With the estimated 22 million pounds of plastic getting into the Great Lakes each year, several initiatives plan to tackle the issue through plastic waste upcycling and binational monitoring efforts. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-plastic-waste
The U.S. Geological Survey is using autonomous surface and underwater vehicles on Lake Erie from mid-July through September 2023. The goal is to improve fishery surveys across the entire lake in cooperation with several public, private and nonprofit partners in both the U.S. and Canada. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-unmanned-boats
In the most recent legislative session in Albany, some New York State lawmakers introduced legislation to establish a wind turbine pilot program in Lake Erie intending to progress the state’s climate goals. Read the full story by WICU-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-wind-turbines
A group of six marathon swimmers will swim from Split Rock to Duluth in Minnesota next week without wetsuits to raise awareness of climate change. Read the full story by KBJR-TV- Superior, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-marathon-swimmers
Duluth leaders are looking to better forecast rip current conditions and have launched a water safety buoy off Park Point in Minnesota to do so. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-rip-current
A coalition of organizations is developing an innovative and expensive engineering project at the 96-year-old Brandon Road Lock and Dam on the Des Plaines River south of Chicago to block invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-carp
U.S. Great Lakes shipping activity continues to be on par with the previous year, as approximately 15.7 million tons of total cargo traffic traveled the seaway system for the year to date. Read the full story by The Crescent-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230828-shipping
A federal judge Thursday approved an agreement between four Native American tribes and state and federal regulatory agencies to revise a fishing policy covering parts of three of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-tribal-fishing
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to revisit a decision overturning former 13th Circuit Court Judge Thomas Power’s ruling that the FishPass project in Traverse City, Michigan couldn’t go forward without a citywide vote. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-fishpass
Scientists across the Great Lakes who monitor the endangered shorebird as they nest and raise their young counted at least 80 unique adult pairs of piping plovers – the most since the birds were listed as endangered in 1985. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-plover
A Michigan Court of Appeals panel has struck down state restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) levels in drinking water, but left the regulatory rules in place as the state pursues an appeal. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-pfas
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has introduced a bill to keep companies from dumping plastic pellets into waterways. Read the full story by WGN- TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-plastic
The Chicago Tribune highlights the history of Calumet Harbor and its role in the Great Lakes shipping industry. Read the full story by The Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-calumet-harbor
A single male wolf that happened to cross the ice from Ontario during winter 1997 changed the entire ecosystem on Isle Royale, at first infusing the island’s wolves with new genetic vitality but eventually dooming his progeny to inbreeding and total collapse. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-isle-royale
A new study shows an increase of nearly 900 jobs and more than $235 million in additional economic activity in the port of Toledo compared to a 2018 study. Read the full story by WTVG -TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-port-toledo
A first-of-its-kind research boat on Lake Erie is headed toward Western New York after setting sail on July 14 and tracking fish populations from Toledo to Cleveland, Ohio. Read the full story by WGRZ -TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-fish-tracking
The City of St. Catharines, Ontario is advocating for a proposed cross-lake hovercraft service during sit downs with provincial ministers at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference this week. The service would create a rapid transit link between St. Catharines and Toronto. Read the full story by the St. Catharines Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230825-hovercraft
On one evening each August, the organization Milwaukee Water Commons holds their We Are Water event to celebrate the gift of Lake Michigan. The event serves as a reminder of water’s essential role in taking care of us and the recognition of our duty to safeguard its existence. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-we-are-water-celebration-lakemichigan
Oswego, Illinois, was recently granted its Lake Michigan Water Allocation Permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. To get permission to tap Lake Michigan water, Oswego had to meet several criteria, including providing evidence that the aquifer it currently uses is no longer able to meet the village’s needs and that the other water source alternatives are not as viable. Read the full story by the Patch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-oswego-permit-lakemiwater
Benton Harbor, Michigan, residents have been inundated with challenges facing their water system for years, such as lead in pipes, ineffective corrosion treatment, and threats of water shut-offs. After years of public interest campaigns and $45 million in federal aid, almost all the lead pipes have been replaced. However, now residents have another issue to worry about – rising water bills. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-bentonharbor-leadlines-expensivewaterbills
In celebration of World Water Week, the Cedar Tree Institute hosted the Gift of Water Gala at Peter White Public Library located in Marquette, Michigan. “The Gift of Water” is a newly published anthology filled with essays about conservation and preservation, specifically focusing on and written by people connected to the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-giftofwater-safeguarding-water
Authorities have now determined that 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from a cargo ship into Lake Michigan, after it was breached earlier this month. Officials are still investigating what caused the Manitowoc’s hull breach Aug. 3, off the coast of Manistee, Michigan. Read the full story by WKAR – East Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-manitowoc-diesalspill-lakemichigan
Minnesota U.S. Eighth District Congressman Pete Stauber has received the 2023 “Legislator of the Year” award from the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force for his work in supporting the maritime needs of the Great Lakes Navigation System, mining industry, the Duluth-Superior Port, and the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Mesabi Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-stauber-greatlakes-award
Several roads in Norton Shores, Michigan, will close as the city works to install new water lines to homes impacted by PFAS contamination. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-nortonshores-pfas-waterline
After years of rallying, recent national directives to further mitigate PFAS will address two sites on the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, that have been leaching PFAS into nearby water bodies including the AuSable River and Clark’s Marsh. Last week, one of the suggested plans was officially adopted by the Department of Defense. Read the full story by WJRT-TV – Flint, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-pfascleanup-oscoda-nationalpolicy
Each year, thousands of salmon find their way back to northwest Michigan to spawn, generating a significant tourism and fish economy in Manistee County, Michigan. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230823-fishing-manisteewaters-michigan
Cleanup crews are trying to determine how much runoff from an industrial fire in Etobicoke, Ontario, has made its way into Lake Ontario. Although containment measures along Mimico Creek were reinforced last Wednesday, Thursday’s rain enabled the spill to move further down the creek to Lake Ontario. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-spill-runoff
Low water levels are critical for manoomin, a sacred crop for the Ojibwe people of the Great Lakes region. But climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is bringing more rain and flooding to Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, making harvests of wild rice less reliable. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-manoomin-threats
Cruise ships provide a valuable commodity to the tourism areas of Georgian Bay in Lake Huron, but also produce non-garbage waste in the form of sewage or grey water. Transport Canada announced voluntary environmental measures for cruise ships in April of this year, before making them mandatory in late June; enforcement and a $250,000 maximum penalty would be imposed on non-compliant vessels. Read the full story by MidlandToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-cruise-regulation
City engineers are installing a water retention basin in Montreal, Québec, to end the need to dump excess sewage into the Lachine Canal during intense rainstorms, which happens five times each summer, on average. Every time the sewage water is diverted into the canal, authorities have to close it to recreational use for 72 hours. The St. Lawrence River into which the canal flows is also affected. Read the full story by The Montreal Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-water-retention
Groundwater treatment systems will be installed near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, to address contamination from high levels of PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in groundwater. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-treatment-installation
In Flint, Michigan, more than 100 hatchery-raised lake sturgeon were released Saturday into the Flint River. The prehistoric type of fish used to be abundant in the Great Lakes but are now Federally listed species of concern. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-sturgeon-restoration
For two decades, scientists have been studying toxic cyanobacterial blooms that have been expanding in the western basin of Lake Erie and causing dead zones in the central basin. The nutrient pollution that causes it, primarily from agriculture, is not regulated. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-algae-reduction
Nearly 80 years after a plane flown by a member of the Tuskegee Airmen went down in Lake Huron, some of the wreckage has been recovered. Although the famed Tuskegee Airmen were based out of Alabama, advanced training exercises were conducted in Michigan during World War II. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-plane-recovery
Fairgoers to the Illinois State Fair chowed down this week on various forms of deep-fried copi, better known until last year as Asian carp. State conservation officials launched a rebranding effort last summer promoting copi as a light, tasty, protein-packed fish that’s more palatable than the notion of an aquatic invader. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-copi-branding
Sailing Saugatuck, a family-owned charter company that’s been sailing on Lake Michigan for 14 years, runs a two-hour sunset sail aboard the Schooner Serenity every day during the summertime in Saugatuck, Michigan, through October 7. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230821-sailing-trip
The Great Lakes region is getting about $2.8 million for coastal conservation, restoration of wetlands, and making the coastline more resilient to the changes caused by climate disruption. Given the length of Great Lakes coastlines, that’s not a lot of money. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-shoreline-resilancy
About 90% of water samples taken over the last 10 years from the Great Lakes contain microplastic levels that are unsafe for wildlife, a new peer-reviewed paper from the University of Toronto finds. Read the full story by The Guardian.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-microplastics
Should states and Indigenous nations be able to influence energy projects they view as harmful or contrary to their laws and values? This question lies at the center of a heated debate over Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, which carries oil and natural gas across Wisconsin and Michigan. Read the full story by The Conversation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-pipeline
Mid-July marks the beginning of the fall shorebird migration, with early migrants moving through Great Lakes coastal mudflats, wetlands, beaches, and flooded fields into August. Here are a few Great Lakes migratory shorebirds to look for. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-fall-migration
Residents dogged by frequent flooding have finally drawn attention from city and state officials. After years of tireless work, folks in Chicago South Side community have convinced the city to study the problem of lakeside erosion to see how bad this damage from climate change will be. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-chicago-erosion
Environmental Defence Canada hosted the seventh annual #WeAreLakeErie Day, a call to action on social media for Ontarians to do what they can to protect Lake Erie and its water. Read the full story by News Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-lake-erie-day
It’s summer in Michigan and people flocking to lakes and other bodies of water around the state may see something they didn’t know we had – jellyfish. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-jellyfish
On Wednesday night, Defense Department officials announced plans to install two new groundwater treatment systems near the Wurtsmith base, which borders the community of Oscoda, Michigan near Lake Huron. The systems will be installed at two locations with the intent of reducing the spread of an underground PFAS plume. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-pfas-cleanup
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average surface water temperature of the Great Lakes is rising. Over the past couple of years, Lake Superior’s warmer temperatures on the surface have also increased harmful algal blooms. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-algal-blooms
Port officials expected it would cost about $30 million to develop a state-of-the-art port facility with convenient access to rail and interstate highways on the former Pulliam Power Plant site. A newly received engineering cost estimate put the price tag above $48.7 million. The cost increase was attributed to increases in labor and material costs. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230818-port-of-green-bay
The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting the fourth iteration of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan. The agency is seeking public input on the new plan, designed to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230816-epa-plan
Thanks to a new deep water research program, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan is working to maintain the population of chub fish and learn more about the invasive species that affect local fish populations. Read the full story by the Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230816-tribal-research
Icebreaker, a proposed demonstration wind farm in Lake Erie, would be North America’s first ever freshwater offshore wind project. However, locals are expressing concerns over wildlife and potential oil leaks. Read the full story by The Guardian.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230816-wind-farm
Shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway is continuing its long-term downturn, and changes in the region’s steel industry are largely responsible for the trend, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. Read the full story by the Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230816-shipping-decline
