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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.

When former top Environmental Protection Agency official Judith Enck noticed a cavalcade of chemical and plastics industry lobbyists visiting the agency’s Washington headquarters in February, she wondered what could be up.

An answer came weeks later: The agency is moving toward resurrecting a proposal from the first Trump administration to ditch Clean Air Act regulations involving one of the industry’s go-to methods for chemically processing plastic waste into new industrial feedstocks or fuels.

The EPA is curiously approaching this by embedding a request for comments on so-called “advanced recycling” via a method known as pyrolysis in a rulemaking on an entirely different category of waste incineration.

“I thought, could it be a mistake, or are they quietly trying to push this through?” Enck, a former EPA regional administrator during the Obama presidency, wondered in an interview on Tuesday. Just one paragraph related to advanced recycling of plastics was included in a 17-page Federal Register notice for a proposed rule on wood incineration.

Either way, the stakes are significant, according to industry and environmental advocates alike. 

For several years, industry officials have pushed chemical processing of plastic waste as a primary solution to the global plastic waste crisis, while advocating for regulatory relief at the state and federal levels. The industry has also pressed for such processing to be a pillar of a possible global plastics treaty. 

“We support policies that recognize the products of advanced recycling as recycling and policies that recognize advanced recycling as a highly engineered manufacturing process that can produce new virgin equivalent plastics and chemicals,” according to the website of the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s primary lobbying group in the United States.

But environmental advocates view much of what the industry calls either chemical recycling or advanced recycling — and particularly the method known as pyrolysis — as a dirty, polluting sham.

“It’s not recycling,” said James Pew, director of the federal clean air practice at the environmental group Earthjustice. “To the extent these incinerators produce anything significant other than toxic pollution, a very small portion of the plastic waste they burn is turned into an oily waste that can be fed back into the chemical production process or burned [as] dirty fuel. And it encourages unlimited production of single-use plastics.”

The EPA’s movement toward easing clean-air rules to boost chemical processing of plastic waste comes amid growing concerns about a global plastics crisis.

The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that the world produces 430 million metric tons of plastic each year, over two-thirds of which are short-lived products that soon become waste. A growing amount, or 139 million metric tons in 2021, gets tossed after just a single use. 

Plastic production is set to triple by 2060 under a “business-as-usual” scenario, and less than 9 percent is recycled. Plastic production and the mismanagement of plastic waste contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, U.N. officials have concluded.

Scientists have also found the smallest of plastic particles inside human bodies, increasing the risk of respiratory, reproductive and gastrointestinal problems and some cancers.

The ExxonMobil Baytown Complex in Baytown, Texas, at dusk in 2023. The company developed what it calls advanced recycling of plastic waste involving pyrolysis in part of this complex. Credit: James Bruggers/Inside Climate News

Plastics’ Chemical Recycling Problem

Because plastics are made of thousands of chemicals, they are not easily recyclable. Most plastic recycling is done through a mechanical process that separates certain types by chemical composition, then cleans, shreds, melts and remolds them. 

Pyrolysis, or the process of decomposing materials at very high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment, has been around for centuries. 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, with limited success and serious pushback from environmental interests.

A 2023 report from Enck’s Beyond Plastics and the International Pollutants Elimination Network examined 11 chemical recycling plants operating in the United States. Noting low output of recycled plastics and challenges such as fires and spills at production units, the report concluded the technology “has failed for decades, continues to fail, and there is no evidence that it will contribute to resolving the plastics pollution crisis.”

The chemical industry, however, has been steadfast in its backing of chemical recycling, including the pyrolysis method. On the same day the EPA announced it was developing a new rule on advanced recycling, the American Chemistry Council praised the agency. Since no oxygen is involved in pyrolysis, the group said, the process cannot be considered incineration and should not be regulated as such.

“These advanced recycling technologies convert used plastic into valuable feedstocks to make new products, rather than combusting the plastic for energy purposes or landfilling it,” said Ross Eisenberg, president of an arm of the council called America’s Plastic Makers, in a press release. 

Sixteen Industry Lobbyists Visit EPA

The details of what the EPA will propose have not yet been revealed. But the agency’s March 17 announcement and supporting documents point to the kind of regulatory relief it sought to provide during the first Trump term—before running out of time.

Pyrolysis has largely been regulated as incineration for three decades and has therefore had to meet stringent emission requirements for burning solid waste under the federal Clean Air Act. 

In the final months of the first Trump administration, the EPA proposed an industry-friendly rule change stating that pyrolysis does not involve enough oxygen to constitute combustion, and that emissions from the process should therefore not be regulated as incineration.

In 2023, the Biden administration reversed course after much criticism from environmental groups and some members of Congress.

The agency that year noted that it had “received significant adverse comments” on the provision. In taking final action to withdraw the proposal, the agency said the move would “prevent any regulatory gaps and ensure that public health protections are maintained.” 

The EPA’s recent request for comment on pyrolysis was included in a rule-making involving incinerators that burn wood or yard waste, which are sometimes used after natural disasters such as hurricanes. “Revising the definition would clarify that the … rule does not regulate pyrolysis units used in advanced recycling operations,” the agency said.

Beyond Plastics counted 13 representatives from chemical companies or lobbying associations on the EPA headquarters visitor log for Feb. 10, a month before the announcement. Three senior officials from the American Chemistry Council visited on Feb. 12.

“While communities across the country are dealing with the health and environmental costs of plastic pollution, the industry appears to have a direct line to the agency that is supposed to protect us,” Enck said. “These visitor logs are particularly concerning at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back environmental protections and is quietly proposing to remove Clean Air Act requirements from so-called ‘chemical recycling’ facilities. Why did the EPA bury such a major proposed change?”

A written statement from the EPA press office said existing solid waste incineration and pyrolysis regulations were vague, and that the agency is seeking information on an “appropriate remedy.” 

The agency has scheduled an online virtual public hearing for April 6.

Matthew Kastner, senior director of media relations for the American Chemistry Council, pointed to occasions in 2023 and 2024 when Enck appeared on the EPA visitor log. Both his group and hers, he said, “have the right under the First Amendment to petition the government.”

He added that the council’s member companies are regulated by the EPA, “thus engagement on issues ranging from compliance to policy development is both appropriate and expected.”

Earthjustice’s Pew is concerned that the EPA will exempt pyrolysis units from Clean Air Act permitting and any requirement to measure or report their emissions. The result would be, he said, “a perverse incentive” to build more of them.

“As a practical matter, this definition change would mean EPA is completely deregulating a whole class of incinerators, these so-called pyrolysis units,” he added. “And their pollution is really toxic.”

The post After Chemical Industry Lobbying, EPA Considers Dropping Clean Air Protections for Plastic Waste Recycling appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

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Inside Climate News

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In: Enbridge Line 5 and Other Pipelines, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, 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.

The company behind the controversial Line 5 tunnel project in the Straits of Mackinac released a report this month that lays out the potential geologic risks a contractor might see during construction — risks that pipeline opponents say underscore the dangers of the proposed tunnel.

Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Energy submitted its geotechnical baseline report on the project to state permitting agencies in early March. The report itself is from 2022. Enbridge says the report is based on data that was already available publicly.

The company wants to replace the existing dual-pipeline infrastructure in the Straits of Mackinac with a tunnel housing a new segment buried under the lakebed.

Opponents said they’re worried about potentially unsafe conditions indicated by the report, including weak bedrock, high water pressure and dangerous gases beneath the Straits.

“The report raises serious concerns about whether it is possible to safely build a tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac,” said Debbie Chizewer, managing attorney with the legal nonprofit Earthjustice, which is involved in litigation against Line 5.

Brian J. O’Mara, a geological engineer with the consultant group Agate Harbor Advisors LLC, said the report confirms his concerns around poor rock quality, suggesting that much of the bedrock won’t be stable for tunneling and could lead to the construction equipment failing.

The report also contains some redacted sentences in sections related to gas conditions and the possible “squeezing” of weak rock under high pressure.

“The report is silent on the risks related to fire, explosions, floods, sinkholes, tunnel collapse and a full-bore rupture release of oil and gas liquids from the pipeline,” O’Mara wrote in an email. He had written in legal filings to permitting agencies about his concerns on the report’s baseline data as early as 2023.

O’Mara notes that he believes the report incorrectly concludes that contractors won’t encounter any gas during tunneling.

Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said in an email that the geology beneath the Straits is not known to have gas, and that “the question has been thoroughly investigated by Enbridge and independent experts responding to Michigan regulators.”

“The reality is that the new pipeline replacement at the Straits crossing is designed specifically to prevent potential risks to the Great Lakes and its communities,” Duffy said.

Duffy said the “sole purpose” of the report was to inform and negotiate business deals with construction contractors. “Any geotechnical information pertinent to permitting decisions has already been made available to the relevant permitting agencies,” he said.

The report was not included in the case filings for Enbridge’s permit for the project issued by the Michigan Public Service Commission in 2023. The agency declined further comment because an appeal of the permit sits before the Michigan Supreme Court.

Enbridge is still waiting for permits from federal and other state agencies for the proposed project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reviewed the geotechnical report when it developed the tunnel project’s Environmental Impact Statement, said agency spokesperson Brandon Hubbard.

A spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) said the agency requested the geotechnical report from Enbridge in late 2025 as part of their permitting process.

“We are continuing to evaluate the application that was submitted. We will include this document, along with many others posted to the EGLE database, as part of our review,” said EGLE spokesperson Scott Dean in an email.

A decision from EGLE on the permit is expected no later than mid-July.

Editor’s note: Enbridge is among IPR’s financial supporters. We cover them as we do any other company.

The post Line 5 opponents raise concerns over report on geologic conditions for proposed tunnel appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

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Interlochen Public Radio

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In: Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, News

By Carey L. Biron

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

When Krystal Steward started knocking on her neighbors’ doors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2021, to discuss energy efficiency and sustainability upgrades, she was met with a lot of blank stares.

She was new to the issues herself, she said. But the longtime social worker kept at her new job doing outreach for Community Action Network, a local nonprofit dedicated to serving under-resourced communities. She slowly started getting people in her neighborhood to take part first in home energy assessments, then a city program to swap out appliances, make structural fixes, and more.

“In the beginning it was kind of hard — a lot of people were reluctant. If someone is knocking on your door and telling you they can fix up your home for free, most people don’t believe that,” Steward said. But, she added, “Once one person tried it out, they’d tell their neighbors, and others would jump on board.”

Now the neighborhood, Bryant, is set to pilot a first-in-the-country program that officials hope will speed the city’s transition to renewables — and offer a new model for how local governments can control their energy future.

The idea is technical, but has sparked enthusiasm across Bryant and Ann Arbor: a new city-created Sustainable Energy Utility, known colloquially as the SEU. Rather than replacing the privately-owned utility that serves Ann Arbor, the plan is for this city agency to run in tandem, offering a supplemental service that residents can opt into. 

If they do, they’ll stay connected to the regular grid, but will be outfitted with solar panels, battery backup systems, or other infrastructure, drawing on that power for their home use and opening up the prospect of selling any excess. The city, meanwhile, would pay for the installation and maintenance of these systems, which Ann Arbor would continue to own — a vision of energy generation and storage distributed across the city.

The plan begins in the coming months in Bryant, a 1970s-era community with about 260 homes, many of which are officially considered “energy burdened.” A quarter of residents pay more than a third of their incomes on utilities, in a neighborhood that is one of Ann Arbor’s only areas of unsubsidized affordable housing, according to Derrick Miller, Community Action Network’s executive director.

The SEU is a major step in a yearslong process to address Bryant’s energy affordability and sustainability concerns — and then expand the approach across the city.

“When we started having a conversation about how to decarbonize the neighborhood about four years ago, it felt outlandish. Now, it doesn’t feel like anyone can stop us,” Miller said.

Two parallel utilities

The appeal of the SEU became clear in November 2024, when a ballot measure on the proposal was approved by nearly 80 percent of Ann Arbor voters. A little over a year later, city officials are ready to implement the vision, said SEU Executive Director Shoshannah Lenski.

In late February, the city announced that it was accepting expressions of interest from residents and businesses to take part, accompanied by a flurry of community meetings, animated videos, and ads in local theater playbills.

Customers who opt in will get two utility bills — one for the power supplied by these new city-owned clean energy systems, and one for any power they’re still drawing from the regular grid — which Lenski and her colleagues say will add up to less than they currently pay.

“Just like customers don’t own a power plant, the city owns and finances the system upfront, and they pay for that electricity through a monthly bill,” Lenski said. She noted that the model could prove particularly helpful for renters, who often get left out of green energy incentives.  Signing up large multifamily buildings will be important to quickly expand the SEU’s size, she said.

In addition to installing clean energy systems at participants’ homes, the SEU could build its own microgrids, something that would set it apart from other municipal clean energy programs. For instance, the agency could install solar panels on a school to supply power when students and teachers are in the building, and that power could go to other SEU customers when classes are out.

Backers say the strategy allows Ann Arbor to build out its green energy system with lower financial risk — and lower potential for political or industry pushback.

“When coupled with DTE’s planned investments in clean energy, these voluntary, fee-based programs help accelerate economy-wide decarbonization while maintaining reliability and affordability,” Ryan Lowry, a spokesperson for DTE Energy, which currently supplies energy to the city, said in an email.

It might seem surprising that DTE, Michigan’s largest electric utility, is supportive of the SEU. But industry experts noted that many investor-owned utilities are struggling under the unprecedented new demands for power. Having a local government try to help manage power needs could be seen as an asset, they suggested — though DTE will have no formal role in the SEU.

So far, more than 1,500 people across Ann Arbor have indicated that they want to sign up. The SEU plans to serve around 100 to 150 customers in Bryant this year, expand out to reach 1,000 next year, and then grow by several thousand annually after that.

A missing 40%

The approach answers a question prompted when Ann Arbor adopted an ambitious climate plan in 2020.

That framework included an electrical grid powered completely by renewable energy within a decade, but a city analysis in 2023 warned it was likely to miss that goal by more than 40 percent. In order to reach it, the city would need to push DTE to accelerate its renewable energy buildout, or lean on state officials to do so — or detach from DTE entirely and create a separate city-owned utility, an idea that does have some support in Ann Arbor. 

But from the city’s perspective, these options seemed too risky or uncertain, Lenski said — until officials realized that the Michigan constitution allows municipalities to create and run their own utility, even if there’s another present.

“That’s where the idea of the SEU was born,” she said.

When University of Michigan researchers compared the four options, they found the SEU model had the greatest potential to lower energy prices and emissions, boost reliability, and help low-income communities.

“Overall, it came down to having some benefits of local control without some of the costs,” said Mike Shriberg, a professor who led the research, noting a similar model should be possible in every state.

Still, some worry the strategy does not go far enough.  Advocates who want the city to break with DTE and replace its services with a utility fully owned by Ann Arbor are seeking a November ballot measure to set that process in motion. (Organizers are currently collecting signatures.)

Brian Geiringer, executive director of the advocacy group Ann Arbor for Public Power, said the SEU plan still leaves too much responsibility for the city’s energy transition with DTE.

But if voters do approve creating a fully public utility, he said, it would not mean an end to the SEU: The two approaches could work together, with the SEU focused on generation within Ann Arbor, and a publicly owned utility able to make its own decisions on purchasing power.

“If you draw a circle around Ann Arbor, the SEU is doing stuff inside the circle. And we’re interested in having the city control what comes in from outside of the circle,” Geiringer said.

Local control

Like Ann Arbor, hundreds of cities are working to implement climate goals — and running into similar gaps between ambition and practicality, especially when it comes to control over energy sources.

“Cities have set these goals, and the utilities aren’t obligated to follow those,” said Matthew Popkin, manager for U.S. cities and communities at RMI, an energy think tank.

“So Ann Arbor’s SEU is an example of cities taking more control of their future without dismantling or acquiring existing utility systems,” said Popkin. “That’s a really interesting model.” 

Other models also exist. In Washington, D.C., for instance, a program called the D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility has been operating for 15 years, overseeing the city’s efforts to help residents use less energy.

The initiative is far narrower than the Ann Arbor vision, functioning not as a utility but rather as an organization contracted by the city to boost energy efficiency and increase access to clean energy through subsidies and rebates. 

The program is a central part of the city’s goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, said managing director Benjamin Burdick, and has helped cut some 10 million metric tons of emissions while saving residents more than $2 billion from reduced energy use.

Nationally, “the conversation that we’re hearing is around how do you continue to talk about climate with affordability,” he said. “Programs like the D.C. SEU are going to continue to be the way that we double down.”

The work in Ann Arbor is now receiving its own attention across the country. 

“What caught my eye about Ann Arbor’s efforts were the references to citizen involvement and co-investment in their own grid,” said Jim Gilbert, a retired medical product designer in Boulder, Colorado, who is now helping the city assess the Ann Arbor model. 

Boulder has dealt with recent power outages due to worsening climate impacts and aging infrastructure, and Gilbert said an SEU could offer a way forward.

Back in Ann Arbor, as the city prepares to launch the initial pilot of its SEU, the plan is to reach half of the Bryant neighborhood by the end of the year — and local residents are “all in,” said Krystal Steward. 

Older members of the community are particularly excited, she said, noting that many are on fixed incomes and will particularly benefit from lower energy bills.

“It’s hard for me to keep up,” Steward said. “Now it’s not me reaching out to residents to sign up — they’re blowing up my phone.”

The post How Ann Arbor, Michigan, is creating its own clean energy utility appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/03/how-ann-arbor-michigan-is-creating-its-own-clean-energy-utility/

Grist

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In: Featured, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, News, Ontario, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Leah Borts-Kuperman, 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.

In February 2025, a small freshwater stream in Newmarket, Ont., was saltier than the ocean. The source? Winter road salt, washing off local parking lots and highways into the Lake Simcoe watershed.

As a result, concentrations of chloride — one of two minerals that make up table salt — in Western Creek exceeded 26,000 milligrams per litre of water. Meanwhile seawater typically sits at 19,400 milligrams of chloride per litre of water, according to the local conservation authority. 

For Christopher Wellen, an environmental scientist focused on hydrology and associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, this finding was not surprising: the Simcoe region, and many others across southern Ontario, have big salt problems. 

“It washes away from the roads, but it doesn’t just disappear,” Wellen said. “It goes where the water goes — that’s our groundwater, it’s our lakes, it’s our rivers — and has effects there.” 

For decades, the concentration of road salt in Lake Simcoe has been on the rise: 120,000 tonnes of it are used by communities in the watershed annually, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority has reported. That amounts to roughly 227 kilograms of salt per person in the region every year.

Heavy salting in winter is not unusual, but Lake Simcoe has been monitored for decades, so it can act as a case study of exactly what happens when this much road salt is being applied. And it illuminates the environmental impact across the province where high-traffic areas, surrounded by cities, towns and a dense network of roadways, are inundated with salt.

Road salt and fresh water

Road salt is primarily made up of sodium chloride and is used to remove ice from roadways in the winter. But oversalting has widespread impacts on ecosystems, harming aquatic life and depleting biodiversity year-round.

“Every organism that lives in streams and rivers and lakes … has tolerances for all sorts of things like temperature fluctuations and salt fluctuations,” Wellen said. “If the water becomes too salty, they can find it really difficult to reproduce and thrive and continue to exist, basically.”

All this chloride does not break down, or simply wash away. It accumulates over time. 

“It’s quite possible that, if things don’t change, the food web could be quite affected,” Wellen added. The problem starts at the bottom of the food chain, he said, and makes its way up.

Since fish are mobile, they can generally avoid areas with high salt concentrations. The pronounced impacts are on the more stationary species, like critters that live in riverbeds. They also make up the base of the food chain, so when they are unable to survive the salty water, organisms higher up lose their food supply.

The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority says on its website that winter salt has become a topic of “great concern” in the watershed, particularly because there isn’t an effective way to remove it. And Lake Simcoe, the largest lake wholly in southern Ontario, supplies drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents — with hundreds of thousands more relying on groundwater aquifers in the watershed.

How salty is Lake Simcoe?

In Canada, the federal government provides long- and short-term guidelines for exposure to chloride before aquatic life is affected. At a concentration of 640 milligrams of chloride per litre of water for as little as 24 hours, aquatic life could be severely affected. For longer-term exposure, concentrations beyond 120 milligrams of chloride​ per litre of water would see harm to aquatic life such as a fish species declining over time.

David Lembcke, director of watershed science and monitoring at Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, jokingly equates the latter threshold to a pack-a-day cigarette habit: “You’re going to have long-term impacts from that. There are some sensitive biota in the lake that will probably have reproductive, developmental, long-term impacts at those levels.” 

The authority produced a report more than a decade ago that already showed chloride concentrations were impacting these aquatic species in 64 per cent of the Lake Simcoe watershed.

In the lake itself, the concentration in February was around 61 milligrams of chloride​ per litre of water, Lembcke said, which is about half of the long-term exposure guideline set by the province. But that level has been steadily increasing by 0.7 milligrams of chloride per litre of water annually, according to the conservation authority. Elsewhere in the watershed, especially in tributaries in urban areas like Hotchkiss Creek and West Holland River, concentrations regularly exceed both guidelines, Lembcke said, and long after winter ends.

“We have this incredibly persistent, relentless increasing trend in lake [salt] concentrations,” Lembcke said. “Certainly the potential is there: if we don’t curb the amount of salt that we’re using, drinking water could be impacted.”

For drinking water, the Ontario objective is 250 milligrams of chloride​ per litre of water, but this is based on taste, not health considerations. For people who need to limit their sodium intake for things like high blood pressure, or kidney or liver diseases, Health Canada recommends that salt in water shouldn’t exceed 20 milligrams per litre.

In Waterloo, Ont., groundwater and consequently drinking water has already been impacted; given high concentrations in some areas, the city has to mix groundwater from different wells to average out chloride levels across the region. They’ve campaigned hard for curbing road salt use, since current water and wastewater treatment doesn’t remove salt, and the municipality explains on their website that removing it requires expensive, energy-intensive treatment. And that would mean higher water costs for the community.

How do you solve a problem like road salt?

While some communities look to solutions such as replacements for road salt, they also carry their own challenges: alternatives like beet juice or sodium acetate can be prohibitively expensive, and their long-term effects on ecosystems aren’t entirely known. 

Some experts and activists are looking to stop the problem at its source. Commercial parking lots are among the biggest culprits for oversalting, likely since they are liable for any injury that occurs on snow or ice on their properties.

“The problem that we keep seeing is that small businesses or big parking lots are oversalting, and it’s a perverse incentive structure where they feel like they have to do it to protect themselves against the slip and fall [lawsuits],” Jonathan Scott, executive director of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, said. Scott is chair of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and a Bradford West Gwillimbury councillor.

“It’s not any safer. It’s worse for the environment. It’s worse for small businesses in terms of increased costs,” he said.

Proponents including Scott and Lembcke are arguing to modernize the law by offering limited liability, or a stronger defence against being sued, to those businesses who get an accepted certification such as Smart About Salt, and learn how to implement best salting practices for public safety and the environment alike. 

“If you’re following best practices and if you’re doing the right thing as a winter maintenance operator, that should be a defence for the operator and the property owner against slip and fall claims,” Scott said. “It seems like such a simple pro-business, pro-environment legal reform that wouldn’t cost us anything.” 

Scott points to New Hampshire, a state with comparable winter conditions to Ontario, as an example. The state reduced its salt pollution by 25 to 45 per cent by granting limited liability protection to certified commercial salt applicators. 

Wellen and his team have done modelling studies to see what would happen if a legal reform like this was adopted in the Lake Simcoe area; he said the results are promising, finding it could decrease the concentrations in the lake significantly by the end of the century.

But the province, who would have to make that regulatory change, has yet to sign on.

“It seems to be one of those problems that’s entirely of our own making, in which case it should be something that we can fix,” Lembcke said. “I’m optimistic that it’s something that we can address.”

— With files from Fatima Syed

The post Winter road salt is threatening Lake Simcoe and Ontario watersheds year-round appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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In: Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake St. Clair, Latest News, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research

By Brian Allnutt, Planet Detroit

This article was republished with permission from Planet Detroit. Sign up for Planet Detroit’s weekly newsletter here.

Water levels on the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair continued to decline below long-term averages over the winter, just a few years after lakes hit record highs in 2019 and 2020.

Lake levels are expected to begin their seasonal rise and stay close to long-term averages, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ six-month forecast issued March 4.  

The recent decline in Great Lakes water levels hasn’t been especially steep, but the overall trajectory of lake levels is one of increasing variability, according to Yi Hong, a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research.

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which are technically two lobes of a single lake, saw record highs in 2020 less than a decade after being hit by record lows in 2012 and 2013, Corps records show.

Climate change-driven extreme storms and heatwaves are influencing lake level variability, but there isn’t enough data to show if levels will trend lower or higher over the long-term, Hong said.

Over the next six months, the Corps predicts water levels will stay below long-term averages on all the lakes, except possibly Lake Ontario.

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron will be the farthest below average. From March to August, levels will be 4 to 7 inches below last year’s levels and 11 to 12 inches below the long-term average. Closer to Detroit, Lake St. Clair will see water levels 6 to 10 inches below last year and 5 to 7 inches below the long-term average.

Megan Royal, a Corps hydraulic engineer, said the agency doesn’t anticipate any water level issues in the shipping channels and harbors used by Great Lakes freighters. Sediment can occasionally move into navigation channels and harbors, requiring emergency dredging, she said.

In an interview with Maritime Reporter TV, Eric Peace, vice president of the Lake Carriers Association, said Great Lakes shipping is negatively impacted by several factors, including severe weather over the fall and early ice cover. Dredging will continue to be a challenge for the industry, he said. 

Dry falls, hot summers contribute to lake level declines

A pattern of dry fall seasons from 2023-2025 contributed to the Great Lakes’ falling water levels, Royal told Planet Detroit.

Last summer’s heat also led to near record-high lake temperatures, producing significant evaporation when the winter’s extremely cold air passed over relatively warm water, she said.

“Evaporation is very difficult to measure because of just how large the lakes are,” Royal said, adding that modeling showed evaporation from all the lakes except Lake Erie was above average from October to January.

The rate of decline in lake levels is beginning to stabilize as a drought eases in parts of the Great Lakes Basin and snowmelt drives runoff into the lakes, she said.  

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts above normal precipitation across nearly all the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes Basin over the next three months. Temperatures in these areas mostly have equal chances of being above or below normal over the same time period.

The post Great Lakes water levels decline from record highs: What the forecast says appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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Planet Detroit

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By Richelle Wilson, Wisconsin Public Radio

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

Paul Ehorn started scuba diving as a teenager in the early 1960s. On his first dive, he was wearing a self-assembly wetsuit he purchased from a Montgomery Ward catalog for $28.

“The water’s cold, probably the low 40s, and I came up just shivering uncontrollably,” Ehorn told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “All I could say was, ‘How long before we can go back in?’”

“I was hooked. That was it,” he added. “It just became a passion and obsession.”

After that, it wasn’t long before Ehorn picked up some sonar gear and started what would become a lifelong career as a shipwreck hunter. Now 80 years old, he has discovered 15 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. 

His latest find, which he announced to the public in February, is Lac La Belle, a luxury steamer that sank in Lake Michigan more than 150 years ago. The ship has been on Ehorn’s radar from the beginning due to his interest in wooden steamers and because it’s “close to home,” he said in the press release. 

After nearly 60 years of searching, Ehorn got the clue he needed and finally located the sunken wreckage about 20 miles offshore between Racine and Kenosha.

“It was just a wonderful day,” Ehorn said. “Beautiful wreck, it turned out.”

A scuba diver approaches the bow of the Lac La Belle. Photo courtesy of Paul Ehorn

Ehorn and his crew first found the wreckage of Lac La Belle in 2022, but he waited to publicly share his discovery until conditions were right to go down for a dive to film the ship and create a 3D model. Documenting the shipwreck is an important part of the process to educate the public and give historians a unique view into the past.

“All of our wrecks on the Great Lakes have a shelf life — they’re not going to look like this in 100 years,” said Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association. “I have to commend Paul for really wanting to do that photogrammetry model, because that’s a good standard for recording exactly how that wreck was at the time he found it.”

As a maritime historian, Baillod has researched a number of Great Lakes shipwrecks. His book “Fathoms Deep But Not Forgotten: Wisconsin’s Lost Ships” includes an entry for Lac La Belle that details its history carrying passengers and cargo — first between Cleveland and Lake Superior starting in 1864, and later on a trade route between Milwaukee and Grand Haven, Michigan. 

On Oct. 13, 1872, the ship sank a couple hours after departing Milwaukee due to a leak that sprung during a storm. The ship was carrying cargo and 53 passengers. Eight people died after one of the lifeboats capsized.

“The Lac La Belle is a time capsule. It’s an underwater museum from 1872,” Baillod told “Wisconsin Today.” “It played such a pivotal role not just in the industrialization of America, but in Milwaukee’s history.”

The steamer Lac La Belle docked in Milwaukee in 1872. This image is from an original stereoview by W. H. Sherman. Image courtesy of Brendon Baillod

A ‘golden age’ of shipwreck discovery

The Great Lakes are home to an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 shipwrecks, most of which remain undiscovered, according to the Wisconsin Water Library. 

But more of these sunken ships are being found, Baillod said, due to advancements in affordable technology and with the help of citizen scientists who are becoming more aware of shipwreck history.

“It’s kind of the golden age, I guess you might say, of shipwreck discovery on the Great Lakes,” he said, “and a tremendous opportunity for us to tell the stories of these ships that played such a huge role in the cultural history of the Midwest, and Wisconsin in particular.”

And the race is on to find more of these wrecks, as invasive quagga mussels congregate around shipwrecks and damage what remains.

For shipwreck hunters, the mussels are a double-edged sword: Despite the damage they cause, the mussels also are clarifying the water, making shipwrecks easier to spot. Whereas Lake Michigan used to have only about 5 or 10 feet of visibility underwater, now divers have a much clearer view.

“We called it ‘Braille diving.’ You’d go down and you’d have to get within a couple of feet of the shipwreck,” Baillod said. “Now, you go down there and you can see sometimes 50, 80, 100 feet — you can see the whole ship.”

While that has created opportunities for “beautiful underwater photos of these shipwrecks” and raised public awareness, Baillod said, the quagga mussels are ultimately decimating the food web and changing Lake Michigan’s biome, leading to the collapse of native species like whitefish.

Baillod is one of the founders of the Ghost Ships Festival, an annual community event to promote research, education and public awareness of Wisconsin’s shipwreck history. This year, the event is being held in Manitowoc on Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 and includes a presentation from Ehorn about his discovery of the Lac La Belle.

“We’re trying to educate the public about the Great Lakes maritime history and about the role these ships played in building America back in the 1800s,” Baillod said. “And we’re having a lot of success — people are learning about it.”

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How to check if your Michigan water system is replacing lead pipes

By Nina Misuraca Ignaczak, Planet Detroit

This article was republished with permission from Planet Detroit. Sign up for Planet Detroit’s weekly newsletter here.

Lead exposure remains a serious health risk in Michigan, but many residents don’t know whether their water system complies with state rules or whether their service line contains lead.

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By Nina Misuraca Ignaczak, Planet Detroit

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Lead exposure remains a serious health risk in Michigan, but many residents don’t know whether their water system complies with state rules or whether their service line contains lead.

Utilities must notify customers of sampling results and the presence of lead or galvanized lines. Yet, these notices don’t always reach people — leaving families unsure about their potential exposure and what steps to take.

Depending on where you live in Michigan, you may have recently received updates from your water utility about compliance with state and federal Lead and Copper Rule requirements.

Most utilities completed their annual lead and copper sampling by Sept. 30, and Michigan regulators have since notified communities that exceeded the lead action level. If you live in one of those areas, you should have been told.

Utilities must also notify all residents served by lead, unknown, or galvanized-previously-connected service lines. You should have received this notice last November, and the next round is due by Dec. 31.

Michigan is simultaneously working to remove an estimated 580,030 lead and galvanized service lines statewide. About 11% — roughly 69,891 lines — were replaced from 2021 to 2024. Progress varies by water system, and many still lack complete inventories or are behind on required reporting.

To help residents see the whole picture, Planet Detroit and Safe Water Engineering created the Michigan Lead Service Line Tracker. This statewide dashboard shows how much progress each water system is making in identifying and replacing lead service lines. This guide explains what the dashboard includes, how to use it, how to protect yourself from drinking water risks, and what to do if your community is not keeping pace with Michigan’s Lead and Copper Rule.

Michigan Lead Service Line Tracker

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) releases lead sampling data on a separate timeline, so limited information is available: the full set of 2024 compliance results and the 2025 action-level exceedances.

Without a complete 2025 dataset, we chose not to include 2025 sampling results in the dashboard at this time. Stay tuned for future updates as more data becomes publicly available.

Why this matters

Lead exposure remains a major environmental health threat across Michigan. Lead is a well-documented neurotoxin with no safe level of exposure. Even small amounts can affect learning, behavior, and long-term health. Planet Detroit’s reporting has highlighted several statewide concerns:

  • Children face the greatest risk. Lead can harm brain development, lower IQ, and affect attention and learning. Infants who consume formula mixed with contaminated water are particularly vulnerable.
  • Pregnant people are also at higher risk. Lead exposure is linked to high blood pressure, premature birth, miscarriage, and reduced fetal growth.
  • Adults can experience cardiovascular and kidney impacts. Long-term exposure is associated with hypertension, decreased kidney function, and increased risk of heart disease.
  • Exposure often tracks with inequity. Many of the state’s highest concentrations of lead service lines — and some of the slowest replacement rates — are in communities that have faced historic underinvestment.
  • Installation work can temporarily increase lead levels. Disturbing old pipes during replacement can cause short-term spikes, underscoring the need for filters and clear public communication.

Michigan’s 20-year replacement mandate is designed to reduce these risks, but the pace of removal varies, and residents often struggle to get clear information about what’s happening in their communities.

Many drinking water systems still have thousands of known or suspected lead lines, and some continue to exceed state or federal lead limits. Planet Detroit’s reporting has shown:

  • Significant regional differences in replacement speed, with some systems moving quickly and others reporting little to no progress.
  • Inconsistent public notification, including instances where residents weren’t told about lead exceedances, construction schedules, or mandatory notification that a lead or unknown service line serves a home.
  • Higher risks in historically under-resourced communities, where lead lines and aging infrastructure tend to be concentrated.

Checking the dashboard is one of the simplest ways for residents to understand how their water system is performing under Michigan’s 20-year replacement mandate.

How to use the lead service line dashboard

Follow these steps to look up your water system and interpret what you’re seeing.

In the middle, click Search Systems and type the name of your water system — usually a city, township, or regional authority. Select it from the dropdown to open its profile.

2. Review your system’s profile card

Each water system has a standardized card with key information required under Michigan’s Lead and Copper Rule. The card shows:

  • Population Served: The estimated number of people receiving water from the system.
  • Known Lead Lines: Service lines confirmed to be made of lead. These are the highest-priority lines for replacement. Example: 1,999 lead lines.
  • Lines Replaced: The number of lead or galvanized lines that have been removed and replaced with safer materials between 2021 and 2024.
    Example: 96 lines replaced.
  • Galvanized (GPCL)  Lines that are galvanized steel but were previously connected to lead pipe. These are considered “galvanized requiring replacement” under federal rules.
  • Unknown Material Service lines where the material is not yet confirmed. To protect your health, these should be treated as though they are lead until they are confirmed to be a non-lead material.
  • Total to Be Identified and/or Replaced: The combined number of known lead lines, GPCL lines, plus all unknowns that must be resolved through inspection or replacement.
  • Replacement Progress: The percentage of replacements completed between 2021 and 2024. During this four-year period, water systems were required by the Michigan Lead and Copper Rule, as enforced by EGLE, to complete an average of 20% of their total lead service line replacements.
  • Compliance Status: Indicates whether the utility has met state inventory and reporting requirements. Systems that have replaced at least 20% of the required lines between 2021 and 2024 are compliant.

This card is your quick snapshot of how well your water system is doing compared with state requirements and nearby communities.

3. Check the statewide map for context

The map shows systems by color:

  • Green: Compliant
  • Red: Not compliant

If your system appears in red while neighboring systems are green, that may signal slow progress or reporting problems.

4. Look for missing or incomplete data

If the card shows large numbers of unknown materials, low replacement counts, or a noncompliance flag, the system may be struggling to meet Michigan’s 20-year replacement mandate. A large, future project can bring a water utility into compliance.

The sooner the lead pipes are removed, the sooner the residents experience the public health benefits.

What the numbers mean for your household

  • Lead or galvanized lines: These carry the highest risk of lead release, especially during construction or partial replacements.
  • Unknown lines: To protect your health, treat these as lead until they are confirmed to be non-lead materials. Many Michigan systems still have thousands of unknown materials.
  • Low replacement progress: Systems with single-digit progress may struggle to meet Michigan’s 20-year requirement, leaving residents with long wait times and extended exposure to lead in drinking water.
  • Exceedances: If your system exceeds the lead action level, it must accelerate replacement and notify residents.

If your water system has a high proportion of lead or unknown lines, or if you know or think you have a lead service line, request or purchase a certified lead-reducing filter. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has some filter distribution programs targeted to specific communities in Michigan. You can also check whether your service line is lead using your utility’s inspection program.

Featured image: Close up shot of some metal pipes. (Photo Credit: iStock)

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The Next Deluge May Go Differently

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.

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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.

In early August, days after thousand-year rain fell on southeastern Wisconsin, officials waded through the devastation’s wake — and liked what they saw.

Beyond the overflowing banks of the Little Menomonee River, which surged six feet in less than 10 hours, floodwaters were deep enough to support swimming beavers and waterfowl. On farmland near the northern border of Milwaukee, 70 acres of standing rainwater overtopped boots. Further south, in the town of Oak Creek, another 114 acres of public grassland resembled an aboveground pool.

These inundated sites worked exactly as intended. All were purposefully restored wetlands, which are often called “nature’s kidneys” for their ability to absorb excess water that would otherwise cause harm to infrastructure, homes, and sewage systems during storms.

“Water needs space to expand, to flow,” said Kristin Schultheis, a senior project planner with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD). “It’s not destructive when it has its room.”

The three locations were recently completed Greenseams projects, a flood mitigation program that acquires and protects undeveloped wetlands. The effort is a testament to a long-standing cohesion of environmental policy, dedicated funding, and sound climate science in Wisconsin.

Over 25 years, Greenseams has applied $30 million in state and federal grants to conserve 5,825 acres of wetlands in the Milwaukee area. Their collective storage capacity totals 3.2 billion gallons of water. Though neither MMSD nor the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) quantified the role wetlands played in August’s storm, the Union of Concerned Scientists estimate these natural floodplains prevent $4.56 billion each year in flood-related damages in Wisconsin.

“As catastrophic as the flooding was, it would have been so much worse without the investments that MMSD and others have made,” Democratic state Rep. Deb Andraca told Circle of Blue.

Despite these benefits, Wisconsin’s wetland development program is in serious trouble, just as they are in other Great Lakes states. On both the state and federal levels, legislation that safeguards surface waters that produce wetlands is eroding. A lapse in federal disaster assistance means the importance of local, preventive action has never been greater.

This week, wetland protections took an additional, drastic hit on the federal level. The Trump Administration’s EPA and Army Corps of Engineers proposed new rules that would strip protections for up to 85 percent of the country’s wetlands, totaling 55 million acres.

“We’ve forgotten that we have clean water because of the Clean Water Act,” Jim Murphy, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior director of legal advocacy, said in a statement. “This rule would further strip protection from streams that flow into the rivers and lakes that supply our drinking water. The wetlands now at risk of being bulldozed filter our water supplies and protect us from floods.”

And a funding source in Wisconsin specifically intended to conserve land that can be used to produce new wetlands — called the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund — faces an uncertain future in the state Legislature.

Created in 1989, the state has invested more than $1.3 billion into the stewardship fund. As of 2020, more than 90 percent of Wisconsin residents lived within a mile of property that received Knowles-Nelson investments. A significant portion of these projects have gone to wetland restoration. Of the $30 million MMSD has spent on lands for Greenseams wetlands, $7 million has come from the Knowles-Nelson fund.

But amid ongoing tensions between Gov. Evers, a Democrat, and the Republican-led Wisconsin Senate, the new two-year state budget, signed in July, did not renew the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have introduced dueling bills this legislative session to save the fund, which would otherwise expire in 2026 and leave a massive financial hole for environmental groups.

“It’s just another example of partisanship getting in the way of a project that we know so many Wisconsinites like,” Rep. Andraca said. “I get more mail on Knowles-Nelson than anything else, from people wanting to save it.”

A Wetter Climate Means Future Flooding

Added up, the flurry of changes amount to weakening government support for conserving existing wetlands and developing new ones. It couldn’t come at a worse time. 

Fueled by warmer air lifting water into the atmosphere, climate change is projected by century’s end to dump 6 more inches of annual rainfall on Great Lakes states, according to NOAA data.

In Wisconsin, precipitation has already increased by 20 percent since 1950, and is expected to continue to rise. The likelihood of flooding remains high, with these deluges predicted to come in erratic, concentrated bursts.

But the landscape now is ill-suited to receive more moisture. Across the Great Lakes basin, floodplains have been overwhelmingly filled, to communities’ detriment. Recent damaging floods in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois — which have each lost between 85 percent and 90 percent of their own historic wetlands — serve as a costly reminder of this change.

Wisconsin, which has retained roughly half of its wetland cover since pre-colonization, now finds itself at an uncertain tipping point. Decisions made today will affect lives during the next great deluge.

“I think everyone should have a new appreciation for wetlands. We need to recognize that making small investments helps all of us,” Rep. Andraca said. “If we’re cutting back on basic science, staff, and people who have expertise, we’re not going to make smart decisions, and that’s going to impact everyone down the road.”

Communities Left ‘On Their Own’ After Floods

In Milwaukee-area neighborhoods without substantial floodplains, August’s storm and subsequent flash flooding prompted emergency evacuations and swift-water rescues. Crop fields submerged. Cars deteriorated in city lots. Suburban roads were made inaccessible. Nearly 50,000 residences and businesses across six counties lost power.

After the storm, Gov. Evers estimated the flooding had caused at least $33 million worth of home damages alone, with another $43 million accrued in public sector losses. Later that month, he requested $26.5 million in federal assistance.

The governor’s appeals for assistance were denied. The Trump administration has apparently politicized FEMA’s disaster aid programs. In a reversal from earlier commitments made by the Trump administration, FEMA announced in October it would halt all aid for the state the president flipped red in the 2024 election. Of the six counties in need of funds, two — Milwaukee and Door — voted Democrat that year.

“Denying federal assistance doesn’t just delay recovery, it sends a message to our communities that they are on their own,” Evers, who has recently feuded with Trump over immigration policy and other spending cuts, said in a statement.

The denial stands out amidst a backdrop of recently approved flood-assistance packages for Republican-led Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Alaska.

FEMA “categorically refutes” that their funding follows partisan lines. This month a coalition of 12 states — including Michigan and Wisconsin — filed suit against the agency and Department of Homeland Security for restricting grants, an act amounting to what they say is “an inconsistent patchwork of disaster response across the Nation.”

They also accused the agency of slowly unloading the responsibility of disaster financing solely onto states altogether, a move that magnifies the importance of local momentum for pre-emptive flood mitigation.

“In southeast Wisconsin in particular, this issue exemplifies how the protection or lack of protection in an area can impact such a wide swath of stakeholders,” said Tressie Kamp, assistant director of the Center for Water Policy at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

State and Federal Protections Weaken

For the better part of the last 20 years, wetlands in Wisconsin were doubly protected by both state and federal environmental legislation. But key changes on both levels, in quick succession, have left thousands of acres of floodplains vulnerable to filling.

The first action came in 2018, when the Wisconsin Legislature introduced an exemption in state law allowing for the filling of wetlands that were not protected by the federal government. At the time, this constituted a relatively small amount of habitat in Wisconsin.

But this change had massive consequences just a few years later, when, in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly rolled-back its definition of federally protected waters. Suddenly, wetlands in Wisconsin and across the country that were not permanently connected to a navigable stream, river, or lake were legally eligible to be filled.

In the two years since this decision, officials in Wisconsin have noted developers taking advantage of its large swath of unprotected areas. “It makes it easier [to fill wetlands] when there’s only one entity regulating it,” said Chelsey Lundeen, the wetlands mitigation coordinator for the Wisconsin DNR.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determines if a wetland is eligible to be filled. According to Joseph Shoemaker, the Corp’s Wisconsin East Branch Chief, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act — which pertains to wetland filling or dredging — is now “the most common reason people request that we review federal jurisdiction over aquatic resources,” he said.

Between 2018 and 2022, the number of acres of wetlands filled steadily rose each year, from 2.5 acres to 40 acres, according to Kamp. This rise is likely to continue, she said, as the Army Corps streamlines their permitting processes.

In January, the matter was addressed with even greater haste when President Trump issued an executive order directing the Corps to speed up its review for filling wetlands, encouraging more development projects.

The southeast region of Wisconsin, which receives the highest number of requests, is particularly vulnerable to these fillings, said Tom Nedland, a wetland identification coordinator with the Wisconsin DNR. “As the state’s largest population center,” he said, “development pressure is high.”

Reliable Funding Sources Disappear

The state’s looming loss of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund is magnified by the Trump Administration’s freezing and outright cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal grants for conservation initiatives.

In Ozaukee County, several wetland restoration projects — completed just before August’s historic flooding, supported by the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative  — are telling examples of what might be missed during the next great deluge.

Wetlands at Mineral Springs Creek, Mequon County Park and Golf Course, and the Little Menomonee Fish and Wildlife Preserve all showed “proof of concept” this summer, said Andrew Struck, the county’s director of planning and parks.

“We didn’t get any complaints about flooding that we were constantly hearing about,” Struck said. “We retained a good amount of water during that event…so I think we’ve seen that as being very successful.”

But big challenges lay ahead, with potentially devastating consequences. For county neighbors living along Lake Michigan’s shoreline — where unchecked drainage and stormwater runoff are causing erosion and slumping — the future of wetland restoration could very well determine the fate of their properties.

“We’re also trying to do some of this work on private lands,” Struck said. “We have a comprehensive goal of managing the water, and also managing infrastructure. But we face a lot of challenges. Funding is disappearing from the landscape.”

Catch more news at Great Lakes Now: 

Intense rainfall means more floods. What can we do?

This wetland fight could go to the Supreme Court

Featured image: Wetlands at Tendick Nature Park in Saukville, Wisconsin. Photo by Christian Thorsberg/Circle of Blue.

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Tensions flare as Line 5 public comment deadline nears

By Ellie Katz, Interlochen Public Radio

This article was republished with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently revived an alternative to the Line 5 tunnel. The new option was proposed in a supplemental environmental impact statement published by the federal agency last month.

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By Ellie Katz, Interlochen Public Radio

This article was republished with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently revived an alternative to the Line 5 tunnel. The new option was proposed in a supplemental environmental impact statement published by the federal agency last month.

The Army Corps is now proposing to use a technique called horizontal directional drilling, or HDD, which was tabled as an option for replacing the pipeline in 2018. HDD would create a narrow borehole to house the pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, as opposed to the tunnel that’s been at the center of criticism and lawsuits for several years.

Public comment on the Army Corps’ new proposal is due by the end of the week. An online public comment session on Wednesday went for nearly three hours. The majority of those speaking were against the project, raising fears about a potential oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac and voicing frustration with the new drilling option.

“This proposal before you is a bait and switch,” said Lauren Sargent of Ann Arbor. “We were talking about a tunnel. Now what we’re talking about is essentially fracking technology below the Straits.”

Horizontal drilling is not the same as fracking, but is sometimes used to drill wells for fracking.

Joseph Torres, a business agent for Pipeliners Local Union 798, spoke in favor of the continued operation of Line 5 regardless of the method used to replace it.

“Building this pipeline, whether going through a tunnel or by HDD, is a safer option compared to transporting resources by railcar or truck,” Torres said. “I do believe that maintaining the integrity of Line 5 is crucial and shutting it down will impact citizens and our economy.”

In email to Interlochen Public Radio, an Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said there is confusion surrounding the new horizontal directional drilling alternative.

“This is not something we proposed,” Duffy wrote. “Nothing has changed on our end, we are still planning to build the tunnel.”

According to an online timeline, U.S. Army Corps expects to issue a decision on the Line 5 project in spring 2026.

Featured image: A view of part of the Enbridge Energy Line 5 pumping station near Mackinaw City, Michigan on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac. (Photo: Lester Graham/Michigan Radio)

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In world of AI, Michigan State University Extension bets on human expertise

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

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.

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Trump administration moves to weaken federal protections for waterways and wetlands

By Aidan Hughes, 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.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army announced a proposal last week to further define, and scale back, the number of waterways and wetlands protected by the federal government under the Clean Water Act, a bedrock environmental law.

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$18M approved in bill credits for Pennsylvania customers in ‘forever chemicals’ settlement

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

 

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission recently approved a proposal from the Pennsylvania-American Water Company (PAWC) to issue over $18 million in bill credits to customers.

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The history of taming the Great Black Swamp

This is an excerpt from the book “The Great Black Swamp: Toxic algae, toxic relationships, and the most interesting place in America that nobody’s ever heard of.” Available for purchase on November 11, 2025, by Belt Publishing.

“The Worst Road in America”

Disasters do not happen overnight. 

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Stanton Yards development merges art, nature on Detroit River, envisions ‘thriving new community destination’

This story is published in partnership with Planet Detroit. 

Stanton Yards, a Detroit riverfront development, aims to be a gathering place where people find inspiration in art and reconnect with nature.

The waterfront attraction is planned as an extension of the Little Village cultural corridor developed by Library Street Collective co-founders Anthony and JJ Curis.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/detroit-riverfront-cultural-hub/

John Hartig

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In: animals, Fish, Birds and Animals, Latest News, Michigan, News, roadkill, Science, Technology, Research, Wildlife
Roads in the Great Lakes region get riskier after daylight saving ends

Drivers around the Great Lakes region beware. In the weeks following “fall back,” once daylight saving time ends, collisions between wildlife and vehicles rises by 16%. According to data from insurance company State Farm, October, November and December are the most dangerous for animal-related collisions, making up 41% of all animal collision claims.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/roads-in-the-great-lakes-region-get-riskier-after-daylight-saving-ends/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

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In: Books, Books, Authors, Art and Music, Edmund Fitzgerald, Feature Homepage, freighters, History and Culture, Lake Superior, Latest News, News, Recreation and Tourism, shipwrecks
Fifty years later: The little-known story of the families the Fitz left behind

“Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy” is a new book by Thomas Nelson with Jeremy Podair. Below is an adapted excerpt from the chapter “Just Call Toby,” that details the legal mess families were put through after losing their loved ones on the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/fifty-years-later-the-little-known-story-of-the-families-the-fitz-left-behind/

Thomas Nelson

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In: Feature Homepage, Food, Latest News, Michigan, News, Recreation and Tourism, Tourism
Going Country at Farrand Hall

Situated in a town of a little over a thousand people in Colon, Michigan, is an idyllic and pastoral outdoor dining experience just 250 feet from a main road. Guests are recommended to order a glass of wine, wander the property grounds, and soak in their surroundings before taking a seat at a banquet-style table.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/going-country-at-farrand-hall/

S. Nicole Lane

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In: Collaboration, Energy, Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, great lakes news collaborative, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Lake Huron, Latest News, News, Ontario
Ontario is subsidizing an energy project in Georgian Bay despite expert advice

By Fatima Syed, The Narwhal

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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/ontario-is-subsidizing-an-energy-project-in-georgian-bay-despite-expert-advice/

The Narwhal

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Sludge is used as fertilizer across Wisconsin. How much is tainted by PFAS?

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

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

On a Saturday in June, Nancy Sattler bats away flies while standing in the shade of the Moen Lake boat landing near the town of Stella.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/sludge-is-used-as-fertilizer-across-wisconsin-how-much-is-tainted-by-pfas/

Wisconsin Public Radio

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In: Asian carp, Chicago, Feature Homepage, Illinois, invasive species, Latest News, News, Science, Technology, Research
Illinois one step closer to keeping invasive carp out of Great Lakes

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, WBEZ

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for WBEZ newsletters to get local news you can trust.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/illinois-one-step-closer-to-keeping-invasive-carp-out-of-great-lakes/

WBEZ

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In: Climate change, Feature Homepage, Latest News, Michigan, News, Science, Technology, Research
New study links seasonal pollen to higher suicide risk, experts warn

A new study between researchers at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, looked at suicide rates in metropolitan areas around the United States. When looking at data from 2000 to 2018, they found a direct correlation to rises in seasonal pollen. While it is still unknown how exactly allergies work as a tipping point for some people, the research adds to a burgeoning body of work that shows this parallel exists.  

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/new-study-links-seasonal-pollen-to-higher-suicide-risk-experts-warn/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
In “The Gales of November,” author John U. Bacon investigates the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

By Doug Tribou, John U. Bacon and Caoilinn Goss, 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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/in-the-gales-of-november-author-john-u-bacon-investigates-the-sinking-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/

Michigan Public

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In: Latest News, News
Points North: How ‘Bout Them Apples?

By Austin Rowlader, Interlochen Public Radio

Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio. 

Luke Marion is on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan looking for apple trees.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/points-north-how-bout-them-apples/

Interlochen Public Radio

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Ohio to fast-track energy at former coal mines and brownfields

By Kathiann M. Kowalski

This story was originally published by Canary Media.

A new law in Ohio will fast-track energy projects in places that are hard to argue with: former coal mines and brownfields.

But how much the legislation benefits clean energy will depend on the final rules for its implementation, which the state is working out now.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/ohio-to-fast-track-energy-at-former-coal-mines-and-brownfields/

Canary Media

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In: Latest News, News
A bitcoin mine came to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Dafter Township isn’t happy

By Tom Perkins, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. This is the last of three articles about Michigan communities organizing to stop the construction of energy-intensive computing facilities.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/a-bitcoin-mine-came-to-michigans-upper-peninsula-and-dafter-township-isnt-happy/

Inside Climate News

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In: Latest News, News, whitefish
What to know about Michigan whitefish crisis, from limits to solutions

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/what-to-know-about-michigan-whitefish-crisis-from-limits-to-solutions/

Bridge Michigan

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In: data centers, Energy, Feature Homepage, Latest News, Michigan, News
A Michigan town hopes to stop a data center with a 2026 ballot initiative

By Tom Perkins, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. This is the second of three articles about Michigan communities organizing to stop the construction of energy-intensive computing facilities.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/michigan-town-effots-to-stop-data-center/

Inside Climate News

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Los Alamos and University of Michigan want to build a national security ‘data center’ in Ypsilanti. Residents and local officials see few benefits.

By Tom Perkins, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It’s the first of three articles about Michigan communities organizing to stop the construction of energy-intensive computing facilities.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/los-alamos-university-of-michigan-national-security-data-center/

Inside Climate News

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In: Authors, Buffalo, Climate change, climate migration, Feature Homepage, Latest News, New York, News, Region, Science, Technology, Research, Stephen Starr
How Buffalo, New York has adapted to and embraced an influx of climate migrants

Buffalo is not a place that typically makes national headlines outside of football season. But in late July, the city did exactly that for one hugely significant reason: it became the last large city in the U.S. Lower 48 to have never reached 100 F.

At a time of rising temperatures and water levels, along with the threat of wildfires and smoke, many are reassessing where to live and Buffalo is embracing the “climate haven” tag.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/how-buffalo-new-york-has-adapted-to-and-embraced-an-influx-of-climate-migrants/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

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In: Authors, Buffalo, Climate change, climate migration, Feature Homepage, Latest News, New York, News, Region, Science, Technology, Research, Stephen Starr
How Buffalo, New York has adapted to and embraced an influx of climate migrants

Buffalo is not a place that typically makes national headlines outside of football season. But in late July, the city did exactly that for one hugely significant reason: it became the last large city in the U.S. Lower 48 to have never reached 100 F.

At a time of rising temperatures and water levels, along with the threat of wildfires and smoke, many are reassessing where to live and Buffalo is embracing the “climate haven” tag.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/how-buffalo-new-york-has-adapted-to-and-embraced-an-influx-of-climate-migrants/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Millions in loans to replace lead pipes pumping water into Chicago homes remain unspent

By Keerti Gopal & Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco

This story is a partnership between Grist, Inside Climate News, and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region. 

Millions of dollars in federal and city loans dedicated to replacing lead pipes that pump water into people’s homes remain unused, a city official said, at the same time that officials are struggling to keep up with state and federal deadlines to warn people of the risks.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/10/lead-pipes-chicago-city-council-notification-federal-loans-unspent/

Inside Climate News and Grist

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In: Climate change, climate migration, Feature Homepage, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, Science, Technology, Research, upper peninsula, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

The ready access to nature and winter sports is what prompted Elizabeth Scott and her family to up sticks from Portland, Oregon, to Houghton on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula in summer 2021.

With 29% of Michigan’s territory and only 3% of its population, to many, the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) might appear a dream place to start over.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/climate-migrations-impact-on-michigans-upper-peninsula/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Time running out for Great Lakes whitefish. Can ponds become their Noah’s Ark?

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/time-running-out-for-great-lakes-whitefish-can-ponds-become-their-noahs-ark/

Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

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In: Authors, Cleveland, Climate change, climate migration, Feature Cleveland, Feature Homepage, Latest News, News, Ohio, Science, Technology, Research, Stephen Starr

Stroll along Cleveland’s Edgewater Pier on a summer evening, and you’ll hear Arabic, Spanish, and other languages wafting through the lake air. For decades, international immigrants have found a home in the city of Lake Erie.

But now, there’s an increasing chance that future waves of migrants — from Florida, Arizona, California, and beyond — could move here as extreme weather events caused by climate change in those regions prompt people to rethink where they want to live.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/how-great-lakes-cities-are-preparing-for-climate-migration/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

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In: enbridge, Feature Homepage, Latest News, line 5, News, Pipeline
A Great Lakes oil pipeline faces 3 controversies with no speedy resolutions

By Mike Shriberg, University of Michigan

 is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

For more than a decade, controversy over an oil pipeline that passes directly through a Native American reservation and then across a sensitive waterway that is also a key shipping lane has brewed in Wisconsin and Michigan.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/a-great-lakes-oil-pipeline-faces-3-controversies-with-no-speedy-resolutions/

The Conversation

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Amid rise of RFK Jr., officials waver on drinking water fluoridation — even in the state where it started

By Anna Clark, ProPublica

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

Just 15 months after receiving an award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for excellence in community water fluoridation, the city of Grayling, Michigan, changed course.

With little notice or fanfare, council members voted unanimously in May to end Grayling’s decades long treatment program.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/fluoride-drinking-water-rfk-jr-michigan-cdc-hhs/

ProPublica

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In: Latest News, News
Illinois farmers find that sheep and solar arrays go well together

By Kari Lydersen

This story was originally published by Canary Media.

To all the challenges the solar industry is facing today, add one more: cultivating a domestic market for lamb meat. It may seem an unlikely mission for clean-energy developers, but in many states, including Illinois, grazing sheep between rows of photovoltaic panels is considered the most efficient form of agrivoltaics — the combination of solar and farming on the same land.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/illinois-farmers-find-that-sheep-and-solar-arrays-go-well-together/

Canary Media

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In: Lake Superior, Latest News, News, whitefish, zebra mussels
As mussels ravage Great Lakes whitefish, Lake Superior survives — for now

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/as-mussels-ravage-great-lakes-whitefish-lake-superior-survives-for-now/

Bridge Michigan

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In: Feature Homepage, Fish, Birds and Animals, Latest News, News, Ontario, piping plovers, Science, Technology, Research, Toronto, wasaga beach
What’s going on in Wasaga Beach? Profit, piping plovers and an Ontario town’s complicated future

By Fatima Syed, The Narwhal

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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/wasaga-beach-ontario-park-plan/

Fatima Syed, The Narwhal

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Report says growing demand from data centers, industry could stress Great Lakes water

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

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

Great Lakes states should take steps to protect water resources from increasing demand from data centers and other industries, according to a new report.

The analysis by the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes found data centers may withdraw as much as 150 billion gallons of water nationally over the next five years.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/report-says-growing-demand-from-data-centers-industry-could-stress-great-lakes-water/

Wisconsin Public Radio

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In: Energy News Roundup, Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, News
Trump administration orders 63-year-old Michigan coal plant to stay open — again

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

The Trump administration is keeping a Michigan coal plant open even longer past its planned retirement. The 63-year-old J.H. Campbell coal plant in the far western part of the state, near Lake Michigan, was supposed to close for good at the end of May.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/trump-administration-orders-63-year-old-michigan-coal-plant-to-stay-open-again/

Nicole Pollack, Great Lakes Now

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
In Peshawbestown, the Grand Traverse Band puts fish waste to use

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

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

Piles of sawdust sit just downhill from the Peshawbestown Gitigaan, the farm of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, where local commercial fisheries drop off all the parts of a fish they don’t sell — heads, bones, organs, tails.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/in-peshawbestown-the-grand-traverse-band-puts-fish-waste-to-use/

Interlochen Public Radio

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In Peshawbestown, the Grand Traverse Band puts fish waste to use

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

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

Piles of sawdust sit just downhill from the Peshawbestown Gitigaan, the farm of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, where local commercial fisheries drop off all the parts of a fish they don’t sell — heads, bones, organs, tails.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/in-peshawbestown-the-grand-traverse-band-puts-fish-waste-to-use/

Interlochen Public Radio

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In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News
Blue-green algae is making a home in the warming waters of Lake Superior’s watershed

By Chris McEvoy, The Narwhal

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.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/blue-green-algae-is-making-a-home-in-the-warming-waters-of-lake-superiors-watershed/

The Narwhal

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Points North: The Pink Prairie Mascot

By Claire Keenan-Kurgan, Interlochen Public Radio

Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio. 

Back in the summer of 2014, a botanist named Rachel Goad was on a canoe trip to see a very rare flower.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/points-north-the-pink-prairie-mascot/

Interlochen Public Radio

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In: Authors, Feature Homepage, Latest News, Lisa John Rogers, News, PFAS News Roundup
Illinois Gov. Pritzker signs PFAS Reduction Act

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the PFAS Reduction Act into law on August 15.

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Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/08/illinois-gov-pritzker-signs-pfas-reduction-act/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now