Every fish studied recently in two southeast Michigan watersheds contained at least one of 14 PFAS health-threatening chemicals. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240327-toxicchemicals-lakemichigan-fish
Lake Zurich, Illinois, village officials approved new measures last week for a $154 million project that will transition the town’s water source to Lake Michigan, but it comes at a price for its residents. The project will be the most expensive infrastructure project in the village’s history. Read the full story by the Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240327-lakezurich-150million-project-lakemichiganwatersource
Navigating vessels in the Great Lakes might seem a lot easier than spending weeks on the open ocean. However, that doesn’t mean Great Lakes crews are any less vigilant, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240327-greatlakes-shipping-safety
Environment and Climate Change Canada says ice cover on the Great Lakes reached a record low this winter. Experts say that ice cover on the Great Lakes has declined about 75 percent in the last 50 years. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240327-icecover-low-greatlakes-environmentcanada
Tribal communities have long faced barriers to clean drinking water and testing. The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center, based in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, aims to help tribal schools, childcare centers and after-school programs across the Great Lakes region ensure their water is safe through its free drinking water testing program. Read the full story by WUMW – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240327-freewatertesting-tribalschools-greatlakesregion
The Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, opened the Poe Lock to all marine traffic at 6 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 22, marking the start of the 2024 Great Lakes shipping season. Read the full story by the Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-shipping-season
The owner of the decommissioned Palisades nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Michigan about five miles south of South Haven, Michigan, is better known for decommissioning nuclear plants. Its endeavor to restart the plant is one that has never been attempted in the United States. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-nuclear-plant-restart
Alongside the lack of ice coverage, unseasonable winter temperatures in the Great Lakes region are creating the conditions for the proliferation of invasive species, strain on the lakes’ natural, temperature-driven stratification process, and the rise of toxic algal blooms. Read the full story by the Daily Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-climate-impacts
The regional grid operator that oversees electric reliability in 15 states, including nearly all of Michigan, recently released a series of proposed transmission projects aimed at stabilizing the power grid in the future as more renewables come online and coal plants retire. However, the up to $23 billion plan left out one notable project: an underwater cable across Lake Michigan connecting the lakeshore with eastern Wisconsin. Read the full story by Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-power-supply
On World Water Day, the Canadian government announced $800,000 in funding to improve water in the Saint Lawrence River. The money from is being used for initiatives that are part of the Saint Lawrence Action Plan that began in 2011 and runs until 2026. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-water-quality-funding
Explorers from the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association have discovered and identified the remains of the steam barge Milwaukee, which sank in 1886, about 40 miles west of Holland, Michigan. Read the full story by WXMI-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-shipwreck-discovery
The northwestern Ontario site being considered for a nuclear waste repository is safe for that use, according to the industry-funded organization tasked with creating a repository. So is the other site on the shortlist for the proposed deep geological repository, according to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. Read the full story by MidlandToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-nuclear-repository
Ohio’s Bowling Green State University recently received a new high-resolution mass spectrometer that university researchers call a “game-changer” for improving water quality in the Great Lakes region and beyond. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-bgsu
The 2023-2024 season marked the warmest winter on record for the lower 48 states, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The change in the weather has had an outsize impact on the festivals, events and tourism that define the Great Lakes identity. Read the full story by CNN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240325-winter-impacts
To prevent the movement of invasive carp into the Great Lakes, the states of Illinois and Michigan and the Army Corps of Engineers need to sign an agreement, but for months they have been locked in a stalemate over what comes next. Read the full story by WBEZ – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-invasive-carp-prevention
The U.S. Department of Justice and environmental groups filed two lawsuits against Campbell Soup in Napoleon, Ohio, accusing the company of allowing wastewater and pollutants to flow unchecked into the Maumee River, which flows into Lake Erie, for years. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-pollution-lawsuit
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is challenging a decision that federal courts have jurisdiction over the future of Enbridge Energy’s Line 5. That’s after a judge moved her legal challenge from the Ingham County Circuit Court to a U.S. district court. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-pipeline-litigation
A combination of sand movement and awareness of who to contact are likely why so many more shipwrecks were discovered in Lake Michigan last year. It’s possible that water level changes caused the sand bars to shift dramatically, uncovering shipwrecks in shallower waters. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-shipwreck-discoveries
For World Water Day, the Ontario Salt Pollution Coalition is sounding the alarm on the damage done by road salt and is calling on the province of Ontario to do more to mitigate the risk of contamination to groundwater, rivers, lakes and drinking water. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-water-advocacy
Staff from the Superior National Forest and three Bands of Chippewa Indigenous Nations recently met in Grand Portage, Minnesota, to engage together on “Shared Learning for Co-Stewardship.” The two-day training addressed Indigenous tribal sovereignty, treaty rights and trust obligations, traditional ecological knowledge, and tribal stewardship priorities. Read the full story by Red Lake Nation News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-stewardship-training
Legislation that would establish a framework for Pennsylvania to develop a wind energy industry off its Lake Erie coast cleared an early hurdle in the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Tuesday. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-wind-development
Friends of the Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary announced their children’s program lineup for this year’s Summer in the Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan. The program is designed to get kids interested and involved with the Great Lakes through educational and immersive activities that get them near, on, and even under the water. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-childrens-programs
The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary is one of 15 places in the country that have received the marine sanctuary designation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coast is home to dozens of shipwrecks that represent and preserve both a moment frozen in time and a window into the past. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-marine-sanctuary
On March 21, 1953, the now historic S.S. Badger set off on its maiden voyage on Lake Michigan. The S.S. Badger and its sister ships are the last — and the largest — coal-fired, steam engine car ferries built in the United States. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240322-car-ferry-history
Sitting at 26 miles long and 24 miles wide with nearly one-third of the sport fishing catch annually in the Great Lakes region, Lake St. Clair should be a household name. While not as well-known as the Great Lakes, this lake has a lot to offer. Read the full story by Great Lake Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-lake-st-clair
On World Water Day, March 22, the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Ocean Conservancy, Illinois Environmental Council, and Loyola University scientists will hold a briefing with partners at the Museum of Science and Industry to discuss protecting the Great Lakes and waterways from the environmental and health risks of microfiber pollution. Read the full story by the Ocean Conservancy.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-great-lakes-water
The Ford government is facing fresh questions over its plans to redevelop Ontario Place after new documents suggest the province considered filling in a portion of Lake Ontario to create a new development space. Read the full story by Global News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-ontario-place
As national parks around the country try to raise awareness about climate change, those around Lake Superior are taking steps to cut their emissions. The foundation and the National Park Service announced last week that the parks are starting to implement plans to get their operations off fossil fuels. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-lake-superior-parks
The hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect that threatens millions of Michigan’s native hemlock trees, has been discovered near Torch Lake in western Antrim County, according to the Michigan Invasive Species Program. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-hemlock-woolly-adelgid
Wisconsin is adopting its biggest change to walleye fishing regulations since the 1940s. Starting April 1, the state’s bag limit for the prized game fish will fall from five to three walleye per angler. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-walleye-baglimit
For years, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and other tribes of the Great Lakes region have been leading a fight against the Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy. Enbridge’s 71-year-old Line 5 oil and gas pipeline, which trespasses through sovereign tribal lands, is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-line-5
A public hearing was held on March 11 by Michigan’s Alabaster Township Board of Trustees, to learn about the Parks and Recreation Committee’s trail enhancement proposal for the Lake Huron Coastal Preserve, which is proposing an Accessibility Development Project on the shoreline that is 100% wheelchair accessible. Read the full story by Iosco County News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-lake-huron-coastal-preserve
The Soo Locks will officially open the Poe Lock to all marine traffic at 6 pm March 22nd, marking the start of the Great Lakes shipping season. Read the full story by the Keweenaw Report.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-shipping-season
An hourlong presentation about western Lake Erie was made Monday to a Washington-based policy center with ties to Congress, an online event that reminded viewers they are about three months away from battling another season of toxic algal blooms. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240320-algae-webinar
U.S. federal wildlife regulators have a coming deadline in June to decide whether lake sturgeon should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The collective concern is whether and even how a change in federal protections could alter existing fishery efforts and both angling and spearing seasons for sports fishers. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-sturgeon-protections
Water levels across the Great Lakes are projected to drop below last year’s levels over the next six months during Michigan’s peak boating season, according to the latest forecast by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-water-levels
In response to a bill proposed in the New York State Senate, advocates want New York Governor Hochul to support a moratorium on any Great Lakes wind turbine development. The bill would allow the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to issue licenses to wind developers looking to build in Lake Erie or Lake Ontario. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-turbine-moratorium
As temperatures rise and the lakes unfreeze, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will begin researching the Great Lakes’ acidity levels, providing ships and space for U.S. Department of Defense research, and collaborating on a study of Lake Huron sinkhole microbial communities. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-noaa-research
New Ohio Sea Grant research measured veterinary antibiotics in Lake Erie tributaries and found that some medications are prevalent in regional watersheds at low concentrations. The team also confirmed that across watersheds, antibiotic levels were associated with the density of livestock nearby. Read the full story by The Crescent-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-erie-antibiotics
Hundreds of dead fish and other creatures were found washed up on Montreal’s South Shore along the St. Lawrence River. The die-offs are being investigated and could be due to recent low water levels or the warm winter weather. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-montreal-fish
The Great Lakes region has a lower risk of extreme weather compared to other parts of the country and is referred to as a “climate haven.” But before it can be considered as such, researchers emphasize the importance of urban planning and addressing social and environmental challenges that Great Lakes cities have. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-climate-migrants
Around the end of April, the Cleveland Water Alliance will be deploying two ‘smart’ buoys in Erie County, Ohio, to monitor water information in both Sandusky Bay and a Lake Erie tributary. There have been 13 smart buoys in operation so far; a 14th will be added this year, and a 15th will be added this year or next year. Read the full story by The Courier.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-smart-buoys
The Cuyahoga, the oldest Canadian lake boat still in operation, and one year shy of the oldest boat on the Great Lakes, caught fire on Friday. The ship’s master and crew were accounted for. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-cuyahoga-fire
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewas has been fighting for decades to save the Great Lakes from a potential oil pipeline rupture. The new documentary Bad River takes viewers into that ongoing fight against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. Read the full story by WBBM-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240318-bad-river
A federal judge has found the city of Flint, Michigan, in contempt after years of delays to replace lead service lines at tens of thousands of homes. Lead line replacement efforts were supposed to be done in 2020, but have dragged on, leaving many residents with cratered yards and broken sidewalks from previous pipe replacement. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-flint-lead
The Line 5 oil pipeline has become a household name in the Great Lakes region, creating intense concern over its potential risk to water quality and its infringement on tribal rights. Summarized are its history, its controversies, and its legal battles. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-line5-issues
After more than three years of legal delays, work will begin this spring on the long-planned construction of an experimental fish passage system in Traverse City, Michigan. FishPass construction will take until 2026 to complete and will also include a new research facility and improvements to the surrounding parkland. Read the full story by the Traverse City Ticker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-fishpass-construction
Lake Michigan’s food web has been impacted by overfishing and invasive species. Now, climate change is flexing its muscles in the Lake Michigan ecosystem, impacting lake turnover, plankton, and fish. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-food-web
Last week, a divided Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that limited the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ ability to regulate PFAS and other emerging contaminants under the state’s long-standing spills law. The case is one of two efforts to weaken the spills law. Read the full story by Wisconsin Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-pfas-regulation
As the Berrien County, Michigan, government continues working through an emergency request to help dredge a portion of the St. Joseph River, one of the factors in play is what to do about the fish. There’s a narrow window between now and mid-May — the start of sturgeon spawning season. Read the full story by WSJM – Benton Harbor, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240315-dredging-sturgeon
