a draft air pollution permit for a proposed pig iron plant in Ashtabula Harbor. Read the full story by the Star Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200508-iron
Enbridge’s application for an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a Great Lakes channel can’t be processed without more information, including an analysis of alternatives to the project, Michigan state regulators say. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-Enbridge
Heavy wave action and shifting sands have again brought a piece of the Jennie and Annie wreckage to float at the shoreline along Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore near Traverse City, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-shipwreck
The U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation announced that five U.S. ports in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System received the agency’s Robert J. Lewis Pacesetter Award for registering increases in international cargo tonnage shipped through their ports during the 2019 navigation season. Read the full story by WDIO -TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-cargo-award
Work to reroute a storm sewer line through RACER Trust’s Buick City property in Flint, Michigan, which was postponed due to COVID-19 nonessential business restrictions, will resume shortly after May 7. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-Flint-river
The city of Port Clinton, Ohio, is still looking to find potential funding sources to address the issues with high water and flooding that have been plaguing the downtown area. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-port-clinton
In New York, Rochester Institute of Technology scientists recently developed a 3D mass estimate to show where microplastic pollution is collecting in Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Monroe County Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-erie-plastics
In Ontario, officials with the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority are welcoming the Chatham-Kent Lake Erie Shoreline Study which will help protect residents and businesses in the future. Read the full story by Chatham This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-erie-shoreline
Even under the wettest models, Lake Ontario water levels are expected to remain below the flood stages experienced in recent years, according federal regulators, but are likely to stay well above the 100-year average. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200507-ontario
As auto plants shut down and consumer spending slows down to a near-standstill during the coronavirus pandemic, steel production in the Great Lakes region is now down 11% for the year. Read the full story by the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200506-steel-down
Endangered piping plovers are back for a 14th straight year at Sauble Beach along the southern Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. Reduced beach traffic due to the coronavirus has benefited plovers looking for safe nesting spots along the beach. Read the full story by The Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200506-plovers
