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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/07/17/line-5-tunnel-in-michigan-clears-major-permitting-hurdle-in-blow-to-opposition/

Air quality alerts issued for northern Michigan as wildfire smoke blankets region

On: July 15, 2026

In: canada, Climate change, ipr, Latest News, Michigan, Minnesota, smoke, wildfire

By Vivian La and Ed Ronco, IPR

This story is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

Northern Michigan is enveloped in a thick blanket of brown smoke from wildfires in Minnesota and Canada.

“We currently can’t see across (Lake Charelvoix),” said Jenny Clasman, executive director of the Boyne Area Chamber of Commerce, which canceled an outdoor concert set for Wednesday night. “I can see across the street, but it’s definitely foggy, cloudy. There is ash on our cars right now and it smells like burning tires.”

Clasman, who has asthma, said she was having a hard time breathing and was wearing an N-95 mask outdoors.

And she might not get much relief this week.

“It’s going to be with us certainly for Thursday, and there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to hang around into the day on Friday before we can really start to displace it,” said Jeff Zoltowski, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Gaylord.

The fires are hundreds of miles away from Michigan, but until they settle down or go out altogether, off-and-on smoke will be possible as long as the winds are coming out of the northwest.

“It’s a really, really thick plume of smoke. It’s being added to continually,” said Jim Haywood, senior meteorologist with EGLE. “We’re seeing new fires breaking out all the time.”

Haywood said smoke forecasts currently look ahead 48 hours, and are issued with help from meteorologists across the Midwest.

Because of how aggressive the fires are, EGLE said their air quality alert will extend into Thursday and possibly Friday.

Health impacts

Most of northern Michigan was under an air quality alert. At a monitoring station in Houghton Lake, the air quality was listed as “unhealthy for sensitive groups” on Wednesday afternoon. In Seney, in the Upper Peninsula, the air quality was “unhealthy,” meaning all populations were at risk of adverse effects.

It’s recommended that people avoid any strenuous outdoor activity because of high levels of fine particulate matter, which can cause health problems when inhaled. Children, older adults, or people with respiratory and cardiovascular disease are particularly vulnerable.

Northern Michigan is also under a heat advisory, with high humidity and temperatures expected to stay in the upper 80s well into the weekend.

Wildfire smoke can exacerbate health issues from extreme heat, said Lisa Del Buono, a retired doctor in Traverse City and founder of the nonprofit Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action.

“When there are two hazards being described, we have a tendency in our communication and in our brains to silo the issues, but they tend to work together and sometimes have compounding effects,” she said.

Under both a heat advisory and air quality alert, Del Buono recommends running the air conditioner and making sure the filter inside is clean.

She also suggested checking in on neighbors because heat and smoke can sometimes trigger heart attacks, stroke, or preterm deliveries.

Days like this with multiple hazards are a reminder that northern Michigan is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Del Buono said. Average summer temperatures in Michigan have increased by 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit, according to data from the research nonprofit Climate Central.

Hotter temperatures around the U.S. and Canada are making the conditions that can cause fires to ignite and burn more common.

From her vantage point about halfway out Old Mission Peninsula, Del Buono said she had lost sight of an island that’s usually in view, just about a mile away.

“Right now, I can’t even see the water at all, let alone the island or across the bay,” she told IPR.

“We are not avoiding the impacts of climate change, as we can see looking out the window right now,” Del Buono said. “All of this is tough on our health.”

Canceled plans

Clasman, who leads the Boyne Area Chamber of Commerce, said it was disappointing to have to cancel tonight’s event, but it was also an easy decision.

“I do worry about people getting sick,” she said. “I do worry about the ERs filling up this evening, and I definitely don’t want to be contributing to that.”

Boyne City’s weekly Evenings at the Gazebo Summer Music Series hardly ever cancels an event. Even when it rains they move to a pavilion at Veterans’ Park.

Wednesday night’s act, the Traverse City-based duo “Dags Und Timmah!” will return on Aug. 19, air quality permitting.

Clasman said it’s the third year they’ve dealt with smoke drifting into the area but this is the worst it’s been.

“I’ve never had ash on the car. That’s new,” she said. “I’ve never smelled burning tire. That’s new.”

The post Air quality alerts issued for northern Michigan as wildfire smoke blankets region appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/07/15/air-quality-alerts-issued-for-northern-michigan-as-wildfire-smoke-blankets-region/

Interlochen Public Radio

The AI Boom Is Prolonging Indiana’s Fossil Fuel Era, With Hidden Costs for Water

On: July 15, 2026

In: AI, Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, fossel fuels, great lakes news collaborative, Indiana, industry, Latest News, Water quality

By Christian Thorsberg, Circle of Blue

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work HERE.

Growing up in the shadow of a coal plant in rural Indiana gives a child a unique relationship with the passage of time.

As a little girl in the small town of Wheatfield, population 900, Barb Deardorff recognized the months by the height of the cornstalks and beansprouts which grew on her family’s farmland. The years were marked by what loomed beyond these fields — the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station and its ever-rising piles of toxic coal ash, their ascending silhouettes a scourge framed for years by her school bus window.

“My whole childhood, thirteen years, twice a day to and from school, I was watching the coal ash landfill build up layer by layer,” says Deardorff, now 50 years-old, in her Wheatfield home in June.

Deardorff’s kitchen today looks out onto a long, flat treeline, above which, just a couple miles away, the flues of that same half-century-old coal plant continue to billow smoke. They stand as readily visible emblems of an old energy era giving way to a new energy revolution that is putting fresh water, clean air, and human health at risk in small Great Lakes communities.

Wheatfield is a microcosm of industrial eras old and new. Having endured for decades the transformational effects of living in the midst of America’s 20th-century coal boom, residents are now left to wonder and worry how the age of artificial intelligence — bolstered by hyperscale data centers and the power plants they depend on — will affect their community.

These concerns are justified. In the past two years, aided by state and federal policy, the tech giant Amazon has invested roughly $29 billion to turn Northwest Indiana into what it calls a new “Silicon heartland,” flush with three energy-intensive data center campuses, one already completed, spanning 2,200 acres. Next door to the Schahfer generating station, Indiana approved two natural gas-fired turbines for construction. Those plants are poised to power the newest Amazon installation — a $7 billion data center — and are estimated to consume roughly 6 billion gallons of water annually from the nearby Kankakee River.

The R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, Indiana. (Photo credit: Christian Thorsberg / Circle of Blue)

Amazon found a ready ally in the Hoosier state, which has embraced data centers and their thirst for power. Last year, state regulators granted the region’s primary utility first-of-its-kind authority to generate energy just for data centers. And in response to Trump administration directives, officials have re-written state energy policies to keep old coal plants — including Schahfer — operating to supply data centers indefinitely.

Experts anticipate that by 2040, more than one-fifth of Indiana’s energy needs will come from data centers alone.

The surge in construction investment and new power supply coincides with a comprehensive weakening of environmental protections on both the local and federal level — a risky proposition in a state that already is home to some of the most polluted waters, largest losses of wetlands, and worst air quality in the country.

Deardorff has a front row seat to a show of power and technology unlike anything seen before in this region, or across the country. Like other residents of rural communities bullied by data center construction, she says she feels almost helpless. As someone whose conception of time is inseparable from Schahfer, she says she feels suddenly entangled in multiple discouraging realities.

“Everything, everywhere,” she says, “is happening all at once.”

Barb Deardorff, pictured outside her home, with the Schahfer plant behind her in the distance. (Photo credit: Christian Thorsberg / Circle of Blue)

What Was and Is No More

Deardorff has reason to be suspicious of the mammoth display of technology and energy generation under construction around her home.

She has not known life without the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station as a neighbor. She was an infant when the coal-fired power plant opened its doors in 1976, and has lived next to its operations ever since, watching it become one of the country’s largest single emitters of greenhouse gasses. By one estimate, the plant causes 20 premature deaths each year from drifting soot and smog. And its groundwater, recent testing has shown, is contaminated with carcinogenic heavy metals — an existential threat for the dozens of residents who live within several miles of the facility and rely on shallow private wells as their sole source of drinking water.

So when Schahfer announced in 2018 that it would close its doors at the end of 2025, celebrations rang out for many. The prospect of life without the plant represented, literally, a brand-new horizon.

“I got emotional, because I thought we outlasted them,” says Deardorff, whose family has lived in Wheatfield for six generations and previously farmed the land where the coal plant sits. “We were here before them, we dealt with them, and I thought we were going to be here after them.”

Residuals of Ash

This dream was short-lived. Not only has a series of 90-day extension orders from the federal government kept Schahfer operational as usual into the present, but the plant’s legacy of waste and health concerns are crescendoing. Deardorff and others worry that the new landscape of data center and natural gas construction and operation could eventually produce more degradation.

At the Wheatfield home of Chris Hunter, a retired local farmer, coal ash’s stubborn tendency to permeate water and air lays bare. Just hours after severe thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through the town, Hunter’s wife, Cindy, ran a paper towel along the white exterior window sills of their home, located roughly two miles downwind from Schahfer.

Immediately, a dark, sooty film appeared on the pristine white background, the now-darkened paper towel a canvas that distills Wheatfield’s modern story.

“You just get it jammed down your throat,” Hunter says, looking out at the coal plant from his front lawn and thumbing through the wipe. “And we watch it all through our windows.”

In a state known for its high cancer rates — Hoosiers are nearly 12 percent more likely to die from the disease than the average American — Northwest Indiana where Hunter and Deardorff live stands out as a statewide hotspot for incidences of lung, colon, and breast cancers.

The statistics are made material in Wheatfield, where many residents living in the vicinity of Schahfer share stories of family members and friends who have suffered from poor health.

Deardorff recalls several neighbors and friends who have been diagnosed with cancer in recent years. Matt Mish, 35, who lives within a half-mile from the coal plant on his grandparents’ old farm, says that his grandmother died of cancer in 2015.

Hunter says he lost his younger brother at 52 years-old to a rare type of cancer, and his father to liver cancer at 62 years-old. His mother, 90, has lived with Parkinson’s disease for more than two decades.

“But how are you gonna really prove it,” Hunter asks, “and say it was [the coal plant]?”

All of these residents breathe Wheatfield air, and are among the dozens of people who rely on private wells to draw groundwater from the shallow local water table. Existential concerns for the quality of this supply were raised in 2018, when testing showed that Schahfer’s coal ash landfill had contaminated the plant’s own groundwater with cobalt, arsenic, lithium, radium, boron, and molybdenum in levels above federal thresholds.

Meanwhile, water samples collected at 107 wells in and around the plant between 2010 and 2019 found that 86 percent had at least one pollutant in excess of federal advisory levels, according to Earth Justice’s Ash Tracker dashboard.

“And we only found out about that because a law passed requiring [the plant] to publicly make that data available,” Deardorff says. “Who knows how long they had contaminated the groundwater before then?”

Indra Frank, a doctor and coal ash advisor with the Hoosier Environmental Council, says there is significant concern that the plant’s polluted groundwater will spread through the area’s shallow, flood-prone topography and contaminate wells and ditches that supply water used for drinking, recreation, and irrigation, especially as construction on the natural gas plant and data center begins.

The plant’s own ash-contaminated groundwater, held largely in unlined ponds spanning more than 80 acres, sits at least 15 feet higher than the groundwater that area residents depend on.

A one-foot-thick wall of slurry, which extends underground to a layer of shale bedrock, is all that separates the plant’s active waste disposal area (WDA) from the rest of the region’s aquifer. This setup, Frank warns, is precarious. Currently, the WDA receives an average of 2.88 million gallons of “bottom ash sluice water, boiler room sump discharge, and stormwater” per day, according to documents published in 2020.

“You’ve got 15 feet of water pressure trying to push that water out from under the slurry wall,” Frank says.

For a brief period, it was believed that federal intervention would spur remediation at the site. The EPA in 2015 announced a mandate requiring utilities to clean unlined coal ash ponds that were found to be leaking. But the requirement had several loopholes, Frank says, that the coal plant’s owner, energy utility NIPSCO, has exposed to delay any cleanup.

“They’re claiming that the ash pond is not subject to the rule, because water isn’t visible at the surface of the ponds,” she says. “Some of these ponds, which are 20 feet deep, hold 19 feet of sitting water beneath their solid top layer.”

The slow-walk to addressing its coal ash storage may have paid off for the utility, which last year produced 200,000 tons of ash. In April, the EPA proposed aggressive rollbacks to the 2015 rule, putting Wheatfield’s coal ash piles in a doubly prolonged state of limbo.

“It would wipe out requirements for half the coal ash in the country, and that includes some of the coal ash at Schahfer,” Frank says. “It can continue to sit there and contaminate groundwater. They could stop monitoring the groundwater for certain sites. It’s pretty, pretty devastating.”

That the Kankakee River runs directly adjacent to the Schahfer plant is another point of vulnerability. No systematic testing of soils or farmland in the area has ever been done, despite Jasper County being home to some 600 farms. Many of these crop fields rely on the Kankakee River for water, and are connected to both each other and the watershed through a series of drainage ditches. This network was created in the 20th century through the mass-draining of a massive wetland ecosystem once known as “the Everglades of the North.”

As a result of this degradation, most of the area, including some of the coal ash ponds, sit today within 100-year flood zones. Heavy, erratic precipitation made more likely by climate change could exacerbate the movement of contaminated groundwater through farmers’ ditches and crops.

According to a February report from the Hoosier Environmental Council, based on state data, 270 miles of rivers and streams in Jasper County are impaired. A one-off sample at a local irrigation ditch that runs adjacent to Schahfer, the Stalbaum ditch, was found to contain elevated levels of molybdenum. “That’s consistent with contamination from coal ash getting into that ditch, which runs into the Kankakee River,” Frank says.

Deardorff grew up swimming in the river, but those days are long over. “I’m concerned about the effluent they emit into it,” she says. “I can see the pipe, I know where it comes out, and I’m never in the water downstream of it.”

An $11 billion, 1,200-acre Amazon Web Service data center in New Carlisle, Indiana. (Photo credit: J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue)

Data Centers’ Indirect Water Use

Concerns about the environmental risks of data centers in Wheatfield center for the time being on water availability.

On the surface, the new Amazon data center’s estimated yearly water use — between 8 million and 10 million gallons, according to Jasper County Plan Commission documents — is hardly eye-opening, especially for a facility of its size.

But the much-greater water needs of the two fossil fuel-fired plants operating in its service expose the resource stress the industry indirectly creates.

In Wheatfield, the Kankakee River is poised to feel the consequences the most.

According to Indiana Department of Environmental Management data, the Schahfer coal plant’s intake well — located in an area of medium-high water stress, according to the World Resources Institute — has the capacity to draw 131 million gallons of water per day from the river. Actual withdrawals from 2022 through 2024 were much less, though not insignificant, according to self-reported data collected by the state: an average of roughly 11.5 million gallons of river water per day, with peak days reaching 25 million gallons of water.

Much, but not all, of this water is returned to the Kankakee at a higher temperature after being treated on site. And this treatment is crucial and subject to scrutiny: in 2024, which is the most recent data available from the EPA, wastewater stored on-site included 567,763 pounds of chemicals including arsenic, barium, lead, and mercury.

That same year, the coal plant consumed roughly 940 million gallons of river water, according to data collected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration and analyzed by Circle of Blue.

The natural gas turbines are expected to have an even bigger footprint. According to GenCo testimony from this April, the facility plans to draw up to 23 million gallons of water per day from the Kankakee, consuming roughly 16 million gallons of this — amounting to an estimated 5.8 billion gallons of water consumed annually.

The total indirect cost of water, then, sums to nearly 7 billion gallons of water per year — enough water to supply approximately 64,000 American homes for a year — consumed from the Kankakee River in service of electricity production for Indiana’s ‘Silicon Heartland.’

The post The AI Boom Is Prolonging Indiana’s Fossil Fuel Era, With Hidden Costs for Water appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/07/15/the-ai-boom-is-prolonging-indianas-fossil-fuel-era-with-hidden-costs-for-water/

Circle of Blue

Refuge in the Windy City: Declining wetland bird makes a home in downtown Chicago

On: July 15, 2026

In: Chicago, Fish, Birds and Animals, great lakes echo, Lake Michigan, Latest News, lincoln park zoo, wetland birds

By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva, Great Lakes Echo

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

While urbanization continues to displace natural ecosystems across the Great Lakes region, one declining wetland bird has managed to adapt to city life.

The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) has unexpectedly found refuge in the very heart of Chicago.

Today, the largest colony of these birds in the region is located not in isolated, natural wetlands, but on the grounds of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.

A new study shows that this heavily urbanized environment has become a critical sanctuary for the species.

“This colony is one of the last major black-crowned night heron rookeries in the entire state of Illinois — and probably one of the last strongholds for this species in the entire Great Lakes,” said Sarah Slayton, the study’s lead author and an avian ecologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

According to Slayton, only three colonies remain in Illinois. Two are quite small — one in the Champaign area and another at Emiquon Nature Preserve in western Illinois.

Black-crowned night herons are listed as endangered in the state.

The primary colony, boasting between 500 and 700 individuals, resides on the grounds of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo during the spring and summer.

“Because this is the largest group of this species left in the Great Lakes and it is a species that is at risk, it is vital for us to know how they are doing health-wise, how they are surviving in the city and how the overall regional population is doing,” Slayton explained.

Researchers note that such a high concentration makes the colony particularly vulnerable.

Sarah Slayton is an avian ecologist at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. (Photo credit: Henry Adams via Great Lakes Echo)

Localized threats such as severe storms, disease outbreaks and human disturbance could cause the birds to abandon the site, meaning the region would lose a huge chunk of the population.

Black-crowned night herons are colonial wading birds whose numbers have been declining across the Great Lakes and the northeastern United States, driven largely by habitat loss.

“To most city dwellers, they are just big charismatic birds that you might see near the water,” Slayton said. “But to ecologists, they are an important indicator species for the health of these environments.”

The primary driver behind their shrinking numbers is the destruction of wetlands, Slayton said

“We have destroyed about 90% of the wetlands in Illinois,” she said. “As those environments disappear, the birds are forced to adapt and look for new places to successfully breed and survive.”

Interestingly, populations in Florida and along the Gulf Coast remain stable because the birds are year-round residents, while migratory populations face the greatest hardships. Birds from the Chicago colony spend the winter in Florida, Louisiana and Cuba before returning north to the Great Lakes in the spring to breed.

To understand how night herons survive in a concrete jungle, Slayton and her colleague Henry Adams from Lincoln Park Zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute launched an ambitious research project using modern technology.

The scientists equipped the birds with miniature GPS trackers – weighing just 16 grams (0.56 ounces) – which the birds wear like tiny backpacks. The solar-powered devices collect location data via satellites and transmit it to researchers whenever they connect to standard cellular towers.

The tracking results surprised the ornithologists.

Instead of avoiding humans, the herons actively exploit urban infrastructure, using city parks, fishing lagoons, the Chicago River and even the coastal structures of Lake Michigan.

One of the most unexpected findings was that the night herons regularly forage in the deep open waters of Lake Michigan.

“We don’t normally associate these birds with that kind of water body because the water is so deep. Most wading birds forage in shallow water. They stand really, really still and wait for a prey item to swim by before ambushing it,” Slayton said.

“However, these birds have taken advantage of the docks in the harbors and breakwaters, the large concrete structures out in Lake Michigan that help reduce wave action. They use them as perches to forage directly into Lake Michigan in a way that is very different from what we would expect in a natural wetland environment.”

The herons have also proven to be highly opportunistic feeders with a broad diet.

While other heron species are specialized and picky about their food, black-crowned night herons eat almost anything from fish and frogs to small mammals. Scientists even suspect that in Chicago, they have taken up hunting small urban rats.

GPS data also revealed that individual birds possess distinct behavioral strategies. Some individuals are highly conservative, sticking to a single foraging ground and returning to the exact same park lagoon every day. Others constantly experiment, moving between different parks, the river and the harbors based on prey availability.

“The amount of individual variation in the birds was really, really cool,” Slayton noted.

“For example, we would see them hunting in the harbors when there were fish spawning events, when fish would concentrate in these areas to breed. They might take advantage of those opportunities and feast for a couple of days, and then once those periods were over, they would go to another spot.”

Furthermore, the data showed a clear behavioral split between breeding and non-breeding birds. To conserve energy and feed their chicks, active breeders rarely forage more than 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) away from the zoo colony. Non-breeding birds, on the other hand, face less pressure to stay close and freely wander across the entire Chicago metropolitan area.

A major breakthrough of the study came from long-term GPS monitoring that spanned several years. This allowed scientists to map the herons’ movement patterns outside of Chicago in detail for the first time, while previous tracking data had been fragmented and limited to single seasons.

“We had one individual who we captured in Chicago – she was my favorite bird,” Slayton recalled. “Her band code was A24, and we were able to collect several years of tracking data on her.”

For two years in a row A24 followed a remarkably consistent annual cycle. After the breeding season in Chicago, she flew north to spend the post-breeding season in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

From there, she migrated south to winter in Florida, spending months at a time in restored wetland complexes near Lake Okeechobee. Then she returned to Chicago for the breeding season.

“We caught her a second time and collected a bunch more samples, and then we found her nest and she was raising three adorable chicks,” Slayton said. “Getting to see her do this cycle over and over again was incredible because we had never seen data like this before.”

The GPS maps also showed that while A24’s precise migratory paths varied slightly from year to year, her final destinations remained exactly the same, showing very high site fidelity.

According to Slayton, capturing this level of movement data would be impossible without trackers.

“This data is critical because these birds can only come back to breed if they make it through the rest of the year,” said Slayton. “Learning about what’s happening in other parts of their migratory paths and what threats they might be facing is also really important for the conservation of this whole colony.”

Researchers say uncovering how night herons navigate and survive in Chicago could ultimately inform conservation strategies for other migratory bird species sharing the same flyways and habitats.

Scientists emphasize that this data is more important than ever as wetlands loss continues and pressure mounts on the natural ecosystems of the Great Lakes region.

The study does more than just document a threatened bird adapting to city life – it highlights the growing role of urban green spaces as unexpected, yet vital, refuges for wildlife conservation.

Ultimately, Slayton notes that her team’s vision extends far beyond Cook County, aiming to support black-crowned night heron conservation throughout their entire regional range.

The post Refuge in the Windy City: Declining wetland bird makes a home in downtown Chicago appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/07/15/refuge-in-the-windy-city-declining-wetland-bird-makes-a-home-in-downtown-chicago/

Indiana wants to be in charge of its own coal ash dumps

On: July 14, 2026

In: coal ash, coal pipes, Energy, Energy News Roundup, Indiana, industry, Latest News, nuclear, oil

Catch the latest energy news from around the region. Check back for these monthly Energy News Roundups.

Indiana has the most coal ash sites in the country. Now it wants to be the first state in the Great Lakes region to oversee how the toxic waste from coal-burning power plants is disposed of and managed. The state’s recent application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its own coal ash permitting program, which would be the largest in the country due to the high number of coal ash disposal sites in Indiana, comes as the Trump administration loosens regulations on these sites nationally.

Ohio is making bank on its public lands. Since early 2024, the state has leased more than 20,000 acres of its parks and wildlife areas to oil and gas companies — and has made $314 million, Signal Ohio reported. Most of the money came from one-time signing bonuses for mineral rights in Harrison County, according to a Signal analysis. The practice has faced opposition from environmentalists who say the revenue from fracking under public lands isn’t worth the risk.

In Michigan, the first nuclear reactor to come back from retirement may be just a few months from its highly anticipated restart. Holtec International recently announced it had “reached a watershed moment” by completing all major restoration projects at the Palisades nuclear plant on the shore of Lake Michigan and transitioned to routine work in preparation for startup. The company said “work is being managed around the clock” on the more than 5,000 tasks left to complete.

Wisconsin is poised to say goodbye at last to downtown Green Bay’s century-old coal piles. County officials reached a deal with the coal piles’ owner last year to slowly move these remnants of the city’s industrial past from their prominent site along the Fox River. Now the county has signed a 60-year lease agreement, though it could still take years for the coal piles to be depleted. Local leaders said removal of the coal piles would open up the riverfront site for redevelopment.

And farther north, Ontario is setting its sights on oil. Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently announced plans for a roughly 2,000-mile oil pipeline that would be able to transport at least 500,000 barrels of oil a day from western Canada to refineries in southern Ontario. The announcement comes after the provinces launched a feasibility study last fall and announced an agreement to develop the Northern Shield Energy Corridor.

More energy news, in case you missed it:

Michigan’s Consumers Energy is offering to put $270 million from the sale of 13 aging dams into a fund that would cover future maintenance needs if the new owners can’t pay.
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld state regulators’ decision to allow a fee on Ohioans’ utility bills that bailed out two unprofitable coal plants.
Tech giant Oracle is challenging the credit rating rules Wisconsin regulators set for data center developers as part of a new “very large customer” rate structure.
National energy developer Invenergy will redirect money refunded from four canceled offshore wind projects to gas plants in states including Wisconsin and Indiana.
Electricity prices are surging for Rust Belt factories amid rising power demand from data centers in the region.

The post Indiana wants to be in charge of its own coal ash dumps appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Nicole Pollack, Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/07/14/indiana-wants-to-be-in-charge-of-its-own-coal-ash-dumps/

Former EPA staffer from Wisconsin sues after he was fired for signing letter of dissent

On: July 9, 2026

In: epa, Featured, Latest News, Politics, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Wisconsin

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

A Wisconsin man is one of seven former Environmental Protection Agency staffers suing federal regulators for their firings, alleging the agency violated their First Amendment rights.

The seven were among hundreds of current and former EPA staff who signed a letter in June 2025 opposing the Trump administration’s policies. The letter states those policies “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment” amid the rollback of dozens of environmental regulations.

Former EPA staff members filed two lawsuits last week that allege the agency ignored internal legal advice and illegally dismissed employees in retaliation for signing the letter. They’re represented by attorneys with Washington, D.C.-based law firm James & Hoffman and nonprofit legal group Democracy Forward.

Superior resident Alexander Cole is one of two former biologists who signed the letter and were fired from the EPA’s Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Lab in Duluth.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, and … the First Amendment is just so foundational to maintaining democracy,” Cole said. “Firing us sets a very dangerous precedent, so seeing that reversed would be incredibly important.”

An EPA spokesperson declined to comment due to pending litigation.

The lawsuit states Cole and Stephanie Eytcheson, who were probationary employees, signed the letter with their personal cellphones outside of work hours. Attorneys want their jobs reinstated with back pay.

“Probationary federal government employees, like all people in America, have the constitutional right to participate in public discussion and debate in their personal capacities, even when their speech is critical of the government, and the government has no right to retaliate against these civil servants because of a protected opinion they expressed while off the clock,” said Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman in a news release.

On July 3, 2025 the EPA placed Cole, Eytcheson and more than 140 employees on administrative leave as it opened an investigation into the letter. Two days earlier, EPA records show that Justina Fugh, the director of the EPA’s Ethics Office, found no ethics concerns or violations of the Hatch Act, which bars employees from engaging in political activity on the job. Fugh wrote that employees were “simply exercising their First Amendment rights.”

One day before employees were placed on leave, Nathanael Nichols, EPA’s assistant general counsel, made similar findings and said “the agency should not take personnel actions against employees who signed the letter.”

On Aug. 28, he reiterated that the agency shouldn’t remove employees because they could argue that their termination “constituted illegal retaliation for their protected First Amendment speech.” One day later, the EPA terminated Cole and Eytcheson.

Attorneys for former EPA staff argue probationary employees were targeted because they had no right to appeal their firings to the Merit Systems Protection Board. They said most employees who had stronger protections received only a two-week suspension or a letter of reprimand.

Last year, the EPA said in a statement that the letter signed by employees contained “inaccurate information designed to mislead the public about agency business.” But the agency didn’t expand on what details were wrong.

Nearly two dozen U.S. Senate Democrats, including Democratic Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, wrote a letter last week that called on EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to reinstate fired employees.

The EPA’s investigation found Cole and Eytcheson didn’t use work resources to sign the letter and that their signing of the letter didn’t interfere with their jobs, according to the lawsuit.

In December, the two filed complaints with the EPA’s Office of Special Counsel about their firings, and an investigation is still ongoing.

About six months before her termination, Eytcheson’s acting branch chief had praised her performance, saying the agency was “extremely lucky” to have Eytcheson.

In April last year, Cole’s review stated he was an “extremely skilled” and “valuable” employee, and he received a performance award for his work. He worked at the lab on the EPA’s ECOTOX Knowledgebase, a database that’s used to complete risk assessments for thousands of chemicals of concern.

“I felt like my work was meaningful, and (I) would like to really continue to do what I was doing before,” Cole said, “which was just upholding the EPA mission statement — protecting human health and the environment.”

The post Former EPA staffer from Wisconsin sues after he was fired for signing letter of dissent appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/07/09/former-epa-staffer-from-wisconsin-sues-after-he-was-fired-for-signing-letter-of-dissent/

North Bay’s PFAS problem: 5 things to know about a ‘forever chemicals’ hotspot in Ontario

On: June 30, 2026

In: forever chemicals, great lakes news collaborative, Latest News, North Bay, Ontario, PFAS, The narwhal, Water quality

By Leah Borts-Kuperman, The Narwhal

Gathered in an arena in North Bay, Ont., in summer 2024, federal officials told hundreds of concerned citizens how they planned to remediate longstanding contamination of the city’s waterways left behind by the Department of National Defence. A few months later, officials gave a similar presentation to a packed hotel conference room.

For nearly a decade now, residents have known about the contamination. Some have been told not to drink the water from their own wells, and everyone in the city has been warned not to drink water or eat fish from a creek outside town.

The creek is part of a system of waterways where carcinogenic “forever chemicals” run downstream from a military base, emptying into Trout Lake, the source of the city’s drinking water. It sits at nearly double Health Canada’s guideline for PFAS in drinking water, measured in nanograms per litre.

Health Canada published an “objective” level of 30 nanograms per litre in August 2024 for 25 chemicals in the PFAS family. That’s less than half of what Ontario currently recommends: 70 nanograms per litre, pertaining to just 11 PFAS chemicals. And that’s just a suggestion, not a binding regulation.

The city did not reply to The Narwhal’s detailed questions regarding the current state of the drinking water supply, but CBC reported in February 2026 that Trout Lake contained around 58 nanograms of PFAS per litre of water.

Thousands of substances classified as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are used to make everything from medical equipment to waterproof clothing. They can generate hazardous waste which, if not disposed of carefully, contaminates air, water and soil — where it can remain for 1,000 years, hence their other nickname, “forever chemicals.”

Statistics Canada reports almost all Canadians already have PFAS in their bodies, including in remote regions such as the Arctic and subarctic.

In North Bay, the issue is top of mind, with a class-action lawsuit, a lengthy and expensive remediation plan and a new factory importing chemicals from the Teflon-like subgroup of PFAS, called PTFE. And the company behind that factory, Industrial Plastics Canada, is one of the 10 major importers of PTFE in Canada.

While PFAS have been making global headlines for years as an emerging threat to the environment and our bodies, North Bay knows the issue intimately; citizens fear for their water as politicians try to clean up the mess.

Here’s everything you need to know about PFAS in North Bay.

1. North Bay’s PFAS contamination comes from firefighting foam

From the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, the Department of National Defence used a fire suppression foam containing PFAS to train firefighters across Canada, including near the North Bay Jack Garland Airport. In 2016, after the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit learned PFAS had been identified by the Department of National Defence in waterways around the city, it commissioned consulting firm Stantec to assess the impacts on soil and groundwater.

It’s the invisible nature of these chemicals that are part of what makes them so insidious; you can’t see them or smell them, so you don’t know they’re there without testing.

“When you look at a mine, for example, you can see it and say, ‘That’s obviously disruptive to our ecosystem.’” North Bay-based environmental anthropologist Carly Dokis previously told The Narwhal. “But these things are invisible pollutants, which then tend to attract less public awareness.”

Stantec found PFAS from the foam had contaminated soil, bedrock, groundwater, private wells and several waterways in the region including Trout Lake, Lake Nipissing and Lees, Dorlan, Chippewa and La Vase creeks and surrounding areas.

Long-lasting “forever chemicals” known as PFAS have contaminated surface water, soil, bedrock and groundwater near the Jack Garland Airport, including the municipal drinking water system, private wells and waterways around Nipissing District. (Image credit: Shawn Parkinson / The Narwhal)

In 2025, reporting by the Investigative Journalism Bureau surfaced a report by the Royal Military College showing the Department of National Defence found elevated PFAS levels around the base as far back as 2012. That means the department knew about the contamination for five years before revealing it to the City of North Bay in 2016, and the public in 2017.

2. PFAS impacts health, environment and property values. Residents are seeking recompense

In late 2025, North Bay citizens filed a proposed class-action lawsuit asking for remediation, safe drinking water and $105 million in damages for residents living within a three-kilometre radius of the 22 Wing Canadian Forces Base and Jack Garland Airport. Some of the people who live closest to the contamination have been receiving bottled water from the government for years, but have had no other opportunity for recourse.

The proposed lawsuit, if certified by the court, would be against the City of North Bay and the Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the Department of National Defence, focusing on the loss of property value and remediation costs. The case is also seeking punitive damages, contending that National Defence was aware of the contamination long before warning residents.

Not mentioned in the suit is the long list of health concerns associated with “forever chemicals.”

The United States Environmental Protection Agency lists potential health risks of exposure to PFAS, including reproductive problems like infertility, developmental effects in children, increased risk of certain cancers and weakening of the body’s immune system, including reduced vaccine response. The Canadian government says PFAS can be transferred through the placenta during pregnancy, and infants can be exposed through human milk.

Ecosystems are affected, too. Studies have shown exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances can stunt plant growth and cause reduced seed germination and ability to photosynthesize. The chemicals can build up in the organs of living creatures throughout the food chain. In the district of Nipissing, that poses a risk to people who hunt, fish and harvest from the land.

“These industrial areas are often surrounded by lower-income buildings and peoples and communities,” Curtis Avery, environment department manager with Nipissing First Nation, told The Narwhal in summer 2023. “We’re the most vulnerable group of people that utilize our lands — the lands are our grocery stores. … If these are being impacted, we need to know.”

NORTH BAY, Ont. (06/21/23) – Looking down onto the new Industrial Plastics Canada factory site from the top of Wallace Road in North Bay, Ontario. Beautiful forested area, Circle Lake, and important ecosystems for pollinators surround the site. Despite the effect the factory’s PTFE byproducts will have on North Bay’s environment, no assessments were required and the public has little awareness of its construction, due to open July 2023. (Photo credit: Vanessa Tignanelli / The Narwhal)

3. Cost of North Bay clean-up grew five-fold, to more than $100 million

In 2021, the City of North Bay announced plans to begin remediation under a “shared responsibility” agreement between the Department of National Defence and the city. The federal department would cover 97 per cent of the costs, or $19.4 million, and the city would cover the remaining three per cent, at $600,000. But costs have ballooned since then; in December 2025, National Defence announced it would contribute another nearly $100 million to the remediation, with the city’s share rising to more than $3.6 million. The total for the cleanup project has risen to more than $122 million.

The remediation, which began on the ground in 2024, includes excavating and disposing of about 26,000 tonnes of PFAS-impacted soil; injecting activated carbon material into particularly dense patches of PFAS to stop the underground plume from spreading; and installing a filtration system to treat water leaving the site.

“We remain committed to addressing and managing the operational legacy of the Canadian Armed Forces responsibly,” Minister of National Defence David J. McGuinty said in a news release.

As part of the process, a notice went up on the federal Impact Assessment Agency registry on April 28, inviting the public to comment up until June 5 on a proposal to install a 250-metre permeable barrier in the ground to help filter impacted groundwater. A spokesperson for the agency said its role in the project is to offer advice on determining its environmental effects, as well as providing the opportunity to post the project on the registry.

Local organizations, including the environmental group Northwatch, said in a press release that they were concerned about “very limited public engagement over the last ten years since the public disclosure of the contamination,” counting only the two forums in 2024 and 2025, where there was “limited opportunities for the public to ask questions.”

Northwatch’s project coordinator Brennain Lloyd told The Narwhal about the public notice period, which she said her organization only learned of in a daily bulletin from the Impact Assessment Agency listing multiple assessment notices from across the country.

“To the best of our knowledge there were no local announcements or invitations to comment issued to the many residents and organizations who have identified their interest in this program,” a release from Northwatch reads.

The Department of National Defence did not respond to questions from The Narwhal.

4. North Bay’s not alone: contaminated military bases affect communities across Canada

Contamination on federal sites is an issue across Canada. There are thousands of contaminated sites listed on the federal contaminated sites inventory, and PFAS are found on more than 100 of them. These include at least 26 National Defence sites including bases in Trenton, Ont., Gagetown, N.B., and Moose Jaw, Sask.

And contaminants don’t stop at the fenceline. Health Canada says some contaminants can travel long distances through soil, water and air: “PFAS can be found in fresh water and drinking water in areas that are far away from where they entered the environment,” according to the department’s website.

NORTH BAY, Ont. (06/21/23) – The main office building of Industrial Plastics Canada on Wallace Road in North Bay, Ontario, where construction is currently underway for the new factory opening July 2023. The factory plans to manufacture PTFE, Teflon-like chemicals harmful to humans, wildlife and ecosystems, no environmental assessment required. PTFE are commonly known as “forever chemicals,” because they can generate hazardous waste which, if not disposed of carefully, contaminates air, water and soil where it can remain for about 1,000 years. (Photo credit: Vanessa Tignanelli / The Narwhal)

5. Industry is still importing PFAS-class chemicals into North Bay

While the Canadian government no longer uses firefighting foam that contains PFAS, industry continues to bring these substances into the country. In 2023, The Narwhal reported on an international plastics conglomerate that opened its first Canadian location, Industrial Plastics Canada, in North Bay. The company has a presence across Europe as well as in India and China, billing itself as one of the “largest worldwide manufacturers of PTFE products.”

PTFE, or polytetrafluoroethylene, is a Teflon-like product in a subgroup of PFAS known as fluoropolymers, or fluoroplastics. A company spokesperson previously told The Narwhal the use of PTFE at the factory will not produce waste and poses “no risk.” The company also says fluoropolymers aren’t as dangerous as other PFAS and are “considered safe, non-bioaccumulative and non-toxic.”

But fluoropolymers have been found to be dangerous to human health, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology and others.

In 2023, Health Canada released a draft assessment of the state of PFAS in Canada to help decide how to regulate the class of chemicals. In it, the agency cited an industry-funded study that said fluoropolymers should be considered separately from other PFAS as “polymers of low concern.” A Health Canada spokesperson said the agency, along with Environment and Climate Change Canada, “examined information from a wide range of sources,” including scientific journals and reports while preparing the state of PFAS report.

The substances were ultimately excluded from the final report, released in March 2025, in which Health Canada proposed classifying the remaining PFAS chemicals as toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

The Health Canada spokesperson said in an email that fluoropolymers “have specific properties that differentiates them from other PFAS,” which led to their exclusion from the final report. They added that the exclusion “should not be interpreted as meaning they are or are not of concern,” and that a separate fluoropolymer assessment is currently underway.

The exclusion of PTFE from that classification was a major priority for industry, Rémy Alexandre, toxics project lead at environmental law non-profit EcoJustice, told The Narwhal.

According to data collected by Alexandre, who studied Industrial Plastics Canada’s imports to North Bay, the company brought in almost 207,000 kilograms of PTFE from India and China from July 2025 to May 2026.

This puts the facility on the list of the 10 major importers of PTFE in Canada, alongside U.S.-based chemicals company Chemours, a spinoff of Dupont that has been arguing that the European Union should exempt fluoropolymers from their regulations, too.

“The decision to site this plant in a community that is an existing hotspot for PFAS raises concerns,” Alexandre told The Narwhal. “And so does the selection of a jurisdiction that isn’t regulating fluoropolymers.”

The post North Bay’s PFAS problem: 5 things to know about a ‘forever chemicals’ hotspot in Ontario appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/30/north-bays-pfas-problem-5-things-to-know-about-a-forever-chemicals-hotspot-in-ontario/

The Narwhal

Enbridge to Pay $275K Settlement for 2019 Wisconsin Spill After DOJ Action

On: June 26, 2026

In: DOJ, Enbridge Line 5 and Other Pipelines, Featured, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, line 5, settlement, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice announced a $275,000 settlement Thursday with energy firm Enbridge in a 2019 spill in Jefferson County.

The state alleged Enbridge violated the spills law by failing to report a release from a faulty valve that occurred on its Line 13 pipeline in Fort Atkinson on April 26, 2019. The company didn’t report the spill to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources until July 31, 2020 — more than a year later.

State law requires immediately reporting a hazardous substance spill by calling the DNR’s 24-hour hotline.

WPR previously reported that up to 1,386 gallons of diluent liquids leaked from the pipeline, contaminating groundwater and soil in the area. The DOJ said the petroleum substance is an extremely flammable mixture used to thin out heavy crude oil carried through its pipelines.

“Wisconsin’s Spills Law is a critical protection for our environment,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “Those who are responsible for the discharge of a hazardous substance must comply with its requirements.”

In a statement, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said the company is pleased to reach an agreement with the DNR and the Department of Justice. She said the leak was discovered and repaired in the spring of 2019.

“Ongoing monitoring continues to confirm product released remains confined to Enbridge-owned property. Regular sampling has found no impact to nearby drinking water wells,” Kellner said. “Enbridge is committed to ongoing restoration of this site. We will work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as monitoring continues.”

The settlement requires Enbridge to pay $275,000 in fines and other fees, and an order was signed Monday by Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge William V. Gruber.

The release is not the company’s only spill in Jefferson County. In 2024, a valve leak caused by a degraded gasket at a pump station for Enbridge’s Line 6 pipeline spilled 1,650 barrels or roughly 69,000 gallons of oil. Enbridge cited the more than 50-year-old valve as a contributing factor in the spill to federal regulators.

The settlement comes as Enbridge is rerouting its Line 5 pipeline in northern Wisconsin around the Bad River Tribe’s reservation. Opponents of the project have cited the company’s track record of spills in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

Enbridge has said it’s spent billions of dollars on improving the safety and integrity of its pipelines.

The company previously violated permits and water quality standards when it built parallel pipelines across 14 counties in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, the Wisconsin Department of Justice reached a $1.1 million settlement for more than 100 environmental violations that caused harm to wetlands and waterways.

The post Enbridge to Pay $275K Settlement for 2019 Wisconsin Spill After DOJ Action appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/26/enbridge-to-pay-275k-settlement-for-2019-wisconsin-spill-after-doj-action/

Scientists have a new tool in the fight against toxic algal blooms: buoys

On: June 25, 2026

In: Algae Blooms, algal blooms, Buoys, Latest News, Ohio, Research, the ohio newsroom, university of toledo, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Erin Gottsacker

This story was originally published by The Ohio Newsroom.

Since a toxic algal bloom left hundreds of thousands of Toledo-area residents without safe drinking water in 2014, scientists have been working to curb the yearly threat.

The state has funded efforts to restore wetlands and reduce fertilizer runoff from farmlands.

A nonprofit is installing tanks to stop phosphorus from infiltrating waterways.

And now, researchers have developed another tool to prevent the blooms: a system of algae-busting buoys.

How do the buoys work?

“The idea of these buoys is that they can be set up early in the bloom season before the bloom really develops,” said Yakov Lapitsky, a professor and chair of the University of Toledo’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

Then, the buoys slowly release algaecide through a soft layer of gel. It’s designed to let the chemicals out continuously without letting water in, controlling the blooms before they ever fully form.

Lapitsky says the technology offers a cost-effective, less time-consuming alternative to manually applying algaecide to affected bodies of water.

“So instead of having applicators come out and apply algaecide as frequently as once twice a week, you can set up that buoy and then leave it for a month or two before having to worry about reloading the buoys with algaecide and applying further treatment,” he explained.

When will they be bobbing on Ohio ponds?

Lapitsky’s team has tested the buoys in a lab setting using Lake Erie water and in a pond as well. But he says more research is needed before they can be used commercially.

“One concern that we have is getting the dose just right,” he said. “We need to make sure that we’re releasing the algaecide at the best rates in a way that would minimize any side effects to non-target organisms.”

Plus, his team also wants to study whether the cyanobacteria could become resistant to algaecides with the steady, continuous exposure.

But with further study, he’s hopeful the tool could be used to control algal blooms everywhere from small ponds and drinking water reservoirs to fountains and household aquariums.

The post Scientists have a new tool in the fight against toxic algal blooms: buoys appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/25/scientists-have-a-new-tool-in-the-fight-against-toxic-algal-blooms-buoys/

The Ohio Newsroom

In a Years-Long Fight, the Illinois Environmental Justice Movement Gets a Win

On: June 25, 2026

In: air pollution, health, Illinois, Inside Climate News, Latest News, Politics, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice

By Keerti Gopal, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

After years of fighting to curb toxic pollution in communities of color, Illinois activists are celebrating a step forward.

A bill expanding the state’s regulatory obligations over industrial air polluters in environmental justice communities passed the state legislature last week and is expected to go into effect at the start of next year.

The bill amends the Illinois Environmental Protection Act and will require the state’s Environmental Protection Agency to consider cumulative pollution and other burdens when evaluating certain air emission permits for construction. It also allows the agency to consider an applicant’s past environmental violations when approving permits, and to enact stricter requirements for air monitoring and pollution prevention.

For Jen Walling, chief executive officer of the Illinois Environmental Council, this legislation has been a long time coming.

“It’s more relief than joy to have it passed,” Walling said. “We’re taking a step in the right direction.”

The bill was born out of years of high-profile community activism in Chicago against a proposal to move General Iron, a metal scrapping facility, from the predominantly white and affluent neighborhood of Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side, a majority Black and Latino area nationally recognized as overburdened by industrial pollution.

In 2020, the Illinois EPA approved a permit for the move, but residents fought back by staging protests, investigating local pollution, filing a federal civil rights complaint and completing a month-long hunger strike. The movement successfully stopped General Iron’s relocation and led to settlements with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a resolution agreement requiring the Illinois EPA to reform its permit review process.

“I didn’t really know how broken the state permitting process was until the General Iron fight,” said Gina Ramirez, director of Midwest environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council. A resident of the Southeast Side, she’s hopeful about the newly passed bill.

“I’m excited about this because it’s going to put more mechanisms in place so other families who live in environmental justice communities in Illinois don’t have to go through what we went through,” she said.

State Sen. Celina Villanueva, a co-sponsor of the bill, represents a district that includes Little Village, a majority Latino neighborhood that has long been disproportionately harmed by environmental hazards.

“This bill will save lives in my district,” Villanueva, a Democrat, said in a statement. “While there is so much more work to do to protect public health in our neighborhoods, we’ll all breathe a little easier knowing that we finally took this important first step.”

The bill identifies “areas of environmental justice concern,” by combining environmental metrics like average air pollution, vehicle traffic, drinking water violations and hazardous facilities with social vulnerabilities like poverty, race, employment and English proficiency. The bill also creates an office of environmental justice within the state EPA.

The final bill doesn’t include everything communities were pushing for, Walling said. For example, she wanted to see a more inclusive definition of environmental justice areas and said some communities downstate could end up overlooked. But overall, she sees it as a positive first step.

In Chicago, some environmental groups hope the measure will help push forward the Hazel M. Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, a city-level initiative to curb industrial pollution in environmental justice neighborhoods that has been continuously delayed.

“Hopefully this lights a fire under City Council to do the right thing,” Ramirez said.

Illinois activists also say the landscape of rollbacks by the Trump administration, from environmental justice staffing cuts to weaker enforcement, makes state progress even more important.

Ramirez said the bill is an affirmation that the disproportionate burdens faced by communities like hers are real.

“The federal government is shying away from these words and these communities,” she said. “Illinois is doubling down.”

The post In a Years-Long Fight, the Illinois Environmental Justice Movement Gets a Win appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/25/in-a-years-long-fight-the-illinois-environmental-justice-movement-gets-a-win/

Could waves become power for Beaver Island? Researchers deploy new tech to find out

On: June 24, 2026

In: Grist, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, ipr, Latest News, Michigan, University of Michigan, wave energy

By Vivian La, IPR

This story is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

A group of University of Michigan researchers will test devices that convert wave energy into electricity off the shores of Beaver Island this week, as part of an ongoing effort to improve power reliability for residents.

The prototypes — which look like small boats framed with PVC pipes — were designed with input from Beaver Island residents over the course of two years. The upcoming demonstration will help researchers improve their devices and get public feedback.

“We need to work with the community together to identify the need and design together with them,” said Lei Zuo, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan and lead researcher on the wave power project.

Through workshops with the research team, residents told researchers that they want more reliable power to the local airport, especially during emergencies.

Power to the community of about 600 permanent residents comes from the mainland through diesel generators and sensitive underwater electric cables. Outages are common during storms.

These frequent blackouts on the island have led to a natural interest among residents around local renewable energy sources, said Seamus Norgaard, a part-time island resident.

Several residents already power their homes and businesses with solar panels or geothermal energy. And the remote island has previously received federal funds to improve access to clean power.

“It’s a combination of looking at cost savings and also wanting to be independent and not dependent on the mainland for everything. And then also the environmental outlook,” he said.

Despite how much potential wave power has, it isn’t commonly used to power local electric grids because of how expensive and challenging it can be to install. The technology is still new and there isn’t a standardized design yet, said Saied Bayat, one of the researchers on the team.

So while waves on the Great Lakes are smaller and more seasonal than on oceans, research here could help improve this technology as a whole, he said. And it’s an ideal experimental bathtub.

“The Great Lakes provide real-world wave conditions while being much easier, safer, and less expensive to access than most ocean sites,” Bayat said.

After the demonstration, the U of M researchers will go back to improving the prototype. They plan to install a final version in the coming years.

The wave power demonstration will take place during Beaver Island’s 10th annual sustainability fair.

“There is that excitement about these new futures and cleaner sources, and more locally produced, dependable sources of energy,” he said.

The fair is this Saturday, featuring events across the island. The wave energy demonstration starts at 10 a.m. at the Central Michigan University boathouse near Whiskey Point.

The post Could waves become power for Beaver Island? Researchers deploy new tech to find out appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Interlochen Public Radio and Grist

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/24/could-waves-become-power-for-beaver-island-researchers-deploy-new-tech-to-find-out/

Former EPA adviser claims agency violated whistleblower protections after petition criticism

On: June 23, 2026

In: epa, Flint Water Crisis, Latest News, Michigan, Politics, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice

By Kate Furby, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work HERE.

The EPA is being sued this week by Elin Warn Betanzo, a water safety engineer who was also instrumental in the Flint water crisis investigation.

Warn Betanzo was a former member of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC), which advises the EPA on drinking water. She had about two years left on her contract, when she signed a petition criticizing the EPA and Administrator Lee Zeldin.

“When I joined the National Drinking Water Advisory Council, I committed to protecting public health, not to giving up my right to speak out for safe drinking water. The government is punishing me for speaking out against policies that endanger the public. And I’m not just fighting for myself. I’m fighting for the rights of all government employees and the safety of our drinking water,” said Warn Betanzo.

She believes the EPA is retaliating against her for signing the petition because it was critical of the Trump administration. In an email, the EPA stated it does not comment on pending litigation. Warn Betanzo is suing for a violation of her First Amendment rights and the Whistleblower Protection Act, among others.

“I’m challenging one of the largest sweeping, unconstitutional actions against federal employees in modern history. The Trump EPA is using their zero tolerance policy to intimidate EPA scientists from doing their jobs to protect Americans. So this is my story, but it’s also the story of many others,” said Warn Betanzo.

Warn Betanzo was one of 620 signers of the petition. Over a hundred other EPA employees were also allegedly suspended for signing.

The post Former EPA adviser claims agency violated whistleblower protections after petition criticism appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/23/former-epa-adviser-claims-agency-violated-whistleblower-protections-after-petition-criticism/

Michigan Public

Wisconsin egg production cut in half as farms struggle with avian flu, higher expenses

On: June 23, 2026

In: Agriculture, bird flu, eggs, Farming, industry, Latest News, News, Wisconsin

By Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

Egg production in Wisconsin is less than half of what it was a year ago, reflecting a major decline in the number of laying hens in the state.

That’s according to the latest data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Wisconsin produced 91.7 million eggs in April, the latest month available. That’s down 57 percent from the same month in 2025.

The data shows there were 3.69 million laying hens in the state. It’s 56 percent lower than the previous April, when Wisconsin had 8.3 million birds.

The state’s total laying hens fell dramatically last September, after Daybreak Foods’ farm in Jefferson County was hit by avian influenza and culled more than 3 million birds.

Laying hen numbers started to rally in December into February. But numbers fell sharply again in March after three different locations — each with more than 1 million birds — were forced to cull their flocks due to avian flu, including the same farm in Jefferson County.

Ron Kean, poultry specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, said it takes time for a farm to recover from an infection. Producers have to cull their flocks and compost the dead birds, before sanitizing their facilities.

Replacing the lost birds can take close to two years, according to Kean. He said there are a limited number of new laying hens, referred to as pullets, ready to go each year.

“It’s like if you lost all of your cows in a herd, there aren’t just more cows out there that you can go get right away,” he said.

Kean said the data from USDA primarily captures the largest egg producers in the state. So each time a farm is culled due to avian flu, it can cause a big swing on the monthly report.

But he said Wisconsin has a growing industry of small to medium-sized farms, many that are raising hens on pasture to sell their eggs at a premium.

“By number of birds, it’s still definitely the large facilities that have the most,” he said. “But I’m going to say there might be… half a million to a million, I think it’s safe to say, that may not be getting counted.”

National egg production in April was up 5 percent from a year ago. The supply of eggs has started to recover from avian flu outbreaks across the country, and egg prices have come down from record highs in 2025.

The adjustment may be good for consumers’ wallets, but it has left some farmers feeling squeezed as they continue to face a higher cost of doing business.

Maro Ibarburu, Business Analyst for the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University, said egg farmers across the country are facing rising feed prices and fuel surcharges from their processors.

He told WPR in an email that shell egg prices from March to May were “the 4th lowest compared with the same period in the last 20 years, and are the lowest when they are adjusted by inflation.”

“These 20-year lows, when combined with the (March to May) cost of production increase, which is 5 percent higher than the same period last year, have made this time very challenging for egg farmers,” Ibarburu wrote in an email.

But Kean said the egg industry does have one reason to look on the sunny side: Americans’ obsession with protein could help drive new consumer demand.

“In general, everybody seems to be gung ho on protein right now,” he said. “I think the high price of other proteins, those have also helped.”

The post Wisconsin egg production cut in half as farms struggle with avian flu, higher expenses appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/23/wisconsin-egg-production-cut-in-half-as-farms-struggle-with-avian-flu-higher-expenses/

Setting Fires On Purpose to Cut Risk of Catastrophic Wildfires

On: June 19, 2026

In: circle of blue, Climate change, controlled burns, great lakes news collaborative, inland lakes, Latest News, wildfires

By Victoria Witke, Circle of Blue

Wildfire risk is predicted to stay elevated through June in the Upper Midwest from drought and high winds. That’s risky for the region’s pristine inland lakes, but land managers are working to reduce wildfire risk in the Northwoods with controlled burns.

Some experts are advocating for increasing the use of this centuries-old method of prescribed fire to create more resilient ecosystems.

Chris Filstrup knows how severe fire changes freshwater in Minnesota’s wilderness. He’s a lake scientist at the University of Minnesota Natural Resources Research Institute and investigates the consequences of the 2021 Greenwood Fire for remote lakes. Along with a team of researchers, Filstrup continually samples lakes in the burnscar each summer for water quality issues like high levels of phosphorus, carbon and nitrogen.

According to a study Filstrup published in the journal Geological Research Letters, charred lakes have higher nutrient levels than their unburned counterparts. Those degraded waterways are still brown and murky – the color of tea, Filstrup said.

Yet, each watershed of the 15 fire-affected lakes Filstrup studies responded differently to the Greenwood Fire. For some, the flames incinerated entire shorelines. For others, the fire was further back, scorching only a small slice of the watershed. Filstrup found that the more severe fires caused worse damage because hotter flames burn more vegetation and disturbs the soil. That allows more nutrients to flow into lakes.

“Anything we can do to reduce the potential severity of those fires would be a good thing,” Filstrup said.

Prescribed burns – low intensity fires planned by land managers – prevent the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires by reducing fuel loads. When fire catches in areas with dead trees, dense shrubbery and overgrown vegetation, flames have more to feed on and spread quickly.

These less severe fires can harm water quality, but those impacts are temporary, especially compared to intense wildfires.

“If you have higher severity fire, you kill all the [tree] canopies,” Ge Sun, a U.S. Forest Service research hydrologist, said. “They get too hot. The soil is burned bare, too, and it’s difficult for the vegetation to grow back. But that’s not the case for prescribed fire.”

When trees burn, the whole water cycle of the forest changes. Trees put water back into the atmosphere through a process called evapotranspiration. Roots also store water in the soil and filter it, taking out some of the impurities before it flows into lakes. With fewer trees, more water ends up flowing into waterways instead of the atmosphere or groundwater, and it holds more contaminants.

Despite the potential for prescribed fire to protect water quality by reducing the chances of catastrophic fire, little research has actually investigated how this tool affects lakes.

Peter Caldwell is trying to understand those consequences for forested watersheds. At an experimental forest in North Carolina called the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Caldwell – who, like Sun, is a Forest Service hydrologist – is collaborating on a study launched in 2019 to find out if prescribed fires can be used without causing water issues.

“We’ve got some early results that suggest that because these are low severity fires, those impacts are very small and short-lived,” Caldwell said.

Low severity fires kill only the forest understory, which can recover quickly, Sun said. Besides, many species depend on fire to thrive, such as blueberries and jack pines in northern Minnesota. These species adapted to fire because it’s a regular, natural phenomenon.

Fire will happen in forests across the continent with or without people, Sun said.

Beaver float plane dropping water on spot fire. Kawishiwi Ranger District. Superior National Forest, Minnesota, 1962. Photo courtesy of Freeman Heim for the U.S. Forest Service. (Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Freeman Heim for the U.S. Forest Service via Circle of Blue)

Fire suppression

In much of the country, including Minnesota’s Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, people have been managing the land with controlled fire for centuries.

Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano dedicates much of her time understanding the relationship between fire and land. She’s a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota and an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.

“The Indigenous people, when you look at pre-colonization, across the entire landscape had been using fire to survive, to caretake our lands,” Montano said in a Friends of the Boundary Waters webinar.

“When people had come into the Boundary Waters as a new area for them, they saw it for its beauty and all of those other things,” Montano said. “It was in that state because it was being taken care of by the Anishinaabeg people by things like fire. Fire has always been a part of that ecosystem.”

1939 Forest Fire Prevention poster painted James Montgomery Flagg for the American Forestry Association. (Photo credit: photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service via Circle of Blue)

For instance, the open old growth red and white pine stands surrounding the shorelines of lakes in the wilderness area exist because of fire stewardship.

“That was the world that existed before colonial settlers arrived in North America,” historian Char Miller said. He studies the history of the Forest Service and wrote a book about fire suppression called “Burn Scars.”

Many fire-dependent ecosystems in the Great Lakes haven’t seen flames in decades. Cultural and controlled burns abruptly stopped because of colonization, leaving only wildland fires for a century.

Part of that halt was fear-based. After waves of catastrophic blazes in the late 1800s, like the Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin, the federal government began enforcing strict fire suppression policies. That included the fires Indigenous communities practiced for centuries before.

But Miller said fire suppression policies were also racially motivated, meant to disrupt the lives of native people. Taking away fire disrupted their social, economic and religious lives, and Miller said documents from Spanish missionaries, Franciscans and other settlers explicitly supported that.

“Settler colonialism has many guises,” Miller said, “but around fire, it’s very clear it’s got one voice and that is: Suppress the fire, and you suppress the Indigenous people.”

Climate change is mostly to blame for increasing wildfires, Montano said, but the forced removal of the Anishinaabeg people plays a role. They could no longer steward the land as they had for generations.

Evan Larson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, studies tree rings to understand the history of fire on the landscape. He said during the webinar that the relationship between people, fire and the rest of the ecosystem was disturbed by colonization.

Larson said bringing more fire to the landscape is essential in places like the Boundary Waters, where the bar to conduct prescribed burns is much higher than places like Superior National Forest due to its Wilderness Act status.

“If we think about reciprocity and we recognize that these are fire dependent systems,” Larson said, “we have an increasing responsibility to tend to these places with fire because of the way the landscape has changed, because of the changes that we are seeing everywhere.”

The disruption in regular fire is hurting ecosystem resilience. For example, those open pine stands along lakes in the Boundary Waters become more susceptible to drought and climate change the denser they become. Fire keeps them open and thin.

Prescribed Fire

Teresa Floberg said using prescribed fire as a tool is a necessary part of living in a fire-dependent landscape. She works with Superior National Forest and other stakeholders in northeast Minnesota as the Ely Fireshed Coordinator for nonprofit Dovetail Partners.

Controlled fires are happening. Over the last three decades, the Forest Service has been slowly upping its prescribed burns – including in Superior National Forest. This year, the agency has eighteen prescribed fires across 5,483 acres planned for the northern Minnesota forest to reduce fuel loads, manage vegetation and maintain wildlife habitats.

Tribes in northern Minnesota collaborate with the Forest Service on some prescribed fires in Superior National Forest, including the Boise Forte Band of Chippewa. Cody Swanson, the band’s Forest Programs Manager, said that’s only a fraction of the burns they do. Outside the forest, the unit conducts low-acreage prescribed fires to protect homes and buildings on the reservation. They’re also bringing back cultural burns for blueberries and medicinal plants and plan to expand that practice.

Recently, the Boise Band acquired 28,000 acres near the reservation boundaries that once belonged to a timber company. The band’s Natural Resources Management has to clear out dead and downed trees, along with some other preparation, so they can reintroduce fire practices on a larger scale.

“Reintroducing fire will reintroduce a lot of the different bearberry, red osier dogwood, juneberry, raspberry, all these different medicines that people historically have used here,” Swanson said. “It’s huge that we’ll be able to reintroduce fire on the landscape in areas that might not have had it for hundreds of years.”

Reintroducing more fire is a goal for a lot of stakeholders in the region, including Dovetail Partners. But Floberg said getting fire on the ground in northern Minnesota is challenging.

For one thing, prescribed fires require a lot of preparation, especially in the fuel-riddled region.

“Fuel has to be removed prior to doing a prescribed burn,” Floberg said. “It relies on removing that thick understory, those really flammable trees that could bring even a low intensity fire up into the canopy.”

Sometimes accidents happen. In early June, the Birch Bay Fire that burned more than 30 acres near Ely was likely started by chainsaw operations while Forest Service crews were prepping for a prescribed fire. Hot engines, exhaust and flying sparks could have caught dry grass or pine needles aflame.

Resources are also lacking. There’s a shortage of qualified burners in the state, Floberg said, and conducting burns is expensive.

“There often isn’t a budget at the federal level to do that necessary fuels reduction work to then even be able to consider reintroducing a prescribed fire,” Floberg said.

The financial burden deters private landowners. Floberg said many homeowners in the area want to set prescribed fire on their forested property, but many can’t afford the thousands of dollars price tag to treat even an acre.

Still, the cost to run a prescribed burn versus suppress a wildfire is significantly smaller. It’s a preventative measure, and the dollars can be difficult to justify.

“The upfront cost will save huge expenses down the road,” Floberg said. “It’s just, we’re reactionary. We respond to crises and recovery.”

This article is the second of two parts. See part one here.

The post Setting Fires On Purpose to Cut Risk of Catastrophic Wildfires appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/19/setting-fires-on-purpose-to-cut-risk-of-catastrophic-wildfires/

Circle of Blue

When Forests Burn, Lakes Suffer

On: June 18, 2026

In: great lakes news collaborative, Latest News, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Victoria Witke, Circle of Blue

Wildfire risk is high in the upper Great Lakes, and research shows that large, scorching wildfires spell trouble for lakes in the region’s remote watersheds.

The reason: Vegetation burns in the fire. Scorching, high temperatures make the soil hydrophobic, which causes erosion and more runoff into lakes. Plants are no longer there to filter the sediment seeping into waterways. One region of concern is northern Minnesota where fires are blazing in dry and windy conditions.

In early June, lightning caused three wildfires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, prompting a campfire ban. Two more fires recently sparked in Ely, leading to emergency evacuations. In mid-May, the Flanders Fire east of Breezy Point charred more than 1,700 acres in about a week.

The multiple blazes are evidence that elevated fire risk is becoming the new norm for the region, according to Teresa Floberg. She’s the Ely Fireshed Coordinator for environmental think tank Dovetail Partners and works with Superior National Forest.

“When you look at wildfire risk maps for northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan, that wildfire risk resembles the West,” Floberg said. “Same level of risk factors, and potential for intensity.”

That risk, of course, isn’t unique to the North Woods. This year, wildfire experts predict a severe fire season nationwide as drought grips most of the country. As of mid-June, the National Interagency Coordination Center reported that more than 2.5 million acres have burned in wildfires across the U.S. – nearly double the 10-year average.

The causes have been gradually accumulating for more than a century. Climate change – balmier summers, shorter winters, unexpectedly dry and windy days – is largely to blame. That, and more than a century of federal fire suppression policies. Decades of fuel buildup in forests, like downed trees and dense undergrowth, feed the flames, growing wildfires to catastrophic dimensions.

Extinguishing wildfires comes with a hefty price tag. Northern Minnesota wildfires last year alone required an $8.7 million emergency response from the state’s National Guard and firefighting staff.

Chris Filstrup is an expert on how wildfires are affecting northern Minnesota’s remote lakes.

Five years ago, while the Greenwood Fire burned across more than 26,800 acres of northeast Minnesota, the lake scientist became enthralled with what that summer’s largest and most destructive wildfire was doing to the thousands of pristine lakes residing in its warpath across Superior National Forest.

Filstrup poured over previous research investigating how fire affects watersheds. There were few studies, and those he found overwhelmingly featured the Western half of the United States.

“We need to be studying this in the Midwest due to all the differences in vegetation, landscape, hydrology and weather patterns that likely affect how lakes respond to fires,” Filstrup said. “We have very different systems here.”

Sam Reed agrees. Reed is the climate conservation manager at advocacy organization Friends of the Boundary Waters, where he is reviewing all of the climate impact research in the greater Quetico-Superior Ecosystem. Fire has been largely excluded from that work.

“The relationship between fire and freshwater is something that needs way more attention, both from a research perspective and a policy perspective,” Reed said. “We need to be thinking about how it affects our amazing freshwater resources.”

Filstrup is one of the leaders closing that knowledge gap.

Along with a team of researchers, Filstrup received rapid funding from the National Science Foundation to find out the consequences of wildfires for the Upper Midwest’s inland lakes. When they began studying Superior National Forest watersheds the following May after the fire, much of the landscape was still charred. Filstrup said it was like stepping onto a different planet. The lakes within the burn scar were – and still are – the color of sweet tea with few plants along the shores. Pre-fire, they were clear, home to an assortment of flora and largely unaffected by contamination.

In the years since the Greenwood Fire, Filstrup and the lab he directs at the University of Minnesota continue to monitor the lakes every summer.

“You can see the landscape rejuvenating. You can start seeing those soils stabilize again. You can start seeing the regrowth of vegetation, which is really cool,” Filstrup said. “But lots of these lakes, when it comes to water quality, really haven’t recovered yet.”

During their initial study, Filstrup and the other scientists sampled lakes scorched by the fire and some outside of the burn scar. The researchers found that lakes in the burned stretches of the forest had higher levels of phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon than their untouched counterparts. The water was more murky and acidic. This all means degraded water quality.

Though researchers didn’t see an increase in algae growth in the studied lakes, increased nutrients can boost algae growth, which can trigger algae blooms – the rapid overgrowth of the organism seen in places like Green Bay or the western Lake Erie basin.

That green sludge can deplete loads of oxygen from the water when it dies and block sunlight to the plant communities at the bottom of the lake that would normally bind to nutrients. Without that vegetation, the nitrogen and phosphorus stay in the water and can fuel algae blooms, and Filstrup said they could see fish kills due to low oxygen levels.

Plus, extinguishing wildfires can come at a risk to water quality. Increasing fire intensity and frequency means firefighting agencies are using more retardants to put flames out. Those red plumes dumped from planes can contaminate waterways with chemicals like heavy metals, fertilizers and phosphorus.

“My concern was that all these really prized, cherished ecosystems like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Superior National Forest are going to start changing towards lakes that you tend to see in highly urbanized or highly agricultural areas, or areas where you just have a lot of human pressures within that watershed,” Filstrup said.

When Filstrup first began analyzing these lakes, he said there were arguments over how much fire actually affects water quality. Some said it was a minor disturbance, that the lakes would recover by the next year on their own.

“Five years after the fire, these lakes are still showing those similar characteristics of having more nutrients, being browner, having water that’s turbid and you can’t see through as clearly,” Filstrup said. “These are sustained impacts, and this is the result that’s shocking a lot of people because they thought this wasn’t something that we necessarily had to manage for.”

It’s not just the lakes that are affected.

Degraded ecosystems could have drastic consequences for the Minnesotan economy. Outdoor recreation in the northeast region alone generated more than $1.3 billion in economic output in 2024.

“If you start changing the quality of water in these ecosystems, people aren’t going to travel as far to visit them,” Filstrup said. “If people aren’t traveling to get there, they’re not spending along the way.”

Part two reports on how Minnesotans look to controlled fires to protect watersheds.

The post When Forests Burn, Lakes Suffer appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/18/when-forests-burn-lakes-suffer/

Circle of Blue

Pennsylvania Activists Urge Lawmakers to Help Curb Soaring Electric Bills

On: June 18, 2026

In: data centers, Electric bills, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Inside Climate News, Latest News, Pennsylvania

By Jon Hurdle Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Advocates for lower electricity prices in Pennsylvania said Wednesday their goals can be achieved by requiring large-load users like data centers to supply their own power rather than taking it from the grid, by reducing utility profits and by speeding up the interconnection of new clean-energy projects.

The group, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, the Evergreen Collaborative and state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, touted a report showing that consumers in the state could save an average of more than $840 a year on electricity costs by 2030 vs. the status quo if lawmakers enact policies that address the causes of soaring retail power prices.

The report, from Synapse Energy Economics, an environmental consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said the proposed policy reforms could reduce household electricity costs by an average of $197 in 2027 alone and deliver an estimated $2.4 billion in cost savings statewide by 2030.

Some consumers are now having to choose between paying for their electricity and their medication, and that’s not a choice they should have to make, said Fiedler, a Democrat who chairs the House Energy Committee and represents part of South Philadelphia. Residential electricity rates in Pennsylvania rose almost 14 percent in the past year alone, according to federal data. Costs for consumers were up more than 50 percent compared to 2020.

Fiedler urged lawmakers to enact reforms that lower electricity prices to levels that everyone can afford. The legislature faces a June 30 deadline for finalizing the fiscal 2027 state budget.

“Often in this building, especially during budget season, we are facing numbers that lead us to a place where we believe we must cut policies and programs that people count on,” Fiedler said at a press conference on the steps of the state Capitol in Harrisburg on Wednesday. “This report shows us the tremendous amounts of money that people can keep in their pockets.”

Fiedler and the advocates said the energy-hungry data center industry—which plans to build more than 50 of the giant computer complexes in Pennsylvania—has driven up retail power prices by increasing demand to the point that it exceeds new supply.

Fiedler urged support for HB2224, the Return on Equity bill she co-sponsored, that would ease consumer costs by lowering the profit margins of state-regulated utilities.

Patrick Cicero, an attorney with the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, said investors would still be attracted to utilities even if the return was reduced.

“A significant share of a utility bill isn’t paying for power or pipes, it’s paying for a utility’s shareholder profit,” said Cicero, whose group works to ensure that low-income residents receive safe and affordable utility service.

The latest projected power demand from data centers would be the equivalent of adding two-and-a-half times the electricity currently used by New York City to the service territory for the eastern and central Pennsylvania utility PPL within the next decade, according to Jackson Morris, an analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, who spoke at the press conference.

“The rapid rise in data centers and expected future growth are unique, unprecedented and uncertain, and will require a different approach than simply asserting that basic market forces of supply and demand will take care of it,” he said.

But Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Data Center Coalition, a trade group, denied that the industry causes retail electric prices to rise.

“Studies…have consistently found that data centers do not raise energy prices, and that data centers pay for all the power they use, just like any other customer,” Dorio said in a statement. “In fact, research shows that large-load users like data centers can actually keep costs down for residential customers by absorbing more of the grid’s fixed costs.” A recent study that reached this conclusion was funded by the Data Center Coalition.

Advocates for action to curb rising electricity prices also accused the grid operator PJM Interconnection of “mismanagement” by being slow to approve new energy sources, especially from clean energy like wind and solar, that might address the supply shortfall.

Jeff Shields, a spokesman for PJM, said many delays were beyond its control. “We need to build generation at a faster pace to keep up with rising demand driven by data centers, and PJM is doing everything in its power to make that happen,” Shields said in an email.

The grid operator, whose Northeast and mid-Atlantic territory covers around 65 million people, has 50 gigawatts of generation that have cleared its interconnection process but continue to face delays from forces outside of PJM’s control, including those in state permitting.

This week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved PJM’s proposal for an expedited interconnection track for large state-sponsored generation projects of any fuel type or technology that can come online quickly, and address the imbalance between supply and demand, Shields said.

“PJM continues to work closely with state and federal governments on multiple paths to bring new generation online quickly including a plan for new data centers to bring their own generation,” he said. The plan also includes an agreement by data centers to be curtailed if and when the system needs power for residential customers, he added.

In Pennsylvania, developers who want access to the state’s “Fast Track” permitting program must bring their own power, a condition demanded by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. Shapiro, who has faced frustration from some of the residents fighting data-center development, said in a statement that a price cap he negotiated with PJM saved consumers across the region billions of dollars and his new data-center standards are designed to protect communities and ensure that developers deliver real benefits “if they want the Commonwealth’s support.”

The post Pennsylvania Activists Urge Lawmakers to Help Curb Soaring Electric Bills appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/18/pennsylvania-activists-urge-lawmakers-to-help-curb-soaring-electric-bills/

Federal wildfire bill may repeal ‘roadless rule’ that protects national forest land in Wisconsin

On: June 17, 2026

In: Latest News, national forests, Politics, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Recreation and Tourism, Roadless rule, Wildfire bill, Wisconsin

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

An amendment added to a bipartisan wildfire bill in the U.S. Senate would end protections for millions of acres of roadless areas on national forest land, including in Wisconsin.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-9 along party lines to include a Republican-authored amendment to repeal the controversial “roadless rule” under the Wildfire Prevention Act. The legislation next heads to the full Senate.

First passed in 2001, the rule prevents logging and road construction on almost 59 million acres of national forest land, including 69,000 acres of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin. That’s less than 5 percent of the forest’s over 1.5 million acres in Wisconsin.

Unlike in western states, very few fires in Wisconsin stem from lightning or other natural causes, said Paul Strong, former forest supervisor of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Around 98 percent of wildfires in Wisconsin are caused by people, and the No. 1 cause of wildfires is burning debris.

Strong said rescinding the roadless rule would not make the forest noticeably safer.

“Even if roads were put into those areas, it wouldn’t be a noticeable change (where people) would say, ‘Yeah, we’ve just reduced fire risk significantly,’” Strong said. “That would almost be laughable.”

Supporters of the rule say it protects against the spread of invasive species, maintains higher air and water quality and supports biodiversity. But as the West faces significant wildfire risk, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who chairs the Senate committee, said the roadless rule has “wreaked havoc” on western communities.

“The rule restricts access for multiple use on nearly 59 million acres of Forest Service lands in ways that, in different respects, have a tendency to increase wildfire risk and danger in communities and limit economic activity,” Lee said during the Wednesday hearing.

The move comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which houses the Forest Service, is making a separate push to repeal the rule that’s still under review.

Cassie Steiner with the Sierra Club Wisconsin chapter said it’s frustrating to see the repeal of the roadless rule included in the wildfire bill, adding fires usually occur near roads. In California, the Forest Service found two-thirds of fires in the southern portion of the state started along roadways.

“It’s really disappointing to see fake information about how repealing this rule would benefit wildfire prevention. In reality, it just opens our wildest places up for development and extractive industry,” said Steiner, the group’s senior campaign coordinator.

A 2020 study by the U.S. Forest Service found that a lack of roads has not stopped fire prevention. The research found forests with and without roads have burned at similar rates since the rule took effect.

“Speculation that eliminating road prohibitions would improve forest health is not supported by nearly 20 years of monitoring data,” the study states.

U.S. Senate Democrats on the committee said they were disappointed about its inclusion in the bill to address wildfire threats by increasing prescribed burns and thinning of forests, which are among prevention measures used in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Strong said there shouldn’t be a blanket approach to the rule, noting Wisconsin forests aren’t incredibly fire prone when compared with those in arid western states. But the number of wildfires in Wisconsin has increased in recent years as the state has seen significant droughts and changing climate conditions. Climate scientists say the state is becoming more vulnerable to wildfires.

Even so, Strong said large blazes like the 2013 Germann Road Fire that burned nearly 7,500 acres across northern Wisconsin are rare, and repealing the roadless rule would do little to significantly reduce wildfire risk.

The post Federal wildfire bill may repeal ‘roadless rule’ that protects national forest land in Wisconsin appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/17/federal-wildfire-bill-may-repeal-roadless-rule-that-protects-national-forest-land-in-wisconsin/

Oneida County Health Department to monitor five public beaches for E. coli this summer

On: June 11, 2026

In: e. coli, Latest News, Water quality, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin, wxpr

By Katie Thoresen, WXPR

This story was originally published by WXPR. WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Listen to their stories here.

The Oneida County Health Department will be testing the water at five public beaches this summer.

As WXPR reported last year, they tested Buck and Boom Lake beaches in Rhinelander, Torpy Park in Minocqua, and the Sugar Camp Public Beach.

This year, they’re adding Maple Lake Beach in Three Lakes.

Testing is done once a week for E. coli.

What is E. coli?

E. coli is a type of bacteria that can make people and animals sick. Symptoms can be mild or severe.

Common symptoms include: diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, or nausea and vomiting.

If you have been in the water and think you have an E. coli infection, contact Oneida County Health Department and seek medical attention, if symptoms are severe.

How will I know the E. coli levels?

Testing results will be updated on the Oneida County Health Department website and Facebook page each week.

If there are elevated levels, there will also be yellow advisory signs and red closure signs posted at the beach.

Help prevent E. coli outbreaks in swimming areas

Picking up dirty diapers and fecal matter from dogs
Do not feed seagulls and other birds
Look for birds flying over water recreation areas
Check water conditions: if you see algal blooms, avoid the water
E. coli levels can be higher after heavy rain because dirty water can wash into lakes and beaches

Are they testing for anything else?

OCHD staff will also monitor the beaches for cleanliness and for blue-green algae blooms.

Conditions can change quickly, so swimmers should be on the lookout if the water looks like pea soup, green or blue spilled paint, or has a green scum layer on the surface.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae, also known as Cyanobacteria, are a group of photosynthetic bacteria that many people refer to as “pond scum.”

In Wisconsin, blue-green algae blooms generally occur between mid-June and late September.

People and animals can get sick from it. Symptoms range from rashes to vomiting.

To report a blue-green algae bloom or illness, visit Wisconsin Department of Health here, or contact OCHD at 715-369-6111 or email eh@oneidacountywi.gov.

The post Oneida County Health Department to monitor five public beaches for E. coli this summer appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/11/oneida-county-health-department-to-monitor-five-public-beaches-for-e-coli-this-summer/

WXPR

Coast Guard investigating beacon stolen from Superior lighthouse

On: June 9, 2026

In: Latest News, lighthouse, Lighthouses, Museums and Cultural Institutions, News, stolen beacon, superior entry lighthouse, Wisconsin

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the theft of a navigational beacon at the lighthouse that guides ships into the Superior harbor.

The Coast Guard Investigative Service is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest or conviction.

Investigators say one or more individuals broke into the Superior Entry Lighthouse on Wisconsin Point on or around May 13. The unknown suspects severed the power supply and stole the beacon housed inside, according to a news release.

Ships use the beacon to safely enter and leave the harbor, especially at night or during poor weather. The Coast Guard called the theft a “reckless act” that threatened the safety of vessels using the Superior entry, saying its removal creates a hazard that could lead to collisions or groundings.

“Such accidents pose a direct, life-threatening danger to commercial mariners and local recreational boaters,” the Coast Guard said.

Investigators said a major incident also carries the risk of environmental damage from fuel spills or threatens to disrupt movement of ships carrying goods through the Great Lakes.

The Coast Guard said anyone who steals or tampers with a federal navigational aid could be charged with a felony.

Investigators are asking the public to report any suspicious individuals, vehicles or vessels near the lighthouse at the time of the theft. People can remain anonymous and submit tips to the Coast Guard through an online portal.

The 56-foot tall lighthouse was first lit in 1913. In 2019, the U.S. General Service Administration auctioned off the lighthouse to a tech industry executive from California for $159,000. Two years ago, the GSA once again made the lighthouse available at no cost to eligible parties, including nonprofit groups and government agencies.

The post Coast Guard investigating beacon stolen from Superior lighthouse appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/06/09/coast-guard-investigating-beacon-stolen-from-superior-lighthouse/

Michigan bald eagle success story faces new threats

On: June 9, 2026

In: Bald eagles, birds, bridge michigan, conservation, Fish, Birds and Animals, great lakes news collaborative, Latest News, Michigan

By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira, Bridge Michigan

The number of bald eagles in Michigan is declining, and funding delays aren’t helping the cause.

Researchers who have spent decades climbing trees, banding eaglets and monitoring nests across Michigan say something unusual is happening this year.

Field crews working with long-term bald eagle monitoring programs say they’ve found empty nests where aerial surveys previously documented young birds. They’ve also seen malnourished eaglets, damaged nests and signs that some adult bald eagles may be attempting to nest a second time after earlier failures.

For scientists who have tracked Michigan’s bald eagle recovery for decades, the observations are raising concern.

“Our initial impressions are that this is not a typical year,” said Bill Bowerman, a professor of wildlife ecology and environmental toxicology at the University of Maryland and deputy director and chairman of the board at the Ann Arbor-based Wings Over Water Research Institute. “We are seeing widespread reproductive difficulties that appear linked to a combination of severe weather and limited food availability.”

Michigan’s bald eagle population is considered one of the country’s major conservation success stories. After decades of decline caused by habitat loss, hunting and the pesticide DDT, federal protections and environmental regulations helped the species recover.

Annual aerial surveys by Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Disease Laboratory showed breeding pairs increased from about 52 pairs in 1961 to roughly 835 pairs by 2017.

But researchers and state wildlife officials said recovery does not eliminate ongoing threats.

State wildlife pathologist Julie Melotti said that, from 1987 to 2024, trauma accounted for the majority of documented eagle deaths examined by the lab, including 34% from vehicle strikes and about 26% from other trauma, while lead toxicosis accounted for nearly 13%.

Melotti said those patterns reflect long-standing risks tied to human activity and scavenging behavior, particularly when eagles feed on roadkill or remains containing lead ammunition.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, also caused major disruptions beginning in 2022.

Melotti’s lab documented 64 eagle deaths during the initial bird flu outbreak from April 2022 to January 2023, with about 70% of those cases involving adult birds. Additional confirmed cases have continued into recent years, including dozens examined since late 2024, with adults again making up a substantial share of infections.

According to Bowerman and other Michigan eagle researchers affiliated with Wings Over Water, monitoring after the 2022 outbreak documented the loss of more than 400 breeding pairs, and researchers estimate roughly 2,500 individual eagles may have been lost statewide.

Unlike species that reproduce quickly, bald eagles mature slowly and typically produce only one clutch of one to three chicks per year, making population recovery more sensitive to large disruptions.

Funding delays

For decades, state-supported aerial surveys and field crews allowed researchers to monitor nests across Michigan.

This year, however, more than $700,000 in federal funding expected through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for bald eagle and colonial waterbird monitoring has yet to be released, said Wings Over Water officials.

“We were all under the same belief in November that this funding would be available,” Bowerman said. “And we didn’t find out until April that it wasn’t coming.”

Bowerman said the delay has changed what monitoring looks like in practice.

“In normal years, both the aerial surveys that DNR guys (do) would have been funded, and we would have up to three banding crews in the field at one time,” he said.

Instead, Wings Over Water researchers say many nests are being visited by volunteers, limiting how many sites can be visited during the short window when eaglets can safely be handled.

That window typically lasts only five to nine weeks, when researchers climb trees, lower eaglets from nests in specialized bags, collect blood samples, measure feathers and body size, determine sex, band birds and test for contaminants including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), mercury, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The data help scientists understand not only eagle health but also broader ecosystem conditions, since young eagles reflect contaminants and environmental conditions present in local food systems.

“Every nest visit provides critical information about the health of Michigan’s waters and wildlife,” said Jennifer Day, executive director of Wings Over Water.

US Environmental Protection Agency officials said the agency provided about $800,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for bald eagle and colonial waterbird monitoring in Michigan during the 2026 field season. An additional $500,000 was provided for bald eagle and herring gull contaminant monitoring across Michigan and Wisconsin.

EPA directed questions about the distribution of those funds to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Wings Over Water officials said funding expected for their monitoring work had not been released as of this spring.

US Fish and Wildlife did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Nesting under pressure

Recent flooding and high water levels may have reduced fishing opportunities for adult eagles, making it harder for parents to feed young.

“We have fewer eagles that are young,” Bowerman said. “We have some birds that are starving to death.”

Wings Over Water field crews say they have documented dead nestlings, severely malnourished chicks and nests damaged or destroyed during wind events.

The combination of field observations and long-term mortality data helps provide context for what researchers are seeing on the ground.

Melotti’s statewide records show that, even after population recovery, eagles continue to face persistent threats from trauma, poisoning and disease.

Researchers said this year’s observations suggest multiple stressors may be overlapping.

“The long winter, spring flooding, and repeated severe wind events likely created very challenging conditions for nesting eagles,” Bowerman said. “While each of these events can occur naturally, it is unusual to see them happening together and affecting nests across such a broad area.”

Exactly how widespread those conditions are remains unclear.

Bowerman said aerial surveys are still being completed in parts of the state, making it too early to fully assess overall productivity, one of the most important measures of population health.

But field observations have already surprised even longtime researchers.

Bowerman said conditions this year have looked different from anything he has seen in decades of monitoring. During one recent trip, he went three days without finding an active nest.

While researchers said they are not suggesting bald eagles are again nearing endangered status, they say continued monitoring is essential to understand how environmental stressors are affecting the population over time.

“Long-term monitoring is the only way we can understand how these major events are affecting the population over time,” Day said.

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This northern Michigan program hopes to cultivate the next generation of farmers

On: May 29, 2026

In: Agriculture, Farming, Grist, ipr, Latest News, Michigan

By Vivian La, IPR

This story is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

As Michigan faces an aging farmer population, communities are looking for ways to shore up the next generation of growers. But people looking to get in the field face challenges like high costs, access to land and a shifting climate.

Tucked on farmland at the southern edge of Traverse City, one program wants to solve some of these problems by letting aspiring farmers learn by doing.

The Great Lakes Incubator Farm attracts students from all over the country. Over the course of seven months, they learn topics like pest management, how to drive a tractor and what to include in a farm business plan.

“Nobody gets into farming for sane reasons, other than the sanity of knowing where your food comes from and just general health,” said 33-year-old Rachel Greenberg, a student farmer from Indianapolis. “The challenges are pretty never-ending.”

Those challenges include high costs, access to land and volatile weather. Farm bankruptcies last year were up 46% nationally, according to a National Farm Bureau report. As land prices rise due to demand from developers, more than 50,000 acres of farmland has been lost in the last two decades, according to research.

Despite headwinds, the student farmers said they’re driven by wanting to know where their food comes from, to contribute to local communities and teach others to do the same.

‘Pay it forward’

The farm training program — a project of the Grand Traverse Conservation District — has fewer economic pressures than running a farm business, Greenberg said. The fruits and vegetables that students grow will go to locals who have already committed to buying the season’s produce, and leftovers will go to food rescue operations. Unlike a traditional business, the goal isn’t to make a profit.

“The whole incubator idea is something you see a lot in the world of entrepreneurship, and it’s beautiful that somebody saw that and was like, ‘Why don’t we just do that with farming?’” Greenberg said.

Troy Saruna, 28, said at a time where climate change is driving more severe weather, he wants to better understand his impact on the natural world. Saruna worked in conservation around the country prior to the program, and has no farming experience.

*Student farmer Troy Saruna waters seedlings in the greenhouse at the Great Lakes Incubator Farm. (Photo credit: Vivian La/IPR News)*

The training program focuses on teaching regenerative agriculture, which refers to practices that could reduce the pollution causing climate change by improving soil health.

“Our food systems are just so inextricably tied to the health of the planet,” Saruna said. “I’m just really interested in striking up a new balance where I can understand, interpret and just develop some new instincts in terms of feeding myself and having thriving communities that also support wildlife.”

Farmers with some experience also find the program helpful to dive deeper into certain skills. Shanaya Holmes, 49, runs a small 4-acre farm in Alabama.

*Student farmer Shanaya Holmes kneels by a row of spinach. (Photo credit: Vivian La/IPR News)*

She’s looking to learn how to grow in a different climate and to improve her record keeping — tracking what’s been planted, what soil was used or how much money was spent on equipment.

“It’s a challenge to switch that button off to come inside and do bookwork, bookwork, bookwork when you’re so used to outside, outside, outside,” she said.

Adam Brown, the farm’s manager and instructor, said the farmer training program is meant to be a stepping stone.

“It’s really built for anybody who can then filter out and work anywhere in the food system, either manage a farm, start their own business, or any rung of that ladder where people can just help out in the food system,” Brown said.

Brown wouldn’t have pursued farming himself if it wasn’t for a similar training program he did 15 years ago on the West Coast. He has a background in ecology.

“I can pay it forward, my lessons, and all the wisdom that I learned throughout my years of farming, and be a mentor to these other people, and I feel like it’s super important,” he said.

Funding the future

The training program, now in its second year, is one of the only programs of its kind in northern Michigan, according to data from Michigan State University.

The Great Lakes Incubator Farm relies mostly on a nearly $700,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture aimed at supporting beginner farmers. That grant ends after this season and Brown plans to reapply for USDA funding this year.

Still, the agency is undergoing changes as it works to match the president’s priorities. Last year, the USDA canceled $148 million in grants — including some in the beginner farmer program — to comply with the president’s early executive orders targeting climate action, environmental justice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Brown said there’s not many large pools of money like this USDA grant program that support efforts to train the next generation of farmers. The Great Lakes Incubator Farm is also supported by some state grants.

Adam Brown sits on a tractor at the Great Lakes Incubator Farm. He teaches students at the farm and says there needs to be more training programs like this to support an aging farmer population. (Photo credit: Vivian La/IPR News)

Lack of consistent funding is a big reason we don’t see more of these training programs, said Jon LaPorte, a farm business management educator for Michigan State University Extension.

“It’s almost like a double-edged sword that they’re trying to help people get started, but then they’ve got the same struggles of staying sustainable themselves,” he said.

That means as the share of young people in farming grows in Michigan, programs to support them might be harder to come by, LaPorte said. Farmers under the age of 45 increased by more than 3,000 people between 2017 and 2022, according to the USDA’s census. Sustaining that growth is a challenge.

“Because of those hurdles, they don’t all stay in, and what we want to see is more of those people being able to stay in, having more farms, more diversity of farms,” he said. “More people involved in agriculture at that level is really, really important.”

There are still resources available, said Katie Brandt, who leads MSU’s Organic Farmer Training Program in East Lansing. MSU Extension put together a beginner farmer’s guide in partnership with the USDA last year. And many farms across the state often accept volunteers for work, she said.

Brown, the farm manager, said students in the training program learn that the growing season doesn’t always go smoothly — and things like frost damage on plants is just part of the job.

“This is a great space for failure too, right? Because there’s not a whole lot of risk here,” he said. “It’s a perfect, experimental type of atmosphere.”

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Great Lakes shipping lost third of season to ‘inadequate icebreaking’

On: May 27, 2026

In: bridge michigan, ice breaking, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, shipping, Shipping and Ports

By Bruce Carpenter, Bridge Michigan

The Lake Carriers’ Association said in a report this week that US-flagged shipping on the Great Lakes lost 82 ship days — a third of its 2026 season — because of “inadequate icebreaking” operations from the US Coast Guard.

“We only get nine months of shipping,” Eric Peace, the vice president of the association, said. “It’s a loss of a significant amount of time.”

Data from the US Coast Guard shows it assisted more than 400 vessels during the shipping season and spent around 3,000 hours breaking ice in the Great Lakes region.

“We only get nine months of shipping,” Eric Peace, the vice president of the association, said. “It’s a loss of a significant amount of time.”

Data from the US Coast Guard shows it assisted more than 400 vessels during the shipping season and spent around 3,000 hours breaking ice in the Great Lakes region.

“During the 135-day operational period, Dec. 9 to April 23, the Coast Guard successfully facilitated the safe and efficient movement of vital commercial vessel traffic,” wrote US Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Brandon Giles in a statement.

“Despite heavy winter conditions, our crews secured the regional maritime supply chain and ensured constant search and rescue readiness, achieving a record of zero casualties across all assisted transits.”

Data from the Lake Carriers’ Association shows that around 160 million tons of cargo move on the Great Lakes in commercial ships every year, between 80 million and 90 million tons of that on US-flagged ships.

While it is unclear how much economic impact the delays had, Peace said it can have ripple effects on the nation’s supply chain.

“Steel builds countries,” he said. “If we cannot actually have an efficient system here on the Great Lakes to ship that iron ore down from Lake Superior to the steel mills in the lower lakes, then we’re impacting the entire national economy and endangering our national economic security.”

“We only get nine months of shipping,” Eric Peace, the vice president of the association, said. “It’s a loss of a significant amount of time.”

Data from the US Coast Guard shows it assisted more than 400 vessels during the shipping season and spent around 3,000 hours breaking ice in the Great Lakes region.

While it is unclear how much economic impact the delays had, Peace said it can have ripple effects on the nation’s supply chain.

Nearly 100% of America’s domestic iron ore passes through the Soo Locks with a value of $5 billion, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers. In a statement, Peace said it took 96 hours for the first vessel carrying iron ore to cross the parallel locks and that 19 ships were stuck in ice for days before icebreakers assisted.

The association has long advocated for a new icebreaker to assist the over-40-year-old icebreaking tugs and the 21-year-old USCGC Mackinaw that the US Coast Guard utilizes. This winter, federal vessels “suffered significant engineering problems, which left them sidelined during the height of the need,” according to the association’s report.

Funding for heavy icebreakers was included in early versions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Congress passed last year, but was cut from the final version.

US Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, said he fought to secure $25 million for the Coast Guard in the US Department of Homeland Security’s 2026 budget.

“Great Lakes shipping isn’t only important to the Midwest, it’s critical to the entire United States economy,” Peters said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the current lack of adequate icebreaking capabilities is contributing to these unnecessary delays to the Great Lakes shipping season. In turn, it’s disrupting key industries and the timely delivery of essential commodities that support Michigan businesses and jobs.”

According to Peace, around $80 million has been appropriated to the Coast Guard’s budget for preliminary work toward a new Great Lakes heavy icebreaker, but more needs to be accomplished before such a vessel gets in the water.

The Coast Guard estimates a new icebreaker could cost as much as $350 million.

“We’ve been able to get nickels and dimes, but we need $100 bills in order to get this thing procured,” he said.

US representatives in the Great Lakes region introduced a bill to help fund a new icebreaker, but it has remained in the House’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation since last July.

“They had an icebreaker under consideration last year, and Congress said, ‘We’ll use the money somewhere else,’” said Kevin McCormack, associate professor of operations and supply chain management at Northwood University. “They didn’t spend a dime, and now it costs a dollar.”

Peace said he hopes lawmakers will recognize when there are transportation issues on the Great Lakes.

“This happens every year here on the Great Lakes, andThe motor vessel American Mariner transits the St. Mary’s River in Michigan on Jan. 3. (Courtesy of Lt. Sam Pollard/The US Coast Guard) for some reason, we just can’t seem to get the Coast Guard to ask for the money to build a new icebreaker that we need.”

The post Great Lakes shipping lost third of season to ‘inadequate icebreaking’ appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/27/great-lakes-shipping-lost-third-of-season-to-inadequate-icebreaking/

Whitefish waning. Should Michigan have commercial trout, walleye catches?

On: May 27, 2026

In: bridge michigan, Commercial Fishing, Latest News, Michigan, whitefish

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work HERE.

With Great Lakes whitefish in steep decline, should Michigan cast a lifeline to commercial fishers and allow them to catch other species?

That was the subject of debate Wednesday, as the state House Natural Resources and Tourism Committee took up a pair of bills that would overhaul the state’s commercial fishing regulations.

The biggest change would open access lake trout and walleye that are currently off-limits to most state-licensed commercial fishers.

Lake whitefish are the livelihood of Michigan’s struggling commercial industry, and they’re vanishing because invasive mussels siphon their main food source. Catches have plunged 70% since 2009.

“If something’s not done, we’re all going to go away in the next five or 10 years,” said Dana Serafin, a commercial fisherman out of Pinconning.

The proposition faces opposition from recreational fishers who vastly outnumber commercial ones: There are 1.2 million recreational fishing licenses in Michigan, with a collective economic impact of about $4 billion, while the state’s commercial fleet has dwindled to just a handful of boats bringing in a few million-dollars’ worth of fish.

In a letter, the Michigan Anglers Consortium contended commercial fishing would “introduce industrial-scale harvest pressure on species whose populations remain fragile.”

The Department of Natural Resources also opposes the bills, predicting they would invite lawsuits and increase tensions.

“These attempts at (a) wholesale rewrite of the entire commercial fishing statute (are) accomplishing one thing,” said Randy Claramount, the state’s fisheries chief. “It’s deepening the divide between recreational and commercial fishers.”

Both sides agree regulations are outdated. Many were written decades ago, when overfishing and invasive lamprey were the top concerns and the mussel crisis had not yet begun.

“Temporary rules became permanent policy while the lakes changed, the science changed, the economy changed,” said Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor, a chief sponsor of the legislation.

Fishing access in the Great Lakes is controlled by a web of state law, policy and court settlements that divide access between recreational anglers, tribal anglers and state-regulated commercial fishers.

For the most part, commercial operations get the whitefish, recreational ones get the salmon and tribes and recreational anglers share the lake trout.

Lawmakers appeared divided on the legislation, with some criticizing the DNR’s current management tactics and others expressing concern about how the bills would affect the agency’s budget.

Rep. David Preston, R-Cedar River and a cosponsor of the legislation, described the hearing as the start of a prolonged conversation about the future of fisheries.

“We’re going to solve this,” Prestin said, adding that “I’ve got a room full of people that love fish, and we’re talking about fishing.”

The post Whitefish waning. Should Michigan have commercial trout, walleye catches? appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/27/whitefish-waning-should-michigan-have-commercial-trout-walleye-catches/

Around 200 acres protected along Lake Superior for longest national scenic trail

On: May 26, 2026

In: Lake Superior, Latest News, national park service, Recreation, Recreation and Tourism, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

The National Park Service recently acquired more than 200 acres along the south shore of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin for the country’s longest national scenic trail.

The North Country National Scenic Trail is part of the National Park Service and stretches 4,800 miles across eight states from North Dakota to Vermont. About 1,500 miles of the trail has yet to be built.

The agency acquired 213 acres in Iron County this spring from the national nonprofit Trust for Public Land, said Chris Loudenslager, the trail’s superintendent. Iron County land records show the nonprofit group paid roughly $2.5 million to buy the property from a private landowner in September.

“When this property became available, that presented the opportunity to get the trail off the road and into a beautiful property that really provides for the type of experience the North Country National Scenic Trail is intended to provide,” Loudenslager said.

The National Park Service purchased the property with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The National Park Foundation and Wyss Foundation also offset costs of the acquisition for the Trust for Public Land.

Loudenslager said the purchase means officials will be able to move about 3 miles of the trail off road.

Efforts to protect the property go back almost 20 years, said Will Cooksey, senior project manager at the Trust for Public land. The land purchased will connect Saxon Harbor County Park to the Montreal River that separates Wisconsin from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“The property is outstandingly beautiful. It includes 1,300 feet of shoreline along Lake Superior, so it has commanding views of Lake Superior. Additionally, it has roughly 2,100 feet of shoreline along the Montreal River, including the mouth of the river with the lake,” Cooksey said. “This is a portion of the river that includes Superior Falls as it cascades down about 90 feet into a beautiful pool.”

A view of Superior Falls, which drops 90 feet before the Montreal River empties into Lake Superior. *Sara Rubinstein/Courtesy of the Trust for Public Land* via Wisconsin Public Radio

Eric Peterson, forest administrator for Iron County, said the county had previously examined buying the property in 2017. He said thousands of people typically visit Iron County on Memorial Day weekend with many of them going through Saxon Harbor campground. He anticipates the acquisition may increase traffic in the future.

“With the North Country trail going through that property now and accessing Superior Falls and the Montreal River, that’s just another access point for people to go and see those things when they’re at our facility,” Peterson said.

Loudenslager said a historic trade route for Native Americans known as the Flambeau Trail followed the Montreal River through the area. It was also the site of a fur trading post operated by John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company from 1808 to 1830, according to the Trust for Public Land.

In a statement, Gov. Tony Evers said the acquisition builds on work to conserve lands in Wisconsin “while bolstering our highly successful outdoor recreation economy and ensuring these spaces are accessible for generations of Wisconsinites and visitors to come.”

Outdoor enthusiasts provided a record-breaking $12 billion boost to Wisconsin’s economy in 2024, according to most recent federal data released this year. Overall, the state’s outdoor recreation industry supports more than 100,000 jobs.

Loudenslager said the National Park Service will work with partners, including the North Country Trail Association, on scouting a potential route through the property while ensuring protection of cultural and natural resources. Construction of the trail could begin as early as next year.

“I think it’s a fantastic achievement for the North Country National Scenic Trail,” Loudenslager said. “It moves the needle toward completing the trail where we have the opportunity to get temporary road walks replaced by actual trail that not only benefits the hikers, but also benefits the local communities.”

About 210 miles of the trail run through Wisconsin, of which about 145 miles are ready to hike.

The post Around 200 acres protected along Lake Superior for longest national scenic trail appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/26/around-200-acres-protected-along-lake-superior-for-longest-national-scenic-trail/

Judge halts some work on Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute in northern Wisconsin

On: May 21, 2026

In: Enbridge Line 5 and Other Pipelines, Latest News, line 5, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

Canadian energy firm Enbridge can keep building a new stretch of its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin except in waterways where the company needs additional permits, a Bayfield County judge ruled Friday.

The decision is largely a win for Enbridge and its embattled project to reroute Line 5 around the Bad River Tribe’s Reservation in northern Wisconsin. The judge, however, granted a partial victory to the tribe and environmental groups who sued for review of a decision upholding state approvals for the reroute. In February, an administrative law judge upheld permits issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for the project.

In Friday’s order, Bayfield County Circuit Court Judge John Anderson said the tribe and groups failed to persuade him that he should pause approvals for the project altogether.

“Enbridge’s permits previously granted are stayed only in relation to work areas along Line 5 for which Enbridge is required to obtain additional permits,” Anderson wrote.

The tribe and environmental groups argued Enbridge was ineligible to obtain permits to install structures in certain rivers and streams because the company didn’t own the land next to those waterways. The judge agreed the practice under which the company is now obtaining permits at four waterway crossings “may be on tenuous legal footing.”

Both sides see wins

In a statement, Bad River Tribal Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle said she is happy with the judge’s decision to halt some work on Enbridge’s reroute of Line 5.

“We are bound by a need and desire for clean water to drink, a clean environment for animals and plants to thrive in, and a commitment to the highest quality of life for our people,” Arbuckle wrote. “We hope the Court will keep the stay in place and hear us out fully in the weeks to come.”

Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner called the ruling an important decision that allows the company’s work to continue, saying Line 5 delivers fuel that’s critical for Midwest refineries.

“State permits for the project were approved after an exhaustive four-year review by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and then upheld after a year-long independent review by an administrative law judge. Federal permits have also been received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” Kellner wrote.

Under the ruling, Enbridge can’t move ahead with construction of permanent structures to stabilize banks in four creeks where erosion could threaten water quality or exposure of new pipe that would be installed. The company and landowners applied for permits that have not yet been issued by the DNR.

Enbridge’s Line 5 carries up to 23 million gallons of oil daily from Superior across northern Wisconsin and Michigan to Ontario. The company proposed a 41-mile reroute of Line 5 after the Bad River Tribe sued in 2019 to shut down the pipeline on its lands. The project would cross about 200 waterways and affect around 100 acres of wetlands in Ashland and Iron counties.

The $450 million project has undergone years of review, protests, tens of thousands of comments and legal challenges. Proponents say the project would employ 700 union workers and contribute $135 million to Wisconsin’s economy. Opponents point to multiple spills on Enbridge pipelines including the release of almost 70,000 gallons of oil in Jefferson County in 2024.

In 2023, U.S. District Court Judge William Conley ordered Enbridge to shut down or reroute Line 5 around the Bad River reservation by mid-June this year and ordered the company to pay $5.15 million for trespassing on roughly 2 miles of tribal lands. Both the tribe and Enbridge appealed the decision. In March, Conley paused his shutdown order until a federal appeals court issues a ruling, citing potential “devastating” impacts of a sudden shutdown.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/21/judge-halts-some-work-on-enbridges-line-5-reroute-in-northern-wisconsin/

New York Plastics Law Advances Amid Debate Over ‘Chemical Recycling’

On: May 21, 2026

In: chemical recycling, Inside Climate News, Latest News, New York, plastics, Policy, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, pollution

By Lauren Dalban, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Legislation that would reduce plastic waste in New York is advancing in the state Legislature amid a contentious debate over chemical recycling.

If it passes, New York would have one of the strongest controls on plastic packaging in the country and could reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging in the state by 30 percent over the next 12 years. It would also require that packaging producers contribute funds to recycling and disposal efforts.

The bill, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, stalled during the previous two legislative sessions. Among the sticking points for plastics producers is chemical recycling, an umbrella term for a variety of processes that use heat, pressure and chemicals to break down plastics after they’ve been used.

Under the law, chemical recycling would not be classified as recycling, despite its name—much to the dismay of organizations such as the American Chemistry Council, a trade group that represents producers of plastic packaging.

“It’s sort of just a big polluting behemoth everywhere it goes,” said state Sen. Pete Harckham, a co-sponsor of the bill, referring to chemical recycling. “That has been one of the major stumbling blocks.”

In a 2025 memo, the American Chemistry Council, along with business representatives and plastics producers such as ExxonMobil, said that the mandatory packaging reductions are “unreasonable” and that the bill “inappropriately” excludes chemical recycling. The council declined to respond to questions from Inside Climate News.

Chemical recycling, also called advanced recycling, differs from mechanical recycling, which shreds used plastic into small pellets and reuses them in new packaging. Most chemical recycling in the United States breaks down plastic using pyrolysis, an energy-intensive, high-heat process that produces oil and chemical components for new plastics.

It can also produce tons of what the Environmental Protection Agency terms “hazardous waste,” meaning it can harm human health or the environment. Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator and now the president of the nonprofit organization Beyond Plastics, which targets plastics production and pollution, said the process doesn’t produce much new plastic.

While the bill faces an uphill battle in the final three-and-a-half weeks of this session, lobbyists will keep advocating for chemical recycling in the legislation—even though it’s a “red line” for environmentalists, Harckham said.

Is It Recycling?

Around 15 percent of municipal solid waste in New York is plastic. In 2022, research showed that less than 10 percent of plastic waste was made from recycled material. Plastic also degrades when it is reused, which means that it can’t be recycled infinitely like glass or metal.

Recycling plastic is complicated, said Helene Wiesinger, a chemist and science communication officer with the Food Packaging Forum, a nonprofit that researches food packaging. She studies plastic recycling in Switzerland.

Though the industry touts chemical recycling as a solution because it can break plastics down and reuse the building blocks, Wiesinger said, it’s not always possible. Some of these chemicals in plastic “don’t get broken down,” and much of it ends up burned as fuel.

The few chemical recycling plants in the United States typically use pyrolysis. Veena Singla, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council who studies chemical recycling, said pyrolysis is often inefficient. It is energy intensive, requires extreme heat and produces relatively few usable components for new plastics, she said. Pyrolysis also produces an oil from plastic, which can then be used as a fuel—though it must often be diluted with fossil fuels to be used effectively, Singla said.

A still-pending 2024 lawsuit by California’s attorney general against a pyrolysis-based chemical recycling operation alleges that just 8 percent of the plastic waste accepted there gets converted to feedstocks for new plastic.

EPA documents show that the roughly one dozen chemical recycling plants across the country are classified as “large quantity hazardous waste generators.” This hazardous waste often contains benzene, a chemical that can cause certain types of cancer and negatively affect the bone marrow, which produces red blood cells.

Alterra Energy, a chemical recycling facility in Akron, Ohio, released 130 pounds of benzene to the air through piping or smokestacks in 2024, the company reported to the EPA. The prior year, it reported shipping 60 tons of benzene—the cumulative weight of around 27 cars—to be incinerated off site.

Alterra Energy did not respond to requests for comment.

The facilities, regulated by multiple EPA programs, are classified as incineration facilities under the Clean Air Act. But the Trump administration has proposed a rule to change that.

In a recent opinion piece in The Hill, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote that the EPA will move to classify pyrolysis as manufacturing, limiting the pollution regulations that facilities would be subject to.

Enck, the advocate for the New York plastics bill, has said she expects “significant concessions” will be made to pass the bill, but argued that chemical recycling should not be one of them.

Last year the bill passed the state Senate but never made it to the Assembly floor. If it passes both chambers this year, it must clear a final hurdle: Gov. Kathy Hochul could veto it or amend it through an informal agreement with bill sponsors.

Hochul uses that “chapter amendment” process in one out of every seven bills on average, New York Focus reports. Enck worries that the plastics bill may get diluted that way.

When asked about this possibility, Harckham said: “You can compromise on details, but you can’t compromise on values.”

The bill also bans certain toxic chemicals from plastic packaging, like PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” Harckham’s staff said that recent legislative amendments to the bill removed some toxic chemicals from the banned list and extended timelines for compliance with the new program and recycling requireEnvironmental advocates join state legislators and health care professionals to urge the passage of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act on Monday in Albany, N.Y. Credit: Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Imagesments.

The bill is “central to New York’s waste management strategy and our climate strategy,” Harckham said.

The post New York Plastics Law Advances Amid Debate Over ‘Chemical Recycling’ appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/21/new-york-plastics-law-advances-amid-debate-over-chemical-recycling/

Michigan gets $108M in Monsanto settlement to clean up PCB contamination

On: May 20, 2026

In: bridge michigan, Featured, Latest News, Michigan, monsanto, PCBs, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, pollution, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira, Bridge Michigan

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced a $108 million settlement with Monsanto Co. to address longstanding environmental contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) across the state.

States, including Michigan, filed lawsuits against Monsanto over long-term environmental contamination caused by PCBs, a toxic industrial chemical the company manufactured for decades before it was banned in the United States in 1979. The states allege that PCBs persist in waterways, soil, and wildlife and continue to pose risks to public health through environmental exposure and fish consumption.

The cases seek to hold the company financially responsible for cleanup costs and damage to natural resources.

The settlement funds will support cleanup and restoration of PCB-impacted sites across Michigan, with oversight shared by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Officials said the money will be used to reduce contamination risks, improve water quality, and restore damaged natural resources.

Under the agreement, Monsanto will pay Michigan $32 million in June and another $32 million in March 2027. Additional contingency payments tied to related litigation could range from $44 million to $176 million, bringing the total potential value of the settlement to as much as $240 million.

EGLE officials said no specific cleanup projects have been selected yet, but the agencies will work together to determine where funding can remediate PCB-contaminated sites and restore impacted natural resources. The agencies plan to consult with local governments, tribes, and environmental organizations, and may distribute some funds through grants and matching programs.

Nessel said the settlement ensures accountability for longstanding pollution tied to the chemicals.

“Despite being banned for years in the United States, PCBs leave a toxic legacy that continues to threaten our health and environment,” she said in a statement.

The cases seek to hold the company financially responsible for cleanup costs and damage to natural resources.

Nessel said the settlement ensures accountability for longstanding pollution tied to the chemicals.

“Despite being banned for years in the United States, PCBs leave a toxic legacy that continues to threaten our health and environment,” she said in a statement.

Officials with Monsanto, now owned by Bayer AG, said the settlement resolves PCB-related claims without any admission of liability or wrongdoing. The company said PCBs were a legacy product it stopped producing in 1977 and noted that additional payments are tied to a separate lawsuit over whether former industrial customers must help cover PCB-related legal and cleanup costs.

Michigan is among a growing number of states that have reached settlements with Monsanto over PCB-related claims. According to the company’s litigation update, it has settled with 12 states, including Michigan and Rhode Island.

The post Michigan gets $108M in Monsanto settlement to clean up PCB contamination appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/20/michigan-gets-108m-in-monsanto-settlement-to-clean-up-pcb-contamination/

‘The outlook is pretty bleak’: Farmers brace for a difficult season

On: May 15, 2026

In: Agriculture, Featured, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, Policy, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Traverse City

When Brain Neff retired from the Air Force, he had his eyes on a farm on the outskirts of Traverse City, Michigan.

The land was once operated by his wife’s grandparents before it was leased out for years after her grandparents stopped tending to it. In 2021, the Neffs bought the property back with plans to transform it in retirement.

“We had it in mind that we were going to turn it into more of a destination farm akin to the types of things that we saw when we were in the military, out in California and other places in the country,” Neff said.

Neff says he was anticipating 2026 to be their first profitable year, but because of the financial issues they, and many other farmers are facing, he no longer thinks so.

“My projection would be that we will not turn a profit this year,” Neff said.

Neff’s story is not an isolated one.

An April survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation found nearly 70% of American farmers say they cannot afford fertilizer. It also found almost half of Midwestern farmers report they cannot afford all the supplies they need.

The survey drew from 5,400 farmers in each state and Puerto Rico. According to the responses, 94% of respondents reported their financial situation has worsened or remained the same since last year, while only 6% reported improvement.

The survey shows Midwestern farmers reported slightly stronger purchasing plans, but nearly half still said they could not afford all the supplies they needed. While farmers in the other parts of the country are less likely to purchase fertilizer ahead of planting season, this could sharpen stress on America’s “breadbasket” which a 2026 report from the Future of Food Coalition described as “one of the most intensively farmed agricultural regions globally.”

For many farmers across the Great Lakes region, those numbers are not abstract statistics but are shaping what gets planted, harvested and what is profitable.

Neff says the cost of urea, a chemical used as a fertilizer, went up from $612 to $892 from April 2025 to April 2026, changing the decisions he is making this year.

“I chose to forego putting urea down on our grass hayfields this spring,” he said. “Any additional growth I expected to see from the hay would have just been eaten up in cost.”

The decision to forego the urea will likely impact the outcome of production, Neff said he will “have a reduced first cutting because of it.”

“We’re continuing to put our own equity into this farm to establish it and hope that things turn around next year,” he said.

Causes

National policy decisions have continued to impact farmers.

Bob Thompson, president of the Michigan Farmers Union, said the first ”hammer” to farmers was “the implementation of tariffs” that “has had a real detrimental effect at the local farm level.”

As part of a larger implementation of sweeping tariffs, in February 2025, the Trump administration announced a 25% tariff on all imported steel and aluminum products. Economists warned the tariffs could raise costs for farm equipment, replacement parts and transportation.

As these tariffs are still in effect, the Iran conflict has only exacerbated these issues, with the Strait of Hormuz being closed.

In the survey, Farm Bureau wrote: “The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is keeping critical fertilizer supplies and crude oil from reaching global markets, putting a squeeze on supplies around the world.”

Roughly 25% of the world’s oil supply travels through the Strait of Hormuz.

As gas and oil prices continue to rise, the blockade has been felt immediately by farmers.

“I was spending below $3 for agricultural diesel, and I just called to get my tanks filled, and I was told it was going to be $5.98 a gallon,” Neff said.

And the effects of the Strait of Hormuz being closed will not just be felt by farmers but “consumers are going to continually feel the pinch because virtually all goods move by truck in this country,” Thompson said.

Farmers are stuck playing the waiting game, Dennis Kellogg, who sits on the Michigan Farmer’s Union Board of Directors, said.

“It’s very difficult to plan for a future with these unknowns,” Kellogg said.

For organizations looking to help farmers, like employees at Michigan State University’s Extension program, they are also seeing these effects.

“This is heightening what’s already a bad situation for many farms,” Jon LaPorte, a Farm Business Management Educator at MSU Extension, said.

LaPorte said that many farmers are still experiencing loss from the previous years, “Everyone’s worried about it because 2024 and 2025 weren’t the most profitable years either” which is forcing farmers to ask the question of “What’s the bare minimum that we would have to put out (money) to ensure a crop?”

Outcomes

Through these difficulties, farmers are forced to make short-term decisions that may have long-term consequences.

Thompson warned the long-term consequences could extend beyond one growing season.

“The outlook is pretty bleak right now, right across the board,” Thompson said and later added. “The end result is that there will be fewer farmers. There will be bankruptcies.”

Though farmers may be resilient, Thompson warned of the mental stress these families are going through, which can include increased drug use and in the worst cases, suicide.

“We need to try to be aware that our friends and neighbors might look good on the outside, but be torn up on the inside, and we need to try to be friends,” Thompson said.

The post ‘The outlook is pretty bleak’: Farmers brace for a difficult season appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/15/the-outlook-is-pretty-bleak-farmers-brace-for-a-difficult-season/

Julia Roeder

Cleveland Metroparks receives $1.1M to redevelop 106 acres of lakefront

On: May 15, 2026

In: Cleveland, cleveland metroparks, ideastream, Ideastream Public Media, Latest News, Ohio, parks, Recreation, Recreation and Tourism

By Zaria Johnson

This story was originally published by Ideastream Public Media.

Federal money will aid a long-term project to convert 106 acres of shoreline near the St. Clair-Superior and Glenville neighborhoods into publicly accessible greenspace.

The partial funding for phase one of the CHEERS (Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy) project comes at a time when nearly 80% of the lakefront is privately owned, Cuyahoga County Chief of Integrated Development Debbie Berry said.

“Located between East 55th Marina and the Intercity yacht club, the project site represents a critical gap in lakefront access in Cleveland’s East Side,” Berry said. “Investing in Cleveland East Side lakefront advances more equitable distribution of public resources, bringing meaningful lakefront to communities that have historically lacked direct connections to the lake.”

Cleveland Metroparks has plans for additional landfill in Lake Erie north of the Ohio 2 Shoreway at East 72^nd Street in Cleveland that will add 70-plus acres of new lakefront parkland. The project goes by the acronym CHEERS. Photo: Cleveland Metroparks via Ideastream Public Media

CHEERS aims to reestablish natural habitat, support the local ecology and improve public access to Lake Erie, according to Cleveland Metroparks.

Phase one, known as the Early Action Project, will use dredge from the Cuyahoga River to restore 4.3 acres of submerged and emergent wetland habitat along the North Coast. The park district will also add a trial network and fishing spots.

“People really want to see progress on their lakefront,” said Brian M. Zimmerman, Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Metroparks. “They want to see more connections. They want more green space. They want some more activity. Let’s make no mistake, travel and tourism dollars matter. So, fishing and all of the other things, all the recreation activities, the biking, all of that matters.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown presented the funding.

It took more than a year to get the money to the Metroparks, Brown said, but it’s essential to addressing disparity in lakefront access.

“When you grow up on the east side, you see that it feels like we are very under resourced,” Brown said. “It feels like we are often overlooked. So, being able to deliver some real money back onto the east side was personally important to me and then I’m excited about the future.”

The Metroparks began its first rounds of public engagement in 2020 and wrapped up a series of stakeholder meetings earlier this year. This award is essential to moving the project closer to implementation, Zimmerman said.

“It makes it real,” he said. “We’ve got some very poor existing conditions that we’re actually working with … So, it is bringing the CHEERS model up. CHEERS is a big, hairy, audacious goal and this is one more step in its project.”

The Metroparks and project partner the Port of Cleveland now have more than $9.1 million committed to the project from local, state and federal agencies, according to a news release. An additional $13.06 million remains on the table from the federal BUILD grant program and an award decision is expected later this year.

Cleveland Metroparks will now begin the permitting phase for CHEERS’ Early Action Project. Construction is expected to begin in 2028.

U.S. Representative Shontel Brown (D-Cleveland) presents Cleveland Metroparks with nearly $1.1 million to support the first phase of a major redevelopment to promote public access on Lake Erie.

The post Cleveland Metroparks receives $1.1M to redevelop 106 acres of lakefront appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/15/cleveland-metroparks-receives-1-1m-to-redevelop-106-acres-of-lakefront/

Ideastream Public Media

Why mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters matters to Wisconsin

On: May 8, 2026

In: boundary waters, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Minnesota, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio

By Beatrice Lawrence, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

Johnson Bridgwater celebrated his 50th birthday by spending a full month in the wilderness, paddling and camping in the hundreds of thousands of acres that make up the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota.

It’s a place that reminds him of his father, whom Bridgwater lost when he was in his 20s.

“My father, who was a zoologist, considered it one of the last places in North America that you could truly get to some place pristine that had not been impacted by settlers or industry,” Bridgwater said.

He’s not alone. Among the more than 150,000 visitors the region sees each year, a significant portion of them come from Wisconsin.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed a bill overturning a 20-year mining ban in the area surrounding the Boundary Waters. The decision paves the way for the Chilean company Twin Metals to build a copper and nickel mine in the area, which is the world’s largest known undeveloped copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals deposit. Supporters of the idea hope for a boom in jobs, but critics worry about pollution and contamination, and an economic impact on tourism and recreation.

Wisconsin lawmakers in both chambers of Congress voted on the bill along party lines — Republicans voted to overturn the ban, Democrats to sustain it.

Bridgwater, who is the water advocates organizer for River Alliance of Wisconsin, said that the decision doesn’t only affect Minnesota.

“All water is connected, and I’m not sure that the general population truly understands how big that connection is,” Bridgwater told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “Up north — northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan — they carry (one) water identity. It also has very busy state lines. People are traveling across all three of those states daily.”

Economic boom or environmental disaster?

After Congress designated the Boundary Waters as a wilderness area in 1964, a robust outdoor industry sprung up in northeastern Minnesota as people flocked there every year to paddle, camp, fish and enjoy nature in the uniquely pristine and remote setting.

Critics of the Twin Metals mining project say that the recreation economy of the area will be put at risk if companies are allowed to mine nearby.

“This area is beloved,” said Minnesota Public Radio reporter Dan Kraker, who has been covering mining projects near the Boundary Waters for 15 years. “People are extraordinarily concerned about the potential pollution impacts on this amazing landscape. … They argue, even without the pollution concerns, that these mines surrounding the wilderness area could be a detractor to investment and recreational development.”

But advocates for the projects say that these mines will instead boost the area’s economy by creating thousands of jobs in both mining and construction, and will provide the U.S. with vital resources.

“This progress ensures our state remains competitive when it comes to workforce and jobs, not to mention the global impact of reducing foreign dependence for these critical minerals,” Dave Lislegard, Jobs for Minnesotans executive, said in a statement.

A 2020 Harvard study compared the projected economic impact of a 20-year mining ban in the area with a scenario in which the Twin Metals mine is developed. That study found that introducing copper-nickel mining would likely have a negative overall effect on the regional economy.

Northern Minnesota has a rich mining history. But copper and nickel mining carry different environmental risks than the traditional iron ore mining in the area.

“When sulfide-bearing ore is brought up from under the ground, and it reacts with air and water, it can create sulfuric acid and result in what’s known as acid mine drainage, and this can leach heavy metals out of the ground and potentially into the water,” Kraker said.

In 2023, the Biden administration enacted a 20-year ban on mining in the 225,000 acres surrounding the Boundary Waters. Twin Metals claimed this “locked up” necessary resources and negatively impacted communities in the area. The new law repeals that ban.

Twin Metals said that the protections already in place are sufficient enough to prevent significant environmental impact.

“Projects must prove they can meet the stringent environmental standards that have long been in place in Minnesota before moving forward,” said Kathy Graul, director of public affairs and communications for Twin Metals.

But Bridgwater pointed to a report assembled by mining researcher Steven Emerman for the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, which found that even “model” sulfide ore mines have extensive records of environmental contamination.

Bridgwater is concerned not only about recreation in the Boundary Waters, but also the wild rice economy that exists in the region and how it intersects with the hunting and gathering rights of tribes in the Midwest.

“What you’re looking at is this overlay of uses that have been functioning and doing what they were intended to do for hundreds of years,” Bridgwater said. “We would like to see anything that can be done to stop metallic sulfide mining that could potentially impact these water environments.”

Even with the mining ban being repealed, it’s not clear if or when the mine will be approved, Kraker said.

“The state will have ultimate say on whether this goes forward, in addition to federal regulators also having to sign off on any potential mines in this area,” Kraker said. “So there is a long story yet to be written.”

The post Why mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters matters to Wisconsin appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/08/why-mining-in-minnesotas-boundary-waters-matters-to-wisconsin/

Bayer Increased Lobbying Amid Roundup Supreme Court Case

On: May 1, 2026

In: Agriculture, bayer, chemicals, Latest News, lobbying, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, pollution, roundup, supreme court, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Lauren Cross, Investigate Midwest

Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public interest by exposing dangerous and costly practices of influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism. Visit us online at www.investigatemidwest.org.

Bayer increased its federal lobbying spending in the first quarter of 2026 ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments on Monday, April 27, in a case involving Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018.

New federal disclosures show Bayer reported just over $2 million in lobbying expenses from January through March, up from $1.75 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. The increase follows a drop in spending during the second half of last year after Bayer’s quarterly lobbying peaked at $2.95 million in early 2025.

While 2025 filings showed the company “monitoring” broad issues like pesticide regulations and biotech innovation, the new 2026 report reveals a laser-focus on specific legislation designed to provide the company with a legal shield against ongoing lawsuits.

Chart: Lauren Cross, Investigate Midwest. Source: Congressional lobbying disclosure filings Get the data. Created with Datawrapper

Across nine quarterly filings since the start of 2024, Bayer reported spending nearly $19.7 million on lobbying, or about $2.2 million per quarter on average.

The case Monsanto Co. v. Durnell could shape pesticide litigation nationwide. The main question is whether federal pesticide labeling laws can override some state lawsuits claiming companies failed to properly warn people about the risks.

“Failure to warn” is a common argument in such liability cases. Plaintiffs argue a company did not give clear enough warnings or safety instructions about a product.

Bayer has faced years of lawsuits over Roundup, its glyphosate-based weedkiller. Plaintiffs say exposure caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer denies those claims and says Roundup labels follow federal law.

Monsanto has pointed to past Environmental Protection Agency findings that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer. But in a recent court filing, Food & Water Watch and other advocacy groups told the Supreme Court that the EPA review Monsanto relies on was thrown out by a court four years ago.

Bayer’s latest lobbying disclosure filing shows a more focused agenda on issues including “uniformity of pesticide labeling,” EPA budgetary issues, and USDA funding. The company also reported lobbying the White House and the National Economic Council, which advises the president on global economic policy.

According to the filing, Bayer reported lobbying on H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026. The bill includes pesticide labeling requirement language, which relates directly to the arguments at the center of the Supreme Court case. If approved, such protections could help companies defend against some state-level warning-label lawsuits.

Federal law requires quarterly lobbying reports that disclose lobbying activity and total spending, but filings do not break spending down by each specific issue lobbied. However, the timing of Bayer’s spending rebound comes as the company faces one of the most closely watched ag legal cases of the year.

The post Bayer Increased Lobbying Amid Roundup Supreme Court Case appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/05/01/bayer-increased-lobbying-amid-roundup-supreme-court-case/

Investigate Midwest

As affordability issues surge, is it finally time for offshore wind?

On: April 30, 2026

In: Cleveland, Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, Featured, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, lake erie, Latest News, Ohio, wind

Covering an area the size of the United Kingdom and surrounded by half a dozen large, energy-hungry metropolitan regions, the Great Lakes, surprisingly, boasts not a single offshore wind energy project.

We know that the resource and the demand are there. But no offshore wind effort has ever taken off.

Past efforts at a demonstration project called Icebreaker, slated for Lake Erie off the coast of Cleveland, fizzled out in 2023. In Ontario, which boasts 5,200 miles of Great Lakes coastline, a moratorium on offshore wind has been in place since 2011, with the provincial government having to fork out millions of dollars in damages to one wind energy company for doing so.

But today, with electricity prices surging around the region, is it finally time for offshore wind to take its place? Do communities even want them?

Here, we speak to advocates for and opponents to offshore wind and investigate the myriad challenges such projects in the Great Lakes face.

What’s changing now?

A perfect storm of events has combined to push electricity prices to record levels for thousands of communities around the region.

Utility companies such as Consumers Energy in Michigan, We Energies, which operates in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and a host of others have embarked on system upgrades that are set to add up to 14% to the cost of monthly electricity bills for consumers, with further rate hikes likely in the years ahead.

On top of that, the federal government has mandated that coal-fired electricity plants in Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania and elsewhere that were scheduled to be retired now remain open. That means that federal subsidies that are essential for keeping these loss-making plants running are likely to cost ratepayers billions more dollars.

Then there’s the contentious wave of data centers opening across the region, creating a huge new demand for utility-scale electricity.

All the while, recent years have seen a drive in Great Lakes states and provinces to reach net zero carbon emissions. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota plan to reach that goal by 2050.

Ontario aims to get to 80% below its 1990 level of carbon emissions in the same time. New York state has declared an even more ambitious plan, to reach net zero by 2040.

On top of that, with the federal government banning offshore wind projects in oceans surrounding the U.S., there’s been a renewed push to see the Great Lakes — controlled by eight U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario, rather than authorities in Washington D.C. and Ottawa — become a new front in the development of the technology.

What is the energy potential for offshore wind on the Great Lakes?

Experts say offshore wind generated from the lakes could provide three times the amount of the electricity used by the eight U.S. Great Lakes states in 2023. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data from 2021 crunched by the Woodwell Climate Research Center found that Great Lakes water generates more wind than anywhere else east of the Mississippi River.

“According to reports done for Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources, Great Lakes offshore wind can be implemented with minimal aquatic impacts. If the turbines are 10 to 15 km offshore, they will be almost invisible,” said Jack Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

“Offshore wind in the Canadian section of the Great Lakes has the potential to supply more than 100% of Ontario’s electricity needs.”

The Port of Cleveland is one of the main backers of offshore wind on the Great Lakes. (Photo Credit: Stephen Starr)

Icebreaker, the Cleveland project, got as far as securing a 50-year lakebed lease from the state of Ohio in 2014. Predicted to provide 20 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 7,000 homes, its main goal was to function as a trial project.

But Icebreaker is not completely dead, yet. Last year, a Maryland-based company called Mighty Waves Energy acquired the project, raising hopes among Cleveland leaders and many residents around the region that the first steps towards a lake-based wind energy future remain in place.

Mark Hessels, CEO of Mighty Waves Energy, spoke with Great Lakes Now over the phone, but declined to go on the record to discuss the company’s proposed new offshore wind project, and failed to provide a statement when asked.

What are the big challenges?

And yet, the barriers appear immense.

John Lipaj has been sailing and boating on Lake Erie ever since he was a child.

“I spent every summer out there on a boat. In July and August, when the temperatures rise, the wind would die,” he said, illustrating one of several reasons he and others think offshore wind isn’t suitable for Lake Erie.

“If there’s no wind at exactly the time of year when electricity is needed most, for air conditioning, then what’s the point of building offshore wind?”

As a board member of the Lake Erie Foundation, a nonprofit, that’s not the main reason he and the organization he represents opposes offshore wind on Lake Erie.

“One of the things we were most concerned about is that bald eagles were almost extinct, and they’ve really come back along the Lake Erie shore. Now, they’re thriving,” he said.

“If there’s no wind at exactly the time of year when electricity is needed most for air conditioning then what’s the point of building offshore wind,” says John Lipaj of Lake Erie Foundation. (Photo Credit: Stephen Starr)

“In the winter, they’ll fly out a couple of miles [offshore] looking for fish, especially if there’s ice [on the shoreline]. We’ve got real concerns about the bald eagle population being hurt by the wind turbine out on the lake, because that’s their feeding ground.”

In 2022, a wind energy company was fined $8 million and sentenced to probation after its wind turbines were found to have killed more than 150 eagles over the course of a decade across ten U.S. states, including Michigan and Illinois.

Some conservation organizations opposing offshore wind have even come under fire. A report by Grist in 2021 alleged that the American Bird Conservancy, a $30-million non-profit, has been one of the most powerful environment-focused opponents to wind turbine projects across the country, having received around $1 million from fossil fuel interests.

A request by Great Lakes Now for comment from the American Bird Conservancy was not received by the time of publication.

All the while, others believe the potential threat to wildlife can be mitigated.

“Some people are unaware that the National Audubon Society supports Great Lakes offshore wind power. The good news is that offshore wind can be done in a bird-friendly way,” said Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

“We are recommending that the turbines should be turned off from dusk to dawn during the migratory bat seasons (late April and May and mid-July to the end of September) when wind speeds are less than seven meters per second, since bats fly more when wind speeds are low.”

Threats to wildlife aside, for Professor Melissa Scanlan, director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for Water Policy, five leading factors have combined to stall progress in offshore wind:

Jurisdictional fragmentation that prevents states and provinces from combining their efforts;
Inadequate planning;
Policy instability at the federal government level;
Protracted litigation in the case of Ohio;
And a lack of sustained political will.

And there are other challenges.

“There’s definitely misinformation that circulates about offshore wind,” she said.

“From the research we’ve done, we think you can address that through transparent, science-based planning processes,” said Scanlan. “Without doing a more rigorous science-based planning process, if there’s a vacuum of reliable information, that can allow misinformation to be circulated more freely.”

On top of that, there are reservations around the economic return of such projects. Estimates suggest the cost of offshore wind on the Great Lakes could range from 7.5 to 12.9 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s more than double the cost of onshore wind or utility-scale solar.

But while the costs of delivering offshore wind are not inconsiderable, experts such as Scanlon say there’s also both a dollar and environmental cost of continuing to deploy fossil fuels for electricity generation.

Moreover, interest groups have allegedly been at work to make such efforts difficult to bring to fruition.

The former proprietor of the Icebreaker project, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., has claimed that corruption within Ohio’s energy regulatory body and state leaders’ close ties to energy giant FirstEnergy made the project unworkable, and has sued FirstEnergy for up to $10 million. Restrictions that the project faced, including calling for turbines to be shut down at night for eight months of the year, essentially torpedoed the project.

What would facilitate off-shore wind?

Industry innovators say that an easing of regulations at the state level would make a huge difference to the emergence of offshore wind in the Great Lakes. Investment in the form of tax breaks from state governments, which handle the leases and permits for any offshore wind projects in the Great Lakes, are another way.

And while the cost of producing offshore wind is higher than its onshore equivalent, higher winds offshore combined with technological advances mean that energy production capacity from offshore could be up to 60% more than onshore.

Scanlon of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for Water Policy is among the researchers who say offshore wind projects could play a significant role in meeting our rapidly growing energy needs.

“As a society, we need to develop energy resources that are not in conflict with protecting the environment,” she said.

“Offshore wind is no different from that.”

The post As affordability issues surge, is it finally time for offshore wind? appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/30/as-affordability-issues-surge-is-it-finally-time-for-offshore-wind/

Lake Huron artificial reef restores fish spawning habitat

On: April 30, 2026

In: artificial reef, conservation, fish, Fish, Birds and Animals, great lakes echo, Lake Huron, Latest News, spawning

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Samantha Ku, Great Lakes Echo

A newly restored reef at Channel Island in Saginaw Bay is intended to support native fish spawning and increase their numbers, ensuring the sustainability of local fisheries.

Construction to restore the nearshore fish spawning reef ended last October.

Recreational fishing is an economic boon to the Lake Huron region, according to Jeffrey Jolley, a fisheries unit supervisor with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

“The excellent fishery attracts anglers from all over the state, and they spend money on fuel, tackle, restaurants and shops, and hotels and rentals,” Jolley said.

Therefore, protecting fish habitats is crucial to the local economy, he said.

The construction is an additional reef restoration following the restoration of the Coreyon Reef site and is intended to support a network of spawning reefs and nursery habitat, according to Michigan Sea Grant.

The Coreyon Reef site is a 2-acre offshore rocky habitat about 10 miles north of the Quanicassee River, northwest of the Channel Island site.

By studying the Coreyon Reef, researchers gather valuable data on the spawning habitats of native species.

According to Michigan Sea Grant, researchers from the state DNR and Purdue University documented lake whitefish and walleye spawning on the reef between 2020 and 2022.

Initial results from the study indicate that fish species don’t show a particular preference for any specific type of cobble that makes up the reef structure.

Following the completion of the project at the Channel Island Reef, fish activity will be monitored by partners in the restoration, said Meaghan Gass, an MSU Extension educator with Michigan Sea Grant.

“With the two completed sites, researchers are able to compare nearshore and offshore locations,” Gass said.

Channel Island is also called Shelter Island, Spoils Island and the U.S. Army Corps Confined Disposal Facility.

Its newly built reef is about 570 feet long and 190 feet wide. It rises about 3 to 4 feet above the lake bottom and sits at least 5.5 feet below the water’s surface, even when water levels are low.

The artificial reefs are built from a mound of rocks that are distinctly different from coral reefs found in the ocean, Gass said.

Nearly 20,000 tons of natural limestone, delivered by barge, forms the Channel Island Reef, she said.

“Historically, inner Saginaw Bay had rocky underwater reefs formed by glacial deposits,” Gass said.

Gass said the rocky underwater reefs provided safe spaces for native fish to lay eggs because crevices among the rocks protect eggs and young fish from predators and strong currents.

The importance of native fish protection for the Lake Huron fishery lies in preserving the ecological balance that has developed over thousands of years, according to Jolley.

“Our native fish species evolved here through the forces of natural selection over millennia, adapting to local conditions, prey, predators and seasonal changes,” Jolley said.

In contrast, invasive species are often introduced abruptly, without natural checks and balances, allowing them to outcompete or prey on native fish, disrupt habitats and destabilize food webs, Jolley said.

Jolley said although some invasive species can temporarily provide new fishing opportunities, they often reduce long-term stability of ecosystems.

In contrast, native species support more resilient, diverse and sustainable fisheries, delivering lasting ecological and economic benefits.

However, artificial reefs designed to support native fish spawning habitats may also benefit invasive species.

“Round goby, an invasive species that prefers rocky habitats, will likely colonize the reef,” Jolley said.

While gobies can prey on fish eggs, native predators such as smallmouth bass feed heavily on them and are also attracted to the area.

The reef structure and placement support native species like smallmouth bass and walleye, which depend on clean, stable substrate for spawning and feeding, Jolley said.

“This interaction is expected to balance out naturally as predator-prey relationships stabilize,” Jolley said.

According to Jolley, community engagement is crucial for further restoration projects.

Jolley said public opinion often centers on safety, navigation features and aesthetics, as people seek to balance these considerations with the ecological benefits of habitat restoration.

“We have consistently engaged local communities on past, current and future projects,” Jolley said.

The post Lake Huron artificial reef restores fish spawning habitat appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/30/lake-huron-artificial-reef-restores-fish-spawning-habitat/

Illinois state agencies at odds over endangered species protections

On: April 29, 2026

In: Featured, Fish, Birds and Animals, Illinois, Latest News, Science, Technology, Research

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

In the creeks and rivers of southern Illinois, a school of bigeye shiners darting along the edge of a stream is a sign of healthy water.

The freshwater fish, which is on the state’s endangered species list, has managed to survive despite habitat loss driven by decades of construction and industrial farm runoff. But an ongoing dispute between two state agencies over state species protections is testing how the tiny fish will endure.

Last summer, the state’s top wildlife regulators faced resistance from the Illinois Department of Transportation when trying to protect the shiner. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources recommended that IDOT crews mapping out construction at a site in Union County should first survey the area and find out if the shiner was present. If so, IDNR would ask them to apply for a permit to minimize impacts to the paper clip-sized fish before proceeding.

IDOT declined. The department’s reason, among others, was simple: “Fish swim away.”

The standoff between IDOT and IDNR, outlined in internal state documents obtained by WBEZ and Grist, is at the center of an ongoing clash that broke out last year after IDOT repeatedly ignored recommendations from state experts to pursue permits designed to protect imperiled species during road, bridge and other transportation work.

The widening rift between the state’s largest public landowner and its top wildlife conservation agency shows how state-funded transportation projects may have overridden Illinois’ Endangered Species Protection Act in 11 cases in the past year.

In response to IDOT’s handling of species protections, IDNR ended a decade-old agreement with the agency last fall that allowed IDOT to fast track through environmental reviews.

IDNR impact assessment manager Bradley Hayes pointed to “IDOT’s apparent automatic response to decline ITA recommendations” in his cancellation letter obtained by WBEZ and Grist.

An ITA, or incidental take authorization, is a permit that allows for the accidental harm of a protected species during the construction of an approved project, like building a road or fixing a bridge. These permits involve lengthy reviews in which applicants must outline potential impacts to listed species, require a public comment period and feedback from conservation specialists. The entire process can take at least five to six months.

Still, experts say these permits are crucial because they minimize harm to protected species and provide legal cover from criminal charges that can accompany the unintentional killing of a state-listed species.

IDOT’s Jack Elston responded to the termination letter at the end of last year disputing the initial allegations from the environmental regulators, saying that “IDOT does not make automatic responses regarding the IDNR recommendation for an ITA.”

In a joint statement from IDOT and IDNR to WBEZ and Grist, IDOT spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said, “IDOT continues to consult with IDNR and considers recommendations from IDNR along with multiple other factors, including known information about the species, other environmental surveys, engineering, costs and public safety.”

Castaneda added that the agencies are currently drafting a new agreement and that the agreement on file was outdated. “Updated language was needed,” she said.

Despite the agreement expiring at the beginning of 2019, IDOT continued to conduct environmental reviews until lDNR stepped in to stop them last fall.

Email exchanges between IDNR officials obtained by WBEZ and Grist show concern about how IDOT was conducting its environmental reviews.

Last December, IDOT’s Elston wrote that “fish swim away from construction noise” as justification for several projects that could harm fish and mollusks, like the harlequin darter and the American brook lamprey. In another instance, Elston wrote that the relocation of state-endangered mussels in White County was unnecessary and would delay a project by at least a construction season and add about $2 million in costs.

But emails obtained from IDNR officials showed increasing concerns with that rationale.

The American brook lamprey, for example, is unlikely to “swim away” from construction noise. It spends much of its life burrowed in sediment and dies not long after spawning.

“We are the experts,” wrote Todd Strole, IDNR assistant director, in an email earlier this year preparing for a meeting with IDOT. “Fish are not the same, some don’t swim away.”

In another email, Ann Holtrop, head of IDNR’s division of natural heritage, wrote: “We are open to professional dialog with IDOT but planning and engineering needs don’t negate or override the recommendations by scientists.”

The Illinois dispute reflects a broader erosion of species protections nationwide, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Rebecca Riley. Despite massive popularity, the Endangered Species Act, credited with resuscitating the bald eagle, grizzly bear and gray wolf, is once again under attack by the Trump administration.

During his first term, President Donald Trump advanced new guidance under the ESA which undercut species protection, at least until the the Biden administration undid the Trump-era rules. The Trump administration has submitted a new set of rules currently under consideration.

WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times reached out to Gov. JB Pritzker’s office for comment on how the state’s internal dispute fits into the Trump administration’s ongoing rollback of federal species protections; however, the Governor’s office offered no comments beyond what IDOT and IDNR provided.

The post Illinois state agencies at odds over endangered species protections appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/29/illinois-state-agencies-at-odds-over-endangered-species-protections/

WBEZ

Will Canada protect the piping plover before it returns to Wasaga Beach?

On: April 29, 2026

In: Featured, Fish, Birds and Animals, Latest News, Ontario, Science, Technology, Research, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments

By Fatima Syed and Will Pearson, The Narwhal

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Any day now, a piping plover will make its seasonal return to Wasaga Beach, as it has done every spring for nearly 20 years. This time, its beachfront home could be a little less secure, which is why a new court case is pressuring the federal government to ensure the plover is kept safe.

The world’s longest freshwater beach provides the perfect habitat for the tiny endangered birds, offering natural sand dunes and shrubbery for nesting and growing their population.

For decades, both the Georgian Bay beach and the plover have been protected by the Ontario government through two main tools. First, the designation of Wasaga Beach as a provincial park, which meant development and disruption of the sandy shore was off-limits. Second, the plover was offered extra protection under the provincial Endangered Species Act.

Neither of those protections stand anymore.

Piping plovers were considered extinct in Ontario by the 1980s, but the species has been making a tentative comeback in the Great Lakes region in recent decades. Photo: Supplied by Birds Canada

Last fall, the Doug Ford government removed a majority of the beachfront from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park and transferred it to the local municipality in an effort to boost tourism development. And just last month, the government officially repealed the Endangered Species Act and replaced it with much weaker legislation that no longer recognizes the plover on its list of protected species.

The town has promised it will protect the plover after the transfer — and has begun working with Birds Canada on its habitat protection — but residents are not convinced. Two local officials agreed to speak to The Narwhal on the condition their names be kept confidential, for fear of retribution. They said on Apr. 13, a tractor owned by the municipality was seen raking more beachfront than was previously permitted — an action that could damage habitat and destroy plover nests. Though the raking hasn’t been repeated, many are concerned the beach is unprotected. The town did not respond to The Narwhal’s request for comment by the time of publication.

As a result, environmental groups are taking the matter to federal court.

In January, Ecojustice, on behalf of Environmental Defence and Ontario Nature, petitioned the federal government for an emergency order to offer protections for the piping plover by March, before machines are brought in to clear the beach after winter, and the birds begin migrating back. The federal government did not respond by that deadline.

In response, the groups have asked for a judicial review by the Federal Court of Canada into the delay and to compel Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin to make a recommendation to cabinet to issue the emergency protection.

At Wasaga Beach, the endangered piping plover is forced to share space with an increasing number of vacationing beachgoers. Until recently, Ontario Parks staff were responsible for managing that tension. Photo: Carlos Osorio / The Narwhal

The groups have also asked the court for an urgent, temporary order — or an injunction — to prohibit any raking or harmful development on the beach, which is federally recognized as a critical habitat.

Here’s what you need to know about the tiny bird and its fate in Wasaga Beach.

What are piping plovers? And why are they endangered?

Piping plovers are sprightly shorebirds, each no bigger than a cotton ball, that can sometimes be seen bounding over Great Lakes beaches in the summertime. But seeing them isn’t easy — their sandy colour blends into their surroundings and they’ve become extremely rare in Ontario due to human encroachment.

“The main threat to the piping plover is human disturbance,” according to the Government of Ontario, “since the sandy beaches where plovers live are also popular for human recreation which can destroy nests.”

Plovers generally spend winters in the United States and Mexico, but return to more northern climates to nest for the summer.

For a long time, the Great Lakes were a prime destination for would-be plover parents. It’s been estimated that the region was once home to up to 800 breeding pairs. But the Great Lakes plover population cratered in the 1960s and ’70s, and the bird was considered extinct in Ontario by 1986.

But in recent decades, plovers have been staging a tentative comeback in the Great Lakes. A breeding pair returned to Sauble Beach (now Saugeen Beach) in 2007, sparking hope and enthusiasm among bird watchers and conservationists in the area. The birds have been spotted in the region annually since then.

But plovers’ hold is anything but secure. Some years pass with only a handful of breeding pairs observed, and other years come and go with no fledglings reaching maturity.

Why is Wasaga Beach important to plovers? And what do they like about it?

“Wasaga Beach is the most important and most productive nesting site for piping plovers in our province.”

That’s what Sydney Shepherd, the Ontario piping plover coordinator for Birds Canada, told The Narwhal last summer. The beach has been home to 59 nests and 87 fledglings since the birds returned about two decades ago, according to Birds Canada, a national conservation group.

While plovers have been observed on other beaches in the Great Lakes region, none are anywhere near as popular with plovers as Wasaga Beach. The plovers that have been born on Wasaga Beach make up nearly 50 per cent of all fledglings in Ontario, and many of them have gone on to establish their own nests elsewhere in the region.

Plovers tend to value Wasaga Beach for different reasons than human beachgoers. While tourists might prefer a well-groomed beach for lounging, plovers require naturalized shorelines: shrubbery and sand dunes offer cover from predators. That means of all the 14 kilometres of beachfront at Wasaga, only a small fraction near the northeastern tip of the park is suitable plover habitat.

What’s happening at Wasaga Beach?

The fortunes of the Town of Wasaga Beach have long been tied to the sandy shoreline that gives the town its name. Tourism to the area is the main economic driver, drawing more than 1.6 million visitors a year according to the municipality’s website.

But while tourism brings opportunity to the residents of Wasaga Beach, it also puts pressure on plover habitat. Until recently, that tension was managed by staff at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, who were mandated to preserve and protect the sand dunes and other beach areas that plovers frequent.

The vast majority of the beachfront had long been within the boundaries of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, and some in the town believed the park hindered efforts to spruce it up and develop new amenities and attractions to boost tourism revenue.

The Town of Wasaga Beach is moving ahead with a plan to redevelop a portion of its beachfront. To facilitate the process, the Government of Ontario has removed 60 hectares of beachfront from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, limiting provincial protections of piping plover habitat in the process. Photo: Carlos Osorio / The Narwhal

The Doug Ford government heard those concerns and acted on them. Ontario would sever more than half of the beachfront from the park and hand it over to the town to manage, Ford announced in 2025. Earlier this year, the province confirmed its intention to move forward with that plan, despite 98 per cent of formal citizen feedback on the plan being negative.

The Narwhal confirmed that transfer has now happened.

All of the suitable plover habitat on Wasaga Beach is within the land set to be removed from the provincial park, meaning the habitat will no longer be protected by a provincial park designation.

The town, for its part, says it’s committed to protecting piping plovers. But it has yet to release its full redevelopment plans, and that leaves conservationists worried that the beach’s plover habitat is threatened.

Shepherd told The Narwhal this week that Birds Canada is in the process of formalizing their role with the Town of Wasaga Beach. The group is “seeking a committed partnership” to support the long-term protection and recovery of piping plovers that would enable them to monitor and protect the nests and the birds, and also increase education and awareness of the species.

“So far, we have collaborated for one training session for [town] staff to begin to introduce what piping plover conservation entails,” she said in an email.

Are piping plovers otherwise protected?

The removal of provincial park designation from plover habitat on Wasaga Beach comes on the heels of other policy changes that weaken species protection in Ontario.

In 2025, Ontario repealed its Endangered Species Act and replaced it with new legislation called the Species Conservation Act, a weaker set of rules that drops some key protections.

One difference between the two acts is the newer one adopts a more narrow definition of “habitat” than the former act. When it comes to legal protections for the habitats of endangered species, the new legislation’s scope is limited to the specific area an animal nests or dens in, rather than the larger area it uses to travel or find food.

But even that limited protection doesn’t stand for piping plovers, which have been removed from Ontario’s list of protected species. With the loss of provincial park status, the plover habitat has been stripped of another protection that could have restricted the beach grooming activities that render Wasaga Beach unsuitable for plovers — and appear to have already begun.

That’s why environmental groups are now turning to the federal government to fill the gap. Nationally, there is a species-at-risk law that can be invoked for the protection of an endangered species and the broader habitat it needs to survive. The question is whether the federal government will use it to save the piping plover’s favourite Ontario beach.

Updated on April 22, 2026, at 2:55 p.m. ET: this story has been corrected to note that piping plovers have been removed from the Government of Ontario’s list of protected species, meaning even the individual and its nest are not provincially protected.

The post Will Canada protect the piping plover before it returns to Wasaga Beach? appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/29/will-canada-protect-the-piping-plover-before-it-returns-to-wasaga-beach/

The Narwhal

Ohio Plastic Waste Plant to Expand Nationally

On: April 24, 2026

In: chemical recycling, Inside Climate News, Latest News, Ohio, plastics, recycling

By James Bruggers, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Belching smoke from a new plastic waste processing plant in central Ohio has stirred opposition to an even larger “chemical recycling” factory planned for Arizona by the same company.

The Freepoint Eco-Systems plant near Hebron, Ohio, fired up its processing kilns for the first time in 2024. Since then, it’s faced multiple citizen complaints about sooty emissions, from black clouds of smoke to flames. Dozens of times, plant operators have bypassed normal pollution controls to vent gases through a flare after upsets in their manufacturing processes, including emergency shutdowns, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The state regulator has issued four notices of violation to the company, according to an agency database, and launched an enforcement case after the latest one in December.

The Ohio plant’s troubled track record should be a red flag to officials who oversee permitting for the company’s plans for Eloy, Arizona, about 60 miles south of Phoenix on Interstate 10, said Kevin Greene, a pollution-prevention expert who lives in nearby Tucson and retired from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Another warning should be the industry’s “troubling” underperformance when attempting to use chemical processes to turn mixed plastic waste into fuels or new plastic feedstocks, said Greene.

“How about a six-month pause on this project while they investigate what’s going on in Hebron and take another look at the industry in general?” Greene suggested in an interview with Inside Climate News.

At least one Eloy city councilmember, Josephine “JoAnne” Galindo, said she’s concerned enough to want to be part of a potential Eloy delegation to visit Ohio, tour the Freepoint plant there and meet with local government and company officials.

“I would want to know more,” Galindo said. “I’m always concerned about the safety of my community.”

Freepoint officials declined a request for an interview on either their Ohio plant’s environmental performance or their proposed Arizona facility.

In a written statement, the company said it has “invited officials from Arizona to tour our Ohio facility to see the sophistication of our operations and the scale of the plastic waste we are working to process. We’re currently scheduling this visit.”

In Ohio, the company is working with environmental and occupational safety and health officials and the local fire department “to ensure compliance with health, safety and environmental requirements,” the statement said. Freepoint officials, the statement added, “have implemented a number of operational improvements.”

In February, at public meetings in Arizona, a Freepoint representative put a positive spin on the situation.

“You get the benefit of being the second mover,” Geof Storey, the company’s chief development officer, told the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. “We are only going to build this one if the first one works. You are going to get all [the] learnings and all the benefits of that [Ohio] project.”

To the Eloy City Council the same week, he added, “We are still working out some of the kinks.”

The Ohio plant, located about 30 miles east of Columbus near Interstate 70, is designed to process up to 175 million pounds of plastic waste annually. The waste is sourced from plastic packaging companies and community recycling programs throughout the region, including as far away as Louisville, Kentucky.

Freepoint Eco-Systems, a subsidiary of global trading and finance firm Freepoint Commodities, envisions at least a half-dozen facilities in the United States, Storey told Arizona officials. The Eloy facility would collect waste plastic from as far away as California and Colorado, as well as from Phoenix and Tucson, he added. A company PowerPoint presentation said its capacity would be more than twice the Ohio plant’s.

That would make the Eloy plant one of the largest in the world, said Rita O’Connell, a national organizer with the environmental group Beyond Plastics. But O’Connell also noted that the company’s PowerPoint contains a disclaimer that “there can be no assurances that information relied upon in preparing this presentation will prove accurate or any of the projections will be realized.”

The Freepoint Eco-Systems Hebron chemical recycling plant is seen in July 2025. Photo: Courtesy of Shawn Jones via Inside Climate News

Deregulatory Agenda Boosts Chemical Recycling

Industry officials have advocated for chemical recycling of plastics for years—often under the umbrella term of “advanced recycling”—as a solution to the global plastic waste crisis.

Typically, that’s done with a technology called pyrolysis, the process of decomposing materials at very high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment. Traditional uses range from making tar from timber for wooden ships to transforming coal into coke for steelmaking.

More recently, major oil companies and small startups alike have sought to develop the technology as an alternative for recycling a wide variety of plastic waste. So far, they’ve been met with limited success and serious pushback from environmental groups viewing it as akin to incineration.

But one of the biggest criticisms is the paucity of plastic waste that pyrolysis actually turns into new plastic.

For example, a 2024 lawsuit by California Attorney General Rob Bonta—against ExxonMobil’s pyrolysis-based chemical recycling operation at its Baytown complex near Houston—claimed decades of recycling deception contributed to a plastics crisis in California and around the world. In the lawsuit, which is still pending, Bonta asserted that no more than 8 percent of the incoming plastic waste to ExxonMobil’s plant is converted to feedstocks for new plastic.

The lawsuit claimed the remaining waste becomes fuel, which is subsequently burned.

After the lawsuit was filed, ExxonMobil responded that “advanced recycling works. To date, we’ve processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into usable raw materials, keeping it out of landfills.”

The United Nations estimates that the world produces roughly 882 billion pounds of plastic waste each year.

Freepoint, which also uses pyrolysis, declined to say how much of the waste plastic it takes in becomes new plastic.

Storey told Arizona officials its plants divert waste from landfills and offset in-the-ground oil demand.

Company officials said 70 percent of incoming plastic waste is converted into something called pyrolysis oil, or pyoil, which is used as a feedstock to create new products. About 25 percent is converted into gas used to heat the kilns. The rest becomes something called char, what Storey described as “black carbon.”

Storey said the pyoil gets sent to petrochemical customers on the Gulf Coast. There, company officials said, it serves as a “substitute for crude oil to create new plastics and other products.”

“What products our customers manufacture and where they distribute them,” the company said, “is up to our customers.”

The chemical industry has already worked to ease regulations on advanced recycling in dozens of states, including Arizona and Ohio. And in March, after groups of chemical and plastics industry lobbyists visited the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, the EPA took an initial step to exempt pyrolysis from federal Clean Air Act regulations.

Beyond Plastics’ O’Connell, who is based in New Mexico, said the chemical industry seems to have accelerated its push for chemical recycling as the Trump administration rolls back a wide range of environmental rules. At least three recycling and chemical regulation bills pending in Congress aim to boost chemical recycling of plastic waste, she said.

Fewer than 10 chemical recycling plants are operating in the United States, often in a limited capacity, said O’Connell, whose group follows the industry’s performance.

But Oil and Gas Watch, a petrochemical tracker created by the Environmental Integrity Project, identifies about 40 potential new chemical recycling facilities in the works. Some are proposed, some are in the permitting process and some are approved for construction.

“Given the national atmosphere, it’s possible we’re about to see the lights go on on a bunch of these proposals that haven’t moved in a while, because there seems to be a lot of energy in this direction,” O’Connell said. “It all points to a huge industry push to leverage this Congress and EPA to get chemical recycling rolling nationally.”

Children play in Hebron’s Evans Park with black smoke emitting from a nearby chemical recycling plant about a mile and a half away in July 2025. Photo: Courtesy of Shawn Jones via Inside Climate News

Ohio EPA Opens an Enforcement Case

It was a little more than a year ago when Amanda Rowoldt, an Ohio organizer with the environmental group Moms Clean Air Force, was driving by the Freepoint facility near Hebron and saw black smoke billowing out of the stacks. She took a video and filed a complaint with the Ohio EPA.

“Long story short, they were found in violation of exceeding their particulate limits,” Rowoldt.

Numerous pollution incidents followed. A local nonprofit newsroom covering Licking County, The Reporting Project, affiliated with Denison University’s journalism program, took notice.

Denison is a small private liberal arts college located about 10 miles away in Granville. Doug Swift, who teaches at Denison and is an advisor of The Reporting Project, said a plastics recycling theme in an investigative reporting track resulted in a series of articles.

One of the stories, published Feb. 26, revealed the citizen complaints, the state’s violation notices and a 911 call last May from a resident a quarter-mile away reporting “a factory on fire.”

“It was a great series to push out into the community, and it did alert some of our most engaged and knowledgeable citizens to the plant and to a technology most didn’t know anything about,” Swift said. He described the Hebron area as something of a local news desert, often ignored by commercial news outlets in the region.

Hebron Mayor Valerie Mockus said her municipality has no jurisdiction over the plant because it’s located just outside city limits, in an industrial park in Union Township. Still, she said she’s been concerned about environmental incidents there, though she is working to keep an open mind.

“I am very interested in finding ways to address problems with novel solutions,” Mockus said. “We have a problem with too much plastic. Is this a way to address that? But I was disappointed to hear about the negative side effects.”

She described her community as working class, its residents familiar with plumes of evaporated vapor coming from industrial stacks. “When it comes out black,” she added, “everybody pauses.”

According to the company’s air-quality permit from the Ohio EPA, the plant is allowed to emit certain levels of toxic fine particles, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, hydrochloric acid, and dioxins—pollutants that collectively can damage lungs, cause cancer and create havoc with other bodily systems.

Ohio EPA’s most recent notice in mid-December alleges air-permit violations including excess emissions of particulates, a toxic mix that can include soot, smoke and a variety of chemicals. Since then, the agency has opened an enforcement case against the company, said Max Moore, a spokesman for the Ohio EPA.

The state agency required the company to conduct emissions testing to get a clearer picture of what’s being released into the air, Moore said. Visible particulate emissions exceeded an opacity limit 18 times from Feb. 1 through March 31, he said. Nitrogen oxides from a test in February also exceeded a permit limit, he added.

On April 3, an Ohio EPA official chastised Freepoint for repeatedly failing to quickly notify the agency of plant malfunctions, according to an email that Inside Climate News obtained through a public-records request.

“This issue has been beaten to death at this point, but we still are not receiving immediate notifications of malfunctions,” the state official wrote, citing an example of a late afternoon March 30 notice to regulators of an early morning March 27 malfunction.

“If it helps, think of it like calling the fire department when there’s a fire,” the official told the company representatives. “That’s immediate. You wouldn’t wait eight hours or until the next day.”

A company representative said that afterward, “we promptly changed our reporting process to ensure it’s in line with their requirements.”

The Ohio EPA’s Moore said the goal “is to get the facility back into compliance.”

Pollution and Fire Videos

Cat Adams, a Columbus-based organizer with the Buckeye Environmental Network, said several workers have sought her out to describe unsafe working conditions, including dust, chemical spills and fire hazards. She hears from area residents about the plant, too.

“There’s a group of people in the community who are worried about it, and they want something done,” Adams said.

Shawn Jones is one of them. He was an eyewitness to the May 27 fire and took a video of it. In subsequent months, he’s kept a close eye, documenting other incidents of billowing smoke. “I’ve probably seen that 15 times,” Jones said, adding that he’s concerned about the health and safety of both people in the community and workers inside the plant.

He said he’s not sure what, if anything, Ohio EPA officials will do to force the company to comply with environmental regulations.

“I’d like them to shut the whole place down,” Jones said. “It’s such a new process. They clearly don’t have it figured out yet.”

He said it feels like Freepoint is “doing sandbox experiments in the backyards of thousands of people. They can, because of the lack of zoning here.”

In Arizona, Greene, the former Illinois environmental official, said he and an Eloy resident, Ralph Atchue, are asking Pinal County air quality officials to strengthen a permit they issued the company three years ago. The reason they’re citing: the company’s pollution record in Ohio.

Greene also suggests that the city of Eloy should ask for fenceline air-quality monitoring to give the community real-time data on any leaks and equipment failures.

Noting that the company has essentially described its Ohio plant as a test case, Greene added: “I’d like to know what’s going to be redesigned [for Eloy], or what’s going to be improved. But I also want to make sure there will be the appropriate safeguards in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen in Eloy—and that it doesn’t recur in Hebron.”

The post Ohio Plastic Waste Plant to Expand Nationally appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/24/ohio-plastic-waste-plant-to-expand-nationally/

Michigan’s main cause of wolf mortality? People

On: April 24, 2026

In: conservation, Fish, Birds and Animals, great lakes echo, grey wolf, Latest News, Michigan, Minnesota, Wildlife, Wisconsin

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Sonja Krohn, Great Lakes EchoGray wolf. Credit: Department of Natural Resources

Even though the grey wolf is classified as an endangered species, a new study found that the majority of Michigan’s recorded wolf deaths are caused by humans.

Researchers from Michigan State University and their collaborators used GPS collar and mortality data from 608 wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan between 2010 and 2023 to assess their specific cause of death.

The study found that humans caused 65% of them.

In addition to categories like vehicle collisions (10%) and legal kills (14%), illegal kills represented 38% of cases, making it the leading cause of wolf deaths.

Apart from legal kills, which included depredation control and legal hunting, illegal kills included confirmed and suspected poaching through poisoning, shootings and accidental trapping.

“Despite changes in legislation and public attitudes towards large predators, human-caused mortality continues to impact survival and conservation of carnivore species,” the study said.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, wolves are native to the state, and research suggests that they were once present in all of its counties.

“Wolves were first added to the federal endangered species list in 1974 after being [wiped out] from the Lower Peninsula by the 1930s and nearly disappearing from the Upper Peninsula by 1960,” the department says on its website.

But since then, there has been a back-and-forth approach. Federal protections for wolves were lifted and reinstated on several occasions through political action and court rulings.

Most recently, a 2022 federal court ruling reinstated gray wolves onto the federal list of threatened and endangered species in the contiguous 48 states.

Based on that classification, “they can only be killed if they are a direct and immediate threat to human life,” the department says.

According to the recent study in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, illegal kills as a leading cause of death have “the potential to influence population dynamics, affecting population growth and recolonization potential.”

Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University, said the results are consistent with smaller-scale studies.

Deer are the primary food source of wolves, and illegal kills – especially during deer-hunting season – dominate the population dynamics of wolves in the upper Midwest, he said.

“Yet wolf populations have persisted in what I would characterize as an uneasy peace,” Peterson said, adding that the coexistence of wolves and people in the U.P. – where wolves live – has required adjustments for both species.

At this point, Brian Roell, a DNR wildlife biologist, said illegal takes don’t appear to be harming Michigan’s population, as wolves can survive fairly high death rates.

“The important thing to point back to is that our population has been stable – it’s not decreasing,” he said.

According to Roell, Michigan’s wolf population has been stable since 2011. The department’s last population estimate in 2024 counted 768 wolves. In Michigan, they “have saturated their suitable habitat,” he said.

While the DNR is currently wrapping up a 2026 population estimate, he said, “I fully expect we’re going to be statistically stable again” based on preliminary data.

The post Michigan’s main cause of wolf mortality? People appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/24/michigans-main-cause-of-wolf-mortality-people/

Supreme Court sides with Nessel in Line 5 jurisdiction dispute

On: April 24, 2026

In: Bridge MI, enbridge, Enbridge Line 5 and Other Pipelines, Energy, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, line 5, Michigan, supreme court

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The US Supreme Court has unanimously sided with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in a dispute over which court — state or federal — should oversee Nessel’s lawsuit to shut down the Line 5 pipeline.

The court’s nine justices ruled that Enbridge cannot move the state court case Nessel filed seven years ago to federal court, because the company missed a 30-day deadline to do so.

Jurisdiction matters because federal courts are considered more likely to sympathize with Enbridge’s argument that the pipeline should stay open, while state courts are more likely to sympathize with Nessel’s argument that it should close.

The ruling is the latest development in a yearslong dispute over the fate of the 72-year-old oil pipeline owned by Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy, which crosses through the open water of the Straits of Mackinac as it transports petroleum products from Wisconsin to Ontario.

The aging pipeline has sustained damage multiple times in recent years, sparking fears that it could rupture and cause an oil spill in the Great Lakes.

Citing those fears, Nessel in 2019 filed a lawsuit in the 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County seeking to shut down the pipeline’s lakebottom segment. But two years into deliberations, Enbridge attempted to move the case into federal court — missing a 30-day statutory deadline to do so.

In a dispute that made its way to the nation’s highest court, the company argued it qualified for an exception to the deadline, while state lawyers accused the company of seeking “an atextual escape hatch.”

In an opinion authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the justices concluded that Congress authorized limited exceptions to the 30-day deadline, none of which apply to the circumstances of this case.

“Enbridge’s counterarguments are not persuasive,” Sotomayor wrote.

The procedural ruling doesn’t settle the question of the pipeline’s fate. But it remands the case back to Ingham County, where deliberations are paused pending the outcome of a separate case.

In a statement, Nessel said the ruling “makes emphatically clear” that the case belongs in state court.

“For far too long, following years of Enbridge’s delay tactics, the fear of a catastrophic spill from Line 5 has haunted our state, threatening to turn our most vital natural resource into a man-made disaster,” Nessel said.

Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy expressed confidence that the company will prevail in arguing that the line should remain open.

“The fact remains that the safety of Line 5 is regulated exclusively by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,” Duffy wrote. That agency is part of the US Department of Transportation.

In a ruling tied to a separate shutdown dispute between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Enbridge, US District Court Judge Robert Jonker ruled in December that federal pipeline safety laws preempt state laws, leaving Michigan with no “power to interfere” in Line 5 operations. The state is appealing the decision and Nessel’s state court case is paused pending the outcome of that appeal.

Prolonged battle

For years, fans and foes of the pipeline have been battling in Michigan and Wisconsin over fears that the pipeline could cause a catastrophic oil spill. Enbridge also owns the line 6B pipeline, which spilled into the Kalamazoo River causing among the worst inland oil spills in US history. Line 5 has been repeatedly struck by ships’ anchors, further heightening pipeline safety concerns.

In 2018, Enbridge pitched a plan to move the Straits section of the pipeline into a concrete-lined tunnel deep beneath the lakebed to alleviate spill concerns. But that plan, too, has been controversial, with some contending the best solution is to remove the pipeline entirely.

It’s a debate that revolves not only around spill risks, but concerns about land disturbances from tunnel construction, infringement on Native American treaty rights in the Straits and the climate implications of building infrastructure that would lock in decades of additional fossil fuel use.

The US Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy are both preparing to issue key permitting decisions tied to the tunnel plan.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Supreme Court is deliberating over a lawsuit challenging a separate tunnel permit the state already granted.

The post Supreme Court sides with Nessel in Line 5 jurisdiction dispute appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/24/supreme-court-sides-with-nessel-in-line-5-jurisdiction-dispute/

Supreme Court sides with Nessel in Line 5 jurisdiction dispute

On: April 24, 2026

In: Bridge MI, enbridge, Enbridge Line 5 and Other Pipelines, Energy, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, line 5, Michigan, supreme court

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The court’s nine justices ruled that Enbridge cannot move the state court case Nessel filed seven years ago to federal court, because the company missed a 30-day deadline to do so.

The aging pipeline has sustained damage multiple times in recent years, sparking fears that it could rupture and cause an oil spill in the Great Lakes.

In an opinion authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the justices concluded that Congress authorized limited exceptions to the 30-day deadline, none of which apply to the circumstances of this case.

“Enbridge’s counterarguments are not persuasive,” Sotomayor wrote.

The procedural ruling doesn’t settle the question of the pipeline’s fate. But it remands the case back to Ingham County, where deliberations are paused pending the outcome of a separate case.

In a statement, Nessel said the ruling “makes emphatically clear” that the case belongs in state court.

Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy expressed confidence that the company will prevail in arguing that the line should remain open.

Prolonged battle

The US Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy are both preparing to issue key permitting decisions tied to the tunnel plan.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Supreme Court is deliberating over a lawsuit challenging a separate tunnel permit the state already granted.

The post Supreme Court sides with Nessel in Line 5 jurisdiction dispute appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/24/supreme-court-sides-with-nessel-in-line-5-jurisdiction-dispute/

Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, University of Michigan

Extreme rain on snow is testing aging dams across Michigan and Wisconsin — this is the future in a warming world

On: April 22, 2026

In: Climate change, dams, flooding, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, Wisconsin

The river flooded the sidewalk and trees on Island Park - Grand Ledge, Michigan, march 2026

Michigan and parts of Wisconsin are in the midst of a historic flooding event in spring 2026. Days of heavy rainfall on top of snow have sent lakes and rivers over their banks and threatened several dams in both states, forcing people to evacuate homes downstream. By April 20, 2026, nearly half of Michigan’s counties were under a state of emergency. In Cheboygan, Michigan, large pumps were brought in to lower pressure on a century-old dam in the city.

The region’s aging water infrastructure was never designed for the volume of water it is facing. That’s a troubling sign for the future, with flooding becoming more common as global temperatures rise.

In many areas, the damage has been exacerbated by a culture of building homes and cabins on the shores of inland lakes and along riverine lakes behind small, often privately owned dams. Many of these dams were built over 100 years ago, with some long forgotten.

I am a professor emeritus of meteorology at the University of Michigan whose work focuses on helping communities adapt to climate change. The warming climate is worsening the flood risk, and disasters like the one Michigan is experiencing are setting higher benchmarks for safety as communities plan future infrastructure.

Where is all the water coming from?

For much of Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as northern Illinois, 2026 has been the wettest March and April on record.

In March, much of that precipitation fell as snow, including in an enormous blizzard that brought 3 feet of snow to parts of Michigan. In mid-April, persistent rains began. The rain, on top of all that snow, sent floodwaters running into rivers, streets and homes. The water carries large amounts of ice that damages shores, infrastructure and homes.

The moisture for much of these storms has been funneled northward from the warm Gulf of Mexico, thanks in part to a high pressure system sitting over the southeastern U.S.

The problem of warming winters

The kind of flooding Michigan and Wisconsin are experiencing in 2026 is what forecasters expect to see more of as global temperatures rise.

Winters have been warming faster than other seasons across the U.S. In Michigan and Wisconsin, winter months used to be reliably below freezing, but that’s changing. In the Cheboygan area, near the tip of Lower Michigan, March temperatures used to be below freezing on all but a few days. By the 1991-2020 period, the region averaged 10 days above or close to the freezing point – about twice as many as the 1951-1980 period.

The air coming in from the south is also warmer than in the past. Nationally, 2026 was the warmest March on record in 132 years of record-keeping in the contiguous U.S., with an average temperature more than 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) higher than the 30-year average. So, in addition to snowmelt starting earlier, melting is happening faster.

Michigan’s average wintertime temperature rose by more than 4 F (2.3 C) from 1951 to 2023. Though winter 2026 in Michigan was colder than the 1991-2020 average, the Gulf of Mexico, where the moisture originated, was warmer than average, accelerating the snowmelt.

How warming leads to downpours and flooding

A few aspects of a warming climate can lead to flooding.

First, temperatures are increasing. In higher temperatures, moisture evaporates faster from the ground, plants and surface water. That moisture, once in the atmosphere, eventually falls again as precipitation. However, for each degree Celsius that temperatures increase, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture, resulting in more heavy downpours.

A warmer winter also means more melting snow and more rain-on-snow events that can quickly increase the amount of runoff into rivers.

The Great Lakes region and much of the Northeast already experience more precipitation than in the past. Winters with more persistent wetness – not just snow but also rain – prime the region for floods. With continued warming in the coming decades, 2026 might be among the least disruptive in the future.

Data shows that a scenario of persistent wetness, changes in winter and seasonal runoff is part of the future for Michigan and the other states and Canadian provinces along the Great Lakes Basin, as well as New England.

Fixing dams for the future

All of this means communities across the region will have to pay closer attention to the growing risks facing their vital infrastructure – particularly dams.

Even prior to the 2026 floods, Michigan had a well-documented problem with its aging inventory of 2,600 dams. In May 2020, an intense storm system that stalled over the region brought so much rain that the Edenville and Sanford dams both failed near Midland, Michigan, forcing 10,000 people to evacuate and causing an estimated US$200 million in damage.

After that disaster, a state task force issued recommendations for fixing the state’s water control infrastructure to meet the growing risks. But a member of the task force told The Detroit News in April 2026 that little had been done to address those recommendations.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ik4S2Kgn9ak?wmode=transparent&start=0 Michigan State Police captured scenes of stressed dams and flooding across Cheboygan County, near the tip of the Lower Peninsula, including the century-old dam in the city of Cheboygan that was nearly overwhelmed by flood water.

Where is all the water coming from?

For much of Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as northern Illinois, 2026 has been the wettest March and April on record.

The moisture for much of these storms has been funneled northward from the warm Gulf of Mexico, thanks in part to a high pressure system sitting over the southeastern U.S.

The problem of warming winters

The kind of flooding Michigan and Wisconsin are experiencing in 2026 is what forecasters expect to see more of as global temperatures rise.

How warming leads to downpours and flooding

A few aspects of a warming climate can lead to flooding.

A warmer winter also means more melting snow and more rain-on-snow events that can quickly increase the amount of runoff into rivers.

Fixing dams for the future

All of this means communities across the region will have to pay closer attention to the growing risks facing their vital infrastructure – particularly dams.

Because warming will continue for the coming decades, the 2026 flooding should be considered at the lower end of capacity for stormwater infrastructure and dams. Rather than relying on the statistics that described floods in the past, planners will have to anticipate the floods of the future.

Michigan is often touted as a climate haven because it is relatively cool and has plenty of water. The state is not, however, immune to the amped-up weather of a warming climate. Environmental security in the future requires improved and more adaptive infrastructure.

The post Extreme rain on snow is testing aging dams across Michigan and Wisconsin — this is the future in a warming world appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/22/extreme-rain-on-snow-is-testing-aging-dams-across-michigan-and-wisconsin-this-is-the-future-in-a-warming-world/

The Conversation

When Music Meets Climate Crisis: A New Concerto Echoes the Planet’s Fragility

On: April 21, 2026

In: christa grix, culture, Earth Day, Earth Week, History and Culture, Latest News, Michigan, music, yolanda kondonassis

Yolanda Kondonassis is a musician working in the Great Lakes region, formerly at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she will begin teaching at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in the fall. Now, the Grammy-nominated harp soloist performs on the harp and drums, on a new album commissioned by the Interlochen Arts Academy, called “Terra Infirma.”

“Terra Infirma” had its digital premiere on April 17, ahead of Earth Day, and was composed by Reena Esmail for a collaboration with Kondonassis. Esmail started writing the concerto in January 2025, while living in Altadena, CA as the catastrophic wildfires began to enclose her neighborhood. The concerto also references Esmail’s extensive studies of Hindustani music — specifically the raags (or ragas) of Deepak, which are fabled to evoke uncontrollable fire. The piece also required another song or raag of Megh, which brings the rain as it is typically sung during monsoon seasons.

For Earth Day, Christa Grix from Detroit’s Jazz and Classical station WRCJ 90.9 FM (also owned and operated by Detroit PBS), discusses this groundbreaking new work in conversation with Kondonassis. They also touch on Kondonassis’s nonprofit, Earth at Heart, which encourages conservation awareness and action through music and the arts.

For the full interview, you can listen here:

The interview below was recorded, transcribed and edited for length and clarity.

Christa Grix: It gives me great pleasure to welcome my guest, Yolanda Kondonassis, a globally renowned harpist, composer, harp pedagogue, author, recording artist and environmental activist.

Yolanda Kondonassis: Thank you so much for having me.

CG: I have admired you for most of my professional career, and I’m also aware of Reena Esmail. I do the programming at WRCJ, and I heard her music about a year ago, and I said, that is a composer to pay attention to. So, I can’t imagine anything better than the two of you collaborating on this project, “Terra Infirma.” And I’d like you to tell us all about it.

YK: You know, the best things in life, I think, happen kind of organically, and because of that, they tend to evolve for all the right reasons. Reena and I probably first met virtually about five years ago. And we met through our husbands, who are both very active musicians.

My first experience with Reena was through my “Five Minutes for Earth” project, which was my most recent album, where I commissioned a whole bunch of folks to write a roughly five minute piece that was inspired by Earth.

She’s just such an intelligent, curious person, and we have very much the same sensibility when it comes to creating art. Our environmental concerns and everything we do to make sure the planet will be around for many, many years to come — art should be approached the same way, that term “sustainability” should apply to both.

And I think her music has sustainability. So much art right now is created extremely quickly; premiered, quickly; consumed, quickly and then almost discarded. We don’t really hear much about it again, and this is not musical fast food.

Portrait of the composer, Reena Esmail. Photo: Rachel Gracia.

CG: No, it is absolutely not.

YK: It had about a four year gestation period. We talked about all sorts of different iterations this might take. And finally, we had one kind of seminal conversation where it was like, what sound, what sonic element would really bring the harp to life in a way it hadn’t been before?

I’ve kind of always been sort of a closet percussionist. And I thought, well, you know, the harp is a percussion instrument. What if you actually wrote a concerto for harp and percussion, and I do both, and how would that look?

It just was such an amazing experience to learn about all these different percussion equipments. I play 18 different percussion pieces, and I’m shoving my harp across the stage, in a sort of a metaphorical journey.

CG: Could you tell me a little bit more about those logistical challenges? Principally, being a harpist, I know it’s no small feat to move a harp. And for our listeners, let me mention that the harp is about six feet tall and weighs about 80 pounds, so when you’re talking about moving — and as I understand— the harp is a main character in a musical drama. Is that correct?

YK: You said it. I just get excited every time I think about the genesis of this piece. Because initially we thought, okay, we’ll put you on stage. We’ll surround you with a ton of percussion, you may have to get up at some point. And then as we really started talking about the subject matter…

What if the harp actually, and to some degree, me as a performer were like a protagonist in this story of what we face environmentally? And what if the harp almost symbolized Earth as a “not” inanimate protagonist. And as anybody who plays the harp knows, that is not an inanimate object. You’ve got to be a harp whisperer, to play that thing.

It evolved from the idea of me sitting in one place on stage in my usual concerto position, surrounded by percussion to “what if you walked on stage just without a harp and started doing something percussive?” And from that, it evolved into this idea that my harp starts on one side of the stage. And throughout the journey of this piece, it is a journey, I literally shove it from one percussion battery to another.

CG: So, not on a dolly or anything like that. You shove it?

YK: Yes, and so that shoving was literally built into the choreography. Then, of course, we said, well, this is getting very theatrical. What if one of the movements was incorporated at a theatrical element where you’re literally walking around the stage? Maybe you’re rimming a singing bowl. Maybe you’re exploring while the orchestra does something else. So, it really kind of stretched me to my limit.

Portrait of harpist and percussionist Yolanda Kondonassis. Photo: Laura Watilo Blake.

CG: We all know that you’re a passionate advocate for the environment. What inspired you to do so much for the environment and for Mother Earth?

TK: I think that when something evolves over time you begin to invest in it, emotionally and otherwise. And really, when I started truly thinking about the environment is when I had my daughter in 2002. As we know, when you have a child, you start thinking farther ahead than we do when we don’t.

I did an album called “Music of Hovhaness,” a piece on there was called, “Spirit Of Trees.” This was 20 years ago, and I thought, this music is so inspiring to me. This sounds like I’m walking through the woods and this is incredible, just being struck with the way music can conjure both a visual image and inspiration. I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we set it up so that my royalties from this album went to the Rainforest Alliance? And that was kind of the first little foray into all of this.

That eventually led to establishing my nonprofit called Earth at Heart, and writing a kids book called My Earth, My Home. You know, one thing kind of leads to another. I wanted to kind of wrap my artistic life around this unifying mission. At a certain point, I think during covid, is when I started thinking, okay, great, I’ve been doing this for decades. I played in every part of the world I could have ever dreamed of. I’ve played the traditional repertoire. I’ve commissioned some great pieces. What’s my mission, what’s my unifying idea.

And so it was a great kind of incubator during the pandemic to develop some ideas and to really have the time to follow through on them, because for busy musicians, that’s the tough part. It’s like we’re always full of ideas, but it’s the time to develop them and let them sit a minute and germinate and marinate before you take the next step.

It’s been a wonderful way to combine passions. I don’t pretend to be a climate scientist, but what I can do is work on inspiring action, inspiring awareness of things. And what better way to do that than music? I think if anybody hears this piece, “Terra infirma,” they might even be inspired to learn more about it, and in learning more about it, who knows, they might become really inspired to think about environmental concerns in a way they hadn’t before. When they’d been thrown stats and statistics and, quite honestly, very scary stuff. What a better way to reach people than through music?

Both Reena and I talked about how we didn’t want “Terra Infirma” to be some sort of musical Armageddon, even though the reality is very scary. But, I think the only way we address any problem is with hope, hope that we can do something, hope that our actions will have an effect.

“Terra Infirma” premiered live on October 30, 2025 at Interlochen Arts Academy. As of April 17, listeners will find the album digitally on all streaming platforms.

The post When Music Meets Climate Crisis: A New Concerto Echoes the Planet’s Fragility appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/21/when-music-meets-climate-crisis-a-new-concerto-echoes-the-planets-fragility/

Here’s how to prepare, as more rain falls on northern Michigan

On: April 20, 2026

In: Featured, Latest News, Michigan

By Vivian La and Lyndsey Gilpin

This was originally published on Grist and has been adapted to include up-to-date information for northern Michigan. Find the full toolkit here.

With waters rising around Northern Michigan, the risk of flooding and dam failure is affecting people across the region. That’s why it’s critical to know where to find accurate information and have a plan. Here’s a resource guide with updated information. We will continue to update this and add more response and recovery resources.

How to pack an emergency kit

As you prepare for a disaster, it’s important to have an emergency kit ready in case you lose power or need to leave your home. Review this checklist from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for what to pack so you can stay safe, hydrated, and healthy. (FEMA has these resources available in multiple languages here.)

Here are some of the most important things to have in your kit:

A list of phone numbers for your city or county emergency services, police departments, local hospitals, and health departments
Water (one gallon per person per day for several days)
Food (at least a several-day supply of non-perishable food) and a can opener
Medicines and documentation of your medical needs
Identification and proof of residency documents (see a more detailed list below)
A flashlight
A battery-powered or hand crank radio
Backup batteries
Blanket(s) and sleeping bags
Change of clothes and closed-toed shoes
First aid kit (The Red Cross has a list of what to include)
N-95 masks, hand sanitizer, and trash bags
Wrench or pliers
Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery
If you have babies or children: diapers, wipes, and food or formula
If you have pets: food, collar, leash, and any medicines needed

FEMA has activities for kids to make this process more fun; the ASPCA also has useful guidelines for people with pets.

Don’t forget: Documents

One of the most important things to have in your emergency kit is documents you may need to prove your residence, demonstrate extent of damage, and to vote. FEMA often requires you to provide these documents in order to receive financial assistance after a disaster. Keep these items in a water- and fire-proof folder or container. You can find more details about why you may need these documents here.

Government-issued ID, such as a drivers’ license, for each member of your household
Proof of citizenship or legal residency for each member of your household (passport, green card, etc.)
Social Security card for each member of your household
Documentation of your medical needs, including medications or special equipment (oxygen tanks, wheelchairs, etc.)
Health insurance card
Car title and registration documents
Pre-disaster photos of the inside and outside of your house and belongings
For homeowners: copies of your deed, mortgage information, and home insurance policy, if applicable
For renters: a copy of your lease and renters insurance policy
Financial documents such as a checkbook or voided check

Planning for people with disabilities

Disabled people have a right to all disaster alerts in a format that is accessible. The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, a disability-led nonprofit focused on disasters, has a list of these rights. The organization also runs a hotline for any questions: (800) 626-4959 or hotline@disasterstrategies.org.

FEMA has a list of specific planning steps for people with disabilities. Some of these recommendations include:

Contact your local emergency management office to ask about voluntary registries for people with disabilities to self-identify so they can access targeted assistance during emergencies and disasters.
If you use medical equipment that requires electricity, ask your health care provider about what you may be able to do to keep it running during a power outage.
Wear medical alert tags or bracelets. Also add pertinent medical information to your electronic devices.
In your emergency kit, have your prescription information and medicines, as well as contact information for people who can help care for you or answer questions.

Finding shelter and staying safe

Shelter

If flooding risk forces you from your home, there are several ways to find a shelter.

Here’s a map of local shelters by the Michigan State Police
Antrim County evacuation centers on standby
Cheboygan area shelters
The American Red Cross operates overnight shelters and disaster relief centers where you can get health services, do laundry, get toiletries and other necessary supplies, and rest. Pets are usually welcome, and entry is free. Follow the American Red Cross Michigan Region for shelter updates.
Call 211 to find more information about emergency housing, shelters, or assistance paying for housing.

Floodwater safety

Never wade in floodwaters. They often contain contaminated runoff from sewer systems, animal waste, physical objects, and downed power lines.
If a road is flooded, turn around. According to NWS, it takes just 12 inches of water to carry away most cars.
When you come in contact with flood water, be sure to wash exposed skin immediately. Wear rubber boots, gloves, and goggles. Here are more tips on floodwater safety from the CDC, including emergency wound care.

Power outages

You may experience a power outage before or during a disaster. Here are some ways to prepare and stay safe:

Your utility company may alert you of changes, so sign up for texts or calls from them. You can also usually report outages to your utility company by calling or filling out forms online.
Stay away from downed power lines, stray wires, and debris in contact with them, as they can deliver fatal shocks.
If your power does go out, keep your refrigerator closed as much as possible and eat perishable food first. Get some coolers with ice if possible, and if you’re in doubt about any food, throw it out.
Unplug appliances and electronics, and use flashlights instead of candles to reduce the risk of fire.
If you use a generator, make sure you know the best practices. Find more information about types of generators here, and learn how to use them safely.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the leading causes of death after a storm that knocks out power. Do not use a gas stove to heat your home and do not use barbecues, grills, or other outdoor cooking equipment inside, because they can generate carbon monoxide. If you have a generator, keep it outside in a well ventilated area away from windows. The Red Cross has more generator safety tips.

You can find more power outage safety tips here, from the Energy Education Council.

Water rushing through the spillway at the Bellaire Dam on Monday, April 13, 2026. *(Photo: Austin Rowlader/IPR News)*

Signs and symptoms of illness

Carbon monoxide poisoning: It can take just minutes to get carbon monoxide poisoning. Be on the lookout for nausea, a mild headache, and shortness of breath. More severe cases can cause confusion, chest pain, dizziness, severe headaches, and loss of coordination. The Mayo Clinic has more information on what to look out for, and FEMA has information on how to prevent carbon monoxide leaks.

Tetanus: This is an infection caused by bacteria. It’s rare, but can be more common after disasters because it’s more likely people come into contact with rusty nails, needles, or contaminated dirt. The most common symptom, which can occur anywhere from three to 21 days after exposure, is lockjaw. Tetanus is easily prevented with a vaccine. Read more here from the CDC.

Mutual aid
Mutual aid is a voluntary, collaborative exchange of resources, money, and services among community members. These groups are often local or regional, and they are more nimble and quick to respond in emergency situations because of their decentralized nature. Depending on how much funding comes in after a disaster, mutual aid groups can directly send money to those in need, purchase supplies, set up distribution sites, and more.

The Cheboygan County Humane Society is offering free pet care

Planning an evacuation route

It is important to have a plan in case there’s an evacuation order in your area, or if you decide you want to evacuate on your own.

FEMA also has a list of key things to know when making an evacuation plan.

Choose several places you could go in an emergency — maybe a friend or family member’s house in another city, or a hotel. Choose destinations in different directions so you have options. If you have pets, make sure the place you choose allows them, as shelters usually only allow service animals.
Make sure you know several routes and other means of transportation out of your area, in case roads are closed.
Keep a full tank of gas in your car if you know a disaster may be coming, and keep your emergency kit in your car or in an easily accessible place.
Come up with a plan to stay in touch with members of your household in case you are separated. Check with your neighbors as well.
Unplug electrical equipment, except for freezers and refrigerators, before you evacuate. If there’s already damage to your home in any way, shut off water, gas, and electricity.

Always heed the advice of local officials when it comes to evacuations. Your state or county may have specific routes and plans in case there are mandatory evacuations.

Protecting and preparing your home

It’s impossible to know what might happen to your home during a disaster, but there are many best practices to keep your belongings and property as safe as possible.

Below is a list of ways to protect your home from water and wind damage, gathered from the National Flood Insurance Program and local government sources.

Take photos of your home and property so you have evidence of what it looked like before any damage occurs, in case you need to file an insurance claim or apply for federal aid.
Move your most valued belongings to a high, safe place, such as an attic.
Clear your gutters and downspouts when you know a big rain is coming, and make sure they’re pointed downhill, away from your home.
Clear storm drains and drainage ditches of debris.
Elevate your utilities, including electrical panels, propane tanks, sockets, wiring, appliances, and heating systems, if possible, and anchor them in place.
Get a sump pump if you are a homeowner. A working sump pump and a water alarm can minimize flood damage in your basement. Install a battery-operated backup pump in case the power goes out.
Seal any cracks in your foundation with mortar, caulk, or hydraulic cement.
Secure outdoor items so they don’t blow or wash away.
If you’re in a hurricane-prone area, install storm shutters. There are many products for every budget; some are temporary and some are permanent.
Secure loose roof shingles, which can create a domino effect if wind starts to take them off.

How to document flood damage

Fred Chacon, Bellaire resident of 12 years, places sandbags between his house and the Intermediate River, just downstream of the Bellaire Dam. *(Photo: Claire Keenan-Kurgan/IPR News)*

If you’ve already seen damage from flooding and it’s safe to return home, it’s critical that you photograph everything that was damaged and gather any documents you can salvage for insurance claims and government aid applications.

Before you begin:

Turn off your electricity and gas (here’s how).
Have a first aid kit handy.
Make sure your tetanus shot is up to date (your state or county health department may offer free tetanus vaccines if you need one; it’s best to call them to find out).
Look at the structural integrity of the building before entering, and do not go inside if it looks like there is any potential for something to collapse. Do not touch anything electrical if in doubt about the state it’s in.
Wear protective clothing: long sleeves and pants, goggles, leather, rubber or plastic gloves, closed-toed and/or sturdy boots or shoes, a respirator or N95 mask, and a Tyvek suit if you can find one. Check with your aid distribution sites for tools, personal protective equipment, and cleaning materials.
Do not attempt to drive or wade through floodwaters, which can sweep you away even if it doesn’t seem deep, and can be contaminated or contain dangerous debris. Do not touch any debris or materials that may be contaminated by toxic chemicals (you may need special equipment or PPE to handle burned or flooded debris).

Take photos and videos

Whether you have insurance and are filing a claim, or you do not have flood insurance and you’re applying for federal assistance from FEMA, you’ll need a lot of evidence to prove the damage was caused by a disaster.

Gather any photos of your house or apartment from before the crisis so you can more easily document your losses.
Take photos of the outside and inside of your home or apartment, including damaged personal property, and label them by room before you remove anything.

If you have insurance, take photos of the make, model, and serial number for appliances and anything else of value. Provide receipts to your adjuster to document damage for your claim.

This was originally published on Grist and has been adapted to include up-to-date information for northern Michigan. Find the full toolkit here.

The post Here’s how to prepare, as more rain falls on northern Michigan appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Grist and Interlochen Public Radio

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/20/heres-how-to-prepare-as-more-rain-falls-on-northern-michigan/

Climate experts say spring is coming earlier. How will that affect agriculture and ecosystems?

On: April 16, 2026

In: Agriculture, Climate change, Featured, Fish, Birds and Animals, Forests and Plants, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Science, Technology, Research

By Héctor Alejandro Arzate

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

As a row crop farmer in St. Joseph, Missouri, Joe Lau said he’s noticing more extreme weather these days.

Warmer seasons throughout the year. Quarter-inch predictions of rain stamped out by storms that bring 3 inches. Increased pressure from pests on his corn. He’s also noticed that spring is coming earlier.

The USA National Phenology Network shows that this year spring arrived three to five weeks earlier than the average between 1991 to 2020 in much of the central U.S. and two to three weeks earlier in southern Midwest states.

“I have allergies bad,” said Lau, who also grows soybeans. “And this year in particular, it’s hit me hard. It’s wild that we are talking about allergy issues in winter, but that’s technically the reality of it.”

Last month, Climate Central, a nonprofit specializing in communicating climate science, published an analysis that found that spring is trending to an earlier arrival from 1981 to 2025 in most of the United States.

On average, leaves now emerge six days earlier than they did in 1981 in 88 percent, or 212 out of 242, of major U.S. cities. For example, in Lau’s city of St. Joseph, Missouri, the spring leaves tend to arrive two days earlier.

An earlier spring could have consequences for the agriculture industry, ecology, and more.

Where are spring leaves arriving earlier?

Climate Central used open-access data that was collected by the USA National Phenology Network, a group of volunteers and researchers who study seasonal events — like when migratory birds arrive, leaves emerge, and fruit ripens — among plants and animals to determine ecosystem health.

The analysis is based on the NPN’s first leaf index maps, which use models to predict the start of spring. To work, the models are fed data like temperature and the start date of the annual “leaf-out” — when leaves first emerge — for the early spring plants of lilacs and honeysuckle, which are found throughout the U.S.

“That very leading edge of spring is drifting earlier and has drifted, in some cases, a whole lot earlier in just that last few decades,” said Theresa Crimmins, the NPN’s director, in a briefing last month.

Climate Central’s analysis found that many Mississippi River basin cities are seeing earlier spring, including Hazard, Kentucky, which is seeing leaves arrive 11 days earlier. Both Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, are leafing out seven days earlier. New Orleans, Louisiana, is two days earlier.

While most of the lower 48 states are experiencing an earlier spring, the report did find an exception in the Northern Rockies and Plains region. There, spring temperatures have either cooled or warmed “relatively slowly” since 1970, according to the report.

Kaitlyn Trudeau, a climatologist with Climate Central, said the differences in how much earlier spring is coming from place to place are likely due to what she calls “climate controls” — such as latitude, elevation, wind patterns, proximity to bodies of water, ocean currents, and topography.

“All of those different factors really dictate what your local climate is like generally,” Trudeau said.

What does early spring mean for agriculture and more?

The early arrival of spring can have widespread impacts, said Trudeau. People with seasonal allergies, like Lau, will be exposed to more pollen because plants get more time to produce and release it.

Warmer temperatures can also cause birds to migrate too soon. One of the busiest migratory routes, or flyways, in North America moves along the Mississippi River. Each year, about half of all migratory bird species on the continent follow it to get from as far north as Canada to Central and South America, and then back.

When birds migrate too soon, said Trudeau, they miss out on the peak abundance of food. They can fall out of sync with insects or the flowers they pollinate, which can affect other species, too.

“That can cause this ecological mismatch,” Trudeau said.

Earlier springs can also put the agriculture industry at financial risk, she said. Whether it’s corn, soybeans, or specialty fruits, these crops can get hit with a hard freeze following an early leaf-out — also known as a false spring. It could lead to major economic damage in the agriculture industry, said Trudeau.

In 2017, a hard freeze in the southeastern U.S. destroyed fruit crops like peaches, pears, blueberries, strawberries, and even grass for livestock. It led to more than $1 billion dollars in losses for the agriculture industry, according to a report from NOAA.

“We are so dependent upon what happens in the natural environment,” Trudeau said. “And so when things start to shift and change, it’s also going to cause pretty widespread impacts for our lives.”

Growers of specialty crops — such as apricot trees or iris flowers — will be particularly vulnerable. Row crop farmers, like Lau, have more technology to aid them. He said seed treatments have allowed soybean farmers to plant earlier and grow longer, increasing their production.

So the effects of an earlier spring have been “minimal” for him.

“From purely a row-crop production standpoint, the springs have been very favorable for us,” said Lau.

One thing that does have him worried is the bug activity out in his fields — they’ve been plentiful with the warmer weather.

“I raise all non-GMO corn and so I don’t have the insect traits bred into the corn genetically modified, and so that does concern me that we’re kind of relying on what nature hands us,” Lau said.

While farmers and communities are doing their part to innovate and adapt to continue producing, Trudeau said addressing the root of climate change is the most urgent need.

“There is no substitute for dramatically reducing our carbon pollution,” she said.

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

The post Climate experts say spring is coming earlier. How will that affect agriculture and ecosystems? appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/16/climate-experts-say-spring-is-coming-earlier-how-will-that-affect-agriculture-ecosystems/

Grist

Nature is the classroom at this central Wisconsin elementary school

On: April 16, 2026

In: Featured, Forests and Plants, Latest News, Science, Technology, Research, Wisconsin

Once a week, first and second graders at Tower Rock Elementary School in Sauk County step into a classroom without walls.

About 25 students, accompanied by three teachers, spend the day in their outdoor classroom tucked into nearby woods with a soaring sculpted bluff — called Tower Rock — in the school’s shadow.

Students follow a science and social studies-based curriculum on topics like insects and space, along with practical lessons like how to dress for the cold.

In March, days before Blizzard Elsa blanketed the state with snow, first graders in the outdoor learning program prepared to blast off to Saturn. In small groups, students rode an imaginary rocket ship, learning about the planets while in their outdoor environment.

Angus Mossman, left, leads an outdoor lesson on planets Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

Nature-based education and outdoor classrooms are expanding in Wisconsin and across the country. The concept of teaching outdoors got a boost during the pandemic. But now, according to Natural Start Alliance, there are more than 1,000 nature classroom programs in pre-schools nationwide. That’s up from a few dozen a decade ago.

Teachers at Tower Rock want students to learn about the environment under their feet.

“It’s more than sitting in a classroom and saying, ‘We live in a beautiful area, you should protect it.’” JoAnnah Sorg, a teacher at Tower Rock, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “We go out there and we’re like, ‘Look at all of this. You want this to be here for your family someday. You want to continue to enjoy this, so we need to work to take care of it.’”

The landscape near Tower Rock Elementary School on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

Keeping special places special

According to the state Department of Public Instruction, there are at least 17 schools that have a dedicated outdoor learning day in Wisconsin. Tower Rock, which launched its program in 2021, is one of a handful of public, non-charter schools in Wisconsin with this learning model.

That means all first and second graders who attend Tower Rock participate. There is no waiting list, application or fees. Neurodivergent students and students with disabilities receive accommodations to participate.

Principal Kelly Petrowski, right, helps a student with a science lesson Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

The school only cancels the outdoor program when the windchill factor plummets below zero. But this isn’t recess or free play. Every outdoor learning day is guided by a curriculum with a “place-based learning” model in mind, where educators use the local community and environment as a foundation for study.

Sorg has been at Tower Rock for 15 years. She and two other educators, Dylan Edwards and Angus Mossman, run the program. Together, they build lessons and plan field trips to state parks and protected areas in Sauk County, an agricultural community on the banks of the Wisconsin River.

Mossman went to Tower Rock and his mother still teaches there. He said many people leave Sauk County not realizing the beauty of it. The majority of the rural community is dedicated to farmland, but there are more than 22,000 acres of dedicated natural parks and open spaces, 63 lakes and nearly 160 miles of rivers and creeks, according to Explore Sauk County, the county’s tourism website.

“There’s a lot of focus on getting urban students exposed to nature and I think there’s not a lot of focus on exposing kids in rural areas to nature,” Mossman said.

“I want kids to realize that this is a special place and if people care about it, it will stay a special place. And if people don’t care about it, it might not stay a special place,” Mossman added. “I think (children) have it in their hearts to learn that.”

Students operate an imaginary spaceship with teacher JoAnnah Sorg as they learn about science outdoors Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

Angus Mossman tells a story as students gather to listen Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

Teacher Dylan Edwards, left, helps students launch rockets using a water bottle Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

The wonder of bees and spiders

Since the program started, students have helped to restore a native prairie and learned about the federally endangered rusty patch bumble bee, which is rare, but can be found in Wisconsin.

“In first and second grade, I was really, really scared of bees,” said Bentley Hughbanks, a fifth grader who went through the outdoor learning program. “I was insanely scared to the point where on a field trip, I didn’t want to go because of the bees. But now I’ve overgrown my fear of bees.”

“I realized that they don’t mess with you unless you mess around with them,” Bentley said.

There are countless stories from students overcoming fears, educators said. Students who didn’t like spiders now prevent others from squishing them. One student asked his parents to stop using ant poison in the garage. And another wants to be an ornithologist.

First-grade students participate in a lesson on space Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

“A powerful thing about outdoor learning and the experience we can give the kids here is that we’re teaching their hearts and not just teaching their minds,” Mossman said.

Sorg recalled one student who struggled academically in the classroom but on an outdoor learning day found the perfect way to pack snow into a bucket for building a structure, and the other students followed his lead.

“The power that it gave him among his peers to be able to have that opportunity to shine and have that moment — he didn’t get a lot of those moments in the classroom during the day,” she said.

Finding those moments is one benefit of outdoor learning. Research shows it can also promote concentration, perseverance and creativity, said Christy Merrick, director of the Natural Start Alliance.

“(Nature) is a space that is always changing. Nature is not static,” Merrick said. “It’s keeping things interesting for students. It tends to promote very active, hands-on learning, which we know is a very effective way for children to learn when they’re young.”

Students explore the woods during a lesson Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Tower Rock Elementary School in Prairie du Sac, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

An outdoor program like this is unique and requires a reliable funding stream. The teachers say it takes additional work to keep the program going. Each year, they apply for about $5,000 of local and state grants, Mossman said. The Community Foundation of South Central Wisconsin accepts donations on behalf of the school and other programs like it. The school also hopes to create an endowment.

Outdoor learning is starting to become part of the fabric of attending Tower Rock. Now some fifth graders, like Brooks Mack, have younger siblings there, too.

“I can help (my brother) out. He asks me questions when he gets home, like, ‘We did this today but I didn’t quite understand it.’ So I get to answer those questions and other kids ask me questions, too,” Brooks said. “Sometimes I get to answer, which feels good.”

The post Nature is the classroom at this central Wisconsin elementary school appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/16/nature-is-the-classroom-at-this-central-wisconsin-elementary-school/

Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it?

On: April 14, 2026

In: data centers, Energy, Grist, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, infrastructure, Latest News, utilities

By Naveena Sadasivam

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

Last month, President Trump sat alongside executives of the largest tech companies in the country as they pledged to pay a fair share of the energy costs of their data center buildout. “Data centers … they need some PR help,” Trump said at the gathering. “People think that if the data center goes in, their electricity is going to go up.”

It’s not an entirely unfounded assumption.

As the tech industry has funneled billions of dollars into the AI boom over the last several years, it has simultaneously been expanding its fleet of computing powerhouses, which require vast amounts of energy to run. These facilities have been cropping up all over the country, from rural communities in eastern Pennsylvania to the cities of northern Utah.

This boom coincides with a dramatic rise in U.S. electricity prices, driven by inflation and the rising cost of adapting to wildfires, hurricanes, and other extreme weather. But these massive facilities have also strained the grid — and in some cases — contributed to rising prices. For instance, last year, an independent monitor for PJM, the grid operator that serves 13 northeastern states and Washington, D.C., projected that powering data centers would result in higher electricity generation costs, which would ultimately be passed on to consumers. And in cases where the buildout hasn’t yet led to price hikes, utilities and grid operators expect that it’s just a matter of time if tech companies follow through on their plans. Indeed, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimates that with data center electricity demand expected to double in the next five years, wholesale power prices could rise by as much as 50 percent.

At a time when the cost of living has become untenable for many Americans, and consumers are setting aside ever greater shares of their income to pay energy bills, the possibility of further rate hikes to line the pockets of tech companies has prompted a massive backlash across the country. The White House gathering of tech executives appeared to be a response to the backlash. On March 4 at the event, they signed onto the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.”

The pledge itself has few specifics or teeth. It’s a voluntary agreement by several prominent tech companies — including Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, and Amazon — to secure their own power for data centers, pay for any powerlines or other infrastructure that utilities may need to build to move that power, and hire locally from the communities they build in. While in theory the agreement could help prevent Americans from having to bear the cost of the data center expansion, the White House hasn’t set up oversight mechanisms to ensure that they do. Several consumer and environmental advocates called the agreement “meaningless,” “unenforceable,” and ultimately, “nonsense.”

The United States has become ground zero for the global data center boom. The rapid buildout has left developers, tech companies, and the utility industry scrambling to secure more power. As a result, the wait for a data center to connect to the grid can be years in many parts of the country. Hyperscalers — companies that operate large data centers and provide vast computing power — have been trying to get around these wait times by signing long-term power purchase agreements with solar developers, building their own natural gas plants, and even retrofitting jet engines to generate electricity.

“Every single data center in the future will be power limited,” said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang last year. “We are now a power‑limited industry.”

Outside of the White House, utilities, local regulators, and lawmakers have also been proposing various solutions to address the community backlash and allow for the continued building of more data centers. Some have implemented measures requiring data centers to pay the costs of generating and moving the electricity they use. Others have suggested that data center developers install solar and battery systems on-site, or that rates should be frozen for residents while utilities figure out how to handle the additional costs. And at least 11 states are considering legislation to temporarily ban new data centers while their impact on electricity prices and other concerns are addressed.

“You’re seeing states try to move quickly,” said Meghan Pazik, a senior policy associate in Public Citizen’s climate program. But “every state’s going to have a different approach to how far they want to go on data centers.”

Many states are utilizing additional tariffs for data centers and other customers that pull large amounts of power from the grid. These facilities — referred to as “large load customers” — are required to pay more to make up for the added infrastructure costs that come with supplying them, as well as the risk if they end up walking away from the project, which would leave consumers on the hook for the investments. More than 30 states have proposed or implemented measures of this sort.

Some hyperscalers are changing their approaches, too. In Minnesota, Google inked a deal with Xcel Energy, the state’s largest investor-owned utility, to bring 1,900 megawatts of clean energy onto the grid. The company is fully funding wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage, as well as the costs of grid infrastructure upgrades to serve its data centers. And in Louisiana, Meta signed a deal with Entergy to help fund the construction of seven natural gas plants, more than 200 miles of transmission lines, and battery systems, among other infrastructure upgrades.

A recent report from the Searchlight Institute, a policy think tank, argues that this piecemeal approach to regulating the tech industry misses an opportunity to fund a large-scale upgrade of the grid. Although the surge in demand has largely been framed as a looming crisis, the report contends that the boom also creates a rare policy window: a chance to modernize the country’s electrical system and make long-delayed investments needed for the clean energy transition.

Utilities make roughly $35 billion in investments in transmission infrastructure every year — far short of what’s actually needed. Electricity demand is projected to double or triple in the next 25 years. The Searchlight Institute report proposes creating a dedicated grid infrastructure fund to accelerate the expansion. Under the plan, hyperscalers would pay into the fund in exchange for speedy connections. Money from the fund would be directed to utilities and other companies to build out the system, prioritizing clean energy along the way. And consumer and environmental advocates, along with other policymakers, would oversee the process to ensure funds are being distributed equitably and serve the needs of the public.

Such a mechanism would ensure increased investments in clean energy, rather than the natural gas projects many tech companies are currently backing, while protecting consumers from increases in electricity prices.

“The hyperscalers need power,” said Jane Flegal, a senior fellow at the Searchlight Institute and author of the report. “They have a ton of capital. And rather than letting them continue to cut these one-off deals with utilities, we’ve got to find a better way to take advantage of the potential upside here and avoid the downside of them basically building a secondary grid behind the existing grid that benefits only them.”

The post Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it? appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/14/data-centers-are-straining-the-grid-can-they-be-forced-to-pay-for-it/

Grist

Michigan mulls changes in elk hunt regulations

On: April 10, 2026

In: Featured, Fish, Birds and Animals, Latest News, Michigan, Recreation and Tourism, Recreational Hunting and Fishing, Science, Technology, Research

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Addie Tussing, Great Lakes Echo

Every year, thousands of hopeful hunters apply for one of only 260 licenses to hunt elk in Michigan.

The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) received a record-breaking 47,493 applicants in 2025.

“It’s a chance for folks in Michigan who are used to some similar hunting experiences, but with the added uniqueness and challenges of pursuing a different animal,” said Brent Rudolph, the deer, moose and elk specialist with the DNR.

Michigan’s original native elk disappeared in 1875 due to overhunting and habitat loss. They were reintroduced in 1918, and populations have since stabilized, according to Rudolph.

“We are working on viewing the uniqueness that they bring to the communities where they’re around, and then balance the efforts to manage their population to minimize potential conflicts,” he said.

In 2025, Michigan hunters shot 153 elk. The DNR estimates Michigan’s elk population to be around 1,100 animals.

Every year, the National Resources Commission works alongside the DNR to create quotas to control the number of elk that can be taken.

“Our five-year average has been around a 72% success rate in fulfilling those quotas,” said Rudolph, while “the 2025 success rate was 64%.”

Brent Henige of New Lothrop shot this-559 pound bull on Dec.13, 2025.

Licenses are awarded to applicants through a random drawing. Once selected, they receive specific information on the hunting period and type of license they have received.

“Some receive licenses that are ‘any elk,’ which mean they can pursue bulls, which is often the preferred target because they are antlered animals,” said Rudolph.

Some, however, receive licenses for antlerless-only elk to control the number of females in the population.

There are two hunting periods: The first consists of three independent sessions throughout August and September, and the second from Dec. 13-21. The second period poses challenges to some hunters because of unpredictable weather conditions and proximity to the holiday season.

When selected, “you will have an opportunity to hunt in one of two core elk range units” said Rudolph.

Hunters are restricted to the land of the Pigeon River Country State Forest and what is referred to as the “Elk management Unit X” land, both in the Northern Lower Peninsula near Gaylord.

As the 2025 hunt came to a close, the DNR drafted an alternative to its current Elk Conservation and Management Plan.

The proposal aims to lengthen both the first and second hunt periods, and most notably, consolidate the first hunt into one continuous period.

“We are aiming to make it more convenient for hunters having a more contiguous period so they could choose when they’re able to participate,” says Rudolph, who said that the change will give hunters who aren’t local more leeway, increasing the success rate of the first hunt.

According to the DNR, the proposed first period would be 30 days from September to the beginning of October, and the second period would run from Dec. 1st to the 15th.

They intend to shift the first hunt to begin at later dates to avoid hot weather which is both uncomfortable to hunt in and leads to more elk meat spoiling.

The new dates for the second hunt would be more accessible to hunters who celebrate holidays towards the end of December.

Michigan residents were given the opportunity for public comment on the proposed regulations.

Seventy-three residents emailed their thoughts to the DNR before the Jan. 23 cutoff. Rudolph said 63% supported the change and about 27, or 37%, were opposed to some aspect.

While a majority supported the proposed regulations, many were concerned that the new timeline would overlap with the days to hunt bears.

“Some hunters can pursue bear[s] with dogs, and hounds moving through could make hunters anxious or could just lead to some conflicts,” said Rudolph.

Chad Sides, who chairs the Michigan Elk Country Association, a conservation organization based in Gaylord, is weighing the benefits of the proposition.

“It could be beneficial if implemented properly,” Sides said. “It may provide a better experience for the hunters and have a better hunt.”

On the other hand, Sides said he is apprehensive about the elk population going forward. “I hope that the state realizes that our herd is significantly down from years past.”

A more successful hunt could decrease the population at a more rapid rate, Sides said.

The regulations will be finalized during the Natural Resources Commission’s April meeting.

Before then, Rudolph and the DNR will try to reduce conflict with the bear hunting season. “We will be making some adjustments to the proposed dates and lengths to still reach the original objectives.”

Rudolph said the elk hunt is a vital and unique resource in Michigan.

“We’re happy to be able to take input on how we can try and best accommodate some of the diverse opinions people have,” he said.

The post Michigan mulls changes in elk hunt regulations appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/10/michigan-mulls-changes-in-elk-hunt-regulations/

Which Great Lakes states are advancing balcony solar?

On: April 10, 2026

In: Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, Featured, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News

By Sarah Shemkus

This story was originally published by Canary Media.

Balcony solar is one of the hottest ideas in renewable energy right now. Boosters say the systems — DIY kits that can be plugged right into a standard outlet — save users money without any need for subsidies, government incentives, or utility permission.

As Americans continue to struggle with soaring power prices, about half the states in the U.S. are considering legislation to pave the way for residents to adopt plug-in solar and start generating some of their own electricity from their own backyard or porch.

“It’s about energy affordability,” said Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, a nonprofit that promotes plug-in solar. “Every legislator wants their constituency to have less trouble meeting their energy demands.”

As these efforts work their way through the legislative process, we will be monitoring the action here, using information from Bright Saver and bill-tracking databases.

Latest action: Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed the state’s plug-in solar bill into law on April 6.

The post Which Great Lakes states are advancing balcony solar? appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/10/which-great-lakes-states-are-advancing-balcony-solar/

Canary Media

Residents across Michigan unite for solar discounts

On: April 9, 2026

In: Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, Planet Detroit, solar power

By Ethan Bakuli, Planet Detroit

This article was republished with permission from Planet Detroit. Sign up for Planet Detroit’s weekly newsletter here.

In the middle of a five-day power outage brought on by an early spring storm, Woody Gontina’s house appeared to be the only one on his street that still had its lights on.

At the time, Gontina had just installed a 5.4-kilowatt solar-and-battery-storage system at his home.

“Because of the solar and the battery, we had our whole house powered day and night throughout that outage,” recalls Gontina.

While Gontina could not have foreseen the storm’s impact, it was an early proof of concept for the Royal Oak city commissioner, who was in the early stages of encouraging his neighbors to install solar panels on their properties through an initiative called Solarize Royal Oak.

In the past few years, a largely grassroots solar installation trend has taken shape across a handful of Michigan towns and counties, as residents like Gontina have sought to capitalize on group-buy discounts and federal incentives to upgrade their homes.

“There wasn’t really a champion to push (Solarize) forward,” said Gontina. “I had the time and the interest to do it, and I also understood that the city was very challenged in terms of resources and didn’t have the time to meet an initiative like that.”

Now overseen by the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association, the Solarize program has expanded to Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, as well as Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties, where city and county officials have taken over administering it to homeowners and businesses.

While federal incentives for solar have shrunk and solar installations have declined under the Trump administration, advocates of Solarize are still encouraging residents and businesses to take advantage of remaining opportunities and to embrace renewable energy sources amid utility rate hikes.

“As we see our energy costs continuing to rise, that’s really the biggest argument for renewables,” said Gontina. “Our electric provider, DTE, has demonstrated that they will not stop continuing to ask for increases at a regular pace until there’s something legislatively done to stop that.”

National grassroots solar installation program appeals to Michigan homeowners

While Solarize has found its footing in Michigan in the past decade, its origins trace back to 2009, when residents in Portland, Or. began hosting neighborhood seminars with local contractors to learn about residential solar panel installation. The program rapidly expanded the city’s solar footprint, according to a report from the Energy Trust of Oregon.

For Ann Arbor energy manager and resident Julie Roth — who now works for the city’s Office of Sustainability & Innovation — hearing about the early success of Solarize was enough of a rationale to try it in her neighborhood in 2019. At the time, she was interested in installing solar panels on her roof but was concerned about the high upfront costs and the wide range of contractor quotes.

“I pitched it to my solar installer (contractor),” said Roth. “I said, ‘Well, what do you think if I get a bunch of people here and we all do it together. Would you give us a discount?’ He said, ‘Sure,’ and came up with a sort of discount structure.”

After she sent out an invite on Nextdoor and Facebook, Roth says, she was surprised at the turnout.

“I thought that I would have three people sitting around my dining room table awkwardly trying not to make eye contact with the installer or me, and then we would all go home, and it would be over,” said Roth.

Instead, 40 people showed up to that first meeting at her house. Within a year, about a dozen people from that night installed solar panel systems on their homes.

“It basically started because we were trying to overcome barriers to adoption,” she said. “We didn’t have any staff. It started as a volunteer thing. We didn’t have any money, and so with no resources and very little bandwidth, what can you do?”

As residents like Gontina and Roth have become ambassadors for Solarize, encouraging neighbors to host their own events and create more group-buy discounts on solar, it’s brought greater interest from county governments and statewide organizations seeking to broaden its appeal.

“We really want to position ourselves as a resource, as an advocate, and relationship builder,” said Julie Lyons Bricker, chief sustainability officer for Oakland County, one of the latest counties to adopt the Solarize program.

Since launching in 2021, the county’s Sustainability Office has focused on both improving energy efficiency across Oakland’s 62 cities, townships, and villages and guiding homeowners and businesses toward available incentives, says Lyons Bricker.

With Solarize Oakland County, the county hopes to raise awareness on how solar works, what’s needed to get it installed, and what people should expect from their contractors. Groups of residents can be matched with GLREA-approved vendors and receive a bulk discount of 5 to 15% on their solar panel purchases.

A diminishing landscape for solar installation

As momentum for solar installations has picked up in some communities across Michigan, the national solar industry has had to contend with tariff pressures and a freeze on approvals for major infrastructure projects, amid a pivot away from the clean energy policies and investments that emerged during the Biden administration.

Solar installations have declined, leading to an industry-wide disruption, with utility-scale solar installations down 16% and community solar down 25% in 2025, according to a recent report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Last year, the Residential Clean Energy Credit — a 30% federal tax credit on solar, wind, and geothermal home installations — was cut six years short when Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July 2025, ending a credit that had been set to run through 2032.

“It’s an economic investment when you’re thinking about installing a system,” said Gontina. “Anything that is available to help with that investment only makes it easier.”

While the residential tax credit ended in December, multiple financial incentives for businesses and houses of worship remain active through the end of 2027. Bricker says the county is still trying to encourage commercial property owners to take advantage of that opportunity while it lasts.

For renters, lower-income residents, and those with roofs unsuitable for panels, rooftop solar programs like Solarize remain largely out of reach. The Trump administration’s termination of the federal Solar for All program in 2025 eliminated $156 million in Michigan projects designed to expand solar access for low-income households — projects already underway in Detroit, Highland Park, Benton Harbor, and beyond.

Community solar legislation, which would allow residents to subscribe to off-site solar arrays and receive bill credits without owning a system, has bipartisan support in Michigan but has yet to advance.

Solar panel parties spawn citywide energy push

Gontina says that the Solarize Oakland County program could help the rest of the county catch up to what individual towns like Royal Oak are attempting to do.

“You’re bringing a bigger tent to the picture so that more people feel like they have an opportunity to be included,” he said.

Although Solarize is transitioning toward a “top-down” approach, Roth credits the “grassroots” solar parties she and others hosted with helping grow the city’s residential solar installations over the last several years.

“It grows the movement more when you’re talking to your neighbors than when you’re just talking to a city representative,” said Roth. “The community engagement and buy-in and ownership are much higher, especially when you’re not just looking at getting solar up, you’re looking at engaging a community around energy.”

She added: “We’re there as technical experts to some degree, to add legitimacy, and to continue to bring people along, and to make sure that the installers are being responsive.”

Although Ann Arbor Solarize’s numbers have slowed down in recent years, city data shows that the number of residents installing solar panels has increased in tandem with the program’s launch in 2019 and the growth of the solar installation market.

Ann Arbor has averaged about 180 residential solar installations annually since 2020, compared to 17 per year between 2008 and 2019.

Nearly seven years later, the success of Ann Arbor’s Solarize program has contributed, in part, to the city’s push to create a municipal-owned utility designed to help residents and businesses access solar energy and battery storage without upfront costs. The program will be optional, and will supplement, not replace, the use of DTE’s electric grid, according to city documents.

Ann Arbor’s Sustainable Energy Utility, authorized by roughly 80% of voters, is designed in part to address those barriers. Unlike rooftop solar programs, it would allow residents and businesses to access solar and battery storage without upfront costs — with the city owning the equipment and customers paying a monthly rate. Pilot projects targeting lower-income neighborhoods are expected to launch in 2026, with citywide expansion planned for 2027.

Roth hopes the city’s trend in renewable energy adoption and utility ownership can be a model for other communities. These days, she relishes the sight of solar panels around Ann Arbor.

“You walk around, you walk your dog in the neighborhoods, and it’s like, ‘solar there, solar there, solar there,’” she said. “It’s so visible. And that’s really exciting to see the actual physical changes in your community.”

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/09/residents-across-michigan-unite-for-solar-discounts/

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Forest Service workers in Wisconsin may have to move after reorganization, union leader says

On: April 8, 2026

In: Featured, Forests and Plants, Latest News, Milwaukee, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, The States, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments, Wisconsin

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

A union leader representing federal Forest Service employees in Wisconsin says workers may have to move as part of the Trump administration’s plan to shutter regional offices.

The Forest Service announced Tuesday that the agency is moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City and closing nine regional offices, including in Milwaukee. Administrative and technical support in those offices will shift to six operational service centers, one of which will be located in Madison. The overhaul will also include 15 state directors to oversee operations in one or more states.

Brian Haas is president of the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 2165. The union represents employees in the Milwaukee regional office and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. He said the restructuring mostly affects Milwaukee-area employees. Union officials estimate around 50 employees may be affected.

“The regional office actually already was hit a lot harder by people leaving, retiring, taking the different buyouts,” Haas said. “They’re already really down in their numbers.”

Haas said workers have been told they can continue working for the service as long as they’re willing to relocate or change job descriptions. When the reorganization was first announced last year, he said many employees transferred or relocated amid Trump’s return-to-office order.

The number of Forest Service employees in Wisconsin dropped from 645 to 539 between federal fiscal year 2025 and 2026, according to federal workforce data.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which houses the Forest Service, has been shifting thousands of employees out of Washington. Around 260 employees in the nation’s capital will be expected to relocate to Salt Lake City, according to the Associated Press.

“This is about building a Forest Service that is nimble, efficient, effective and closer to the forests and communities it serves,” Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said in a statement.

Trump administration officials said the move will improve forest management, save taxpayer money and boost employee recruitment.

“The official stance from the administration is that it is not a reduction in force, but the reality on the ground is that it is going to continue to drive people to leave the agency,” Haas said.

A USDA spokesperson said employees will receive information about relocation timelines, options and resources to support their decisions. The agency said the number of staff that will be moved beyond the nation’s capital is unknown at this time.

Current and former Forest Service employees say the Trump administration’s actions over the past year have created chaos and uncertainty with few answers. The elimination of regional offices and shift to state-based hubs will take place over the coming year.

No changes for national forest in Wisconsin, research facilities close

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, or CNNF, has 235 employees who would be unaffected, according to Kaleigh Maze, a forest spokesperson. Maze said the forest and its district offices would see no changes to staffing.

“The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is committed to ensuring that all operations — including wildfire readiness and response — continue without interruption,” Maze said.

Forest Service research facilities in 31 states will also close and be combined under a single research organization in Colorado. The agency’s website shows Rhinelander and Madison research sites would not be affected, but Haas said Rhinelander employees may also be required to move. As of 2023, the agency’s Forest Products Lab in Madison had 80 research scientists and 168 support staff.

Two other facilities are slated for closure in Wisconsin Rapids and Prairie du Chien. Paul Strong, former forest supervisor of the CNNF, said he’s unfamiliar with those sites and questioned whether USDA facilities may have been mistakenly included.

The USDA Forest Products Laboratory on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Madison, Wis. *Angela Major/WPR*

The Forest Service said a single research organization would speed up the use of science in forest management and reduce duplication. Strong told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” it’s unclear what the move will mean for existing and long-term research projects.

“What I think we should be concerned about is what kind of pressure and stress this puts on employees and how they’re being treated as public servants,” Strong said.

Under the reorganization, the Forest Service said there will be no changes to firefighters or their positions. But the Trump administration is seeking to bring firefighting efforts under a single agency, which would affect thousands of employees if implemented.

Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck served during the Clinton administration and lives in Wisconsin. He said he supports efforts to streamline the agency, noting past proposals to reorganize offices failed due to lacking support from congressional lawmakers.

Even so, he noted a similar attempt to move the Bureau of Land Management during Trump’s first term was later reversed. Dombeck said restructuring will likely cause the agency to lose more staff who choose not to uproot their families. He also fears the agency will lose ground on managing 193 million acres of national forests, climate change and wildland firefighting issues.

“I think this will be a real wake-up call to what the real values of national forests are,” Dombeck said. “We need to really ask this administration: what is the end game when we take a look at this level of chaos?”

Editor’s note: This story was updated with staffing figures on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest from the U.S. Forest Service.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/08/forest-service-workers-in-wisconsin-may-have-to-move-after-reorganization-union-leader-says/

U.S. EPA announces action on microplastics, but Michigan critics say it’s not enough

On: April 7, 2026

In: Advocacy, Drinking Water, epa, Equity and Environmental Justice, Latest News, Michigan, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Tracy Samilton, Michigan Public

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced new initiatives to tackle microplastics in the human body and drinking water on Thursday.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic – as small as nano-sized pieces – that are increasingly ubiquitous in water supplies and in the human body.

Zeldin said the environmental agency will add microplastics and pharmaceuticals to its list of concerning chemicals in drinking water. “For the first time in the program’s history, EPA is designating both microplastics and pharmaceuticals as priority contaminant groups,” he said.

Kennedy said the government will create a $144-million program called STOMP (Systematic Targeting of Microplastics).

“We are focusing on three questions, what is in the body, what’s causing harm, and how do we remove it?” Kennedy said. “We still do not have clear answers about causation or solutions,” Kennedy said. “We do not yet understand how these particles interact with the immune system, the endocrine system or the neurological system, and we do not have validated methods to remove them safely.”

But a number of environmental groups said the actions taken by the government aren’t sufficient.

“Microplastics are a serious – and growing – threat to our health and our environment,” Erin Doran of Food & Water Watch said in a statement. “Without monitoring of our drinking water, we can’t know the full scale of this crisis. Today’s announcement …ultimately falls short on its own. It does not reflect the urgent need for a comprehensive nationwide monitoring program for microplastics in drinking water now.”

Samantha Pickering leads the public and environmental public health program at the Michigan Environmental Council. She said the EPA’s acknowledgment of the problem is a good thing, but there’s more that should be done now, like adding microplastics to the government’s official list of contaminants in drinking water that must be monitored.

She said she agrees with the EPA that much more research needs to be done to determine the health effects of microplastics. But she said there’s enough evidence already that microplastics are bad for the environment and for humans.

“I appreciate that the EPA is acknowledging that they’re going to start watching it. but it needs to be shifted into a precautionary approach. I don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to start taking action,” she said.

Pickering said some states, including California and Michigan, are ahead of the U.S. EPA in tackling the problem. “Having the Great Lakes ecosystem, and so much Great Lakes shoreline, we’re a bit more responsible for our stewardship.”

Michigan will be conducting a pilot to test five different drinking water systems for the contaminants, she noted, and it will also, for the next three years, test about 200 of its inland lakes and streams for microplastics.

And Pickering said California has passed a law requiring the adoption of a system for testing drinking water supplies, as well as projects to keep plastics out of the marine environment.

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