A critical juncture is reached for providing water to rural communities around the region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/michigan-rural-water-systems-generations-inadequate-investment/
Hundreds of artistic entries from 4th and 5th grade students came in for this year’s Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s Kids Clean Water Calendar Contest, and Great Lakes Now Host Ward Detwiler had to decide which drawings would be printed for each month.
“Fortunately, because I’d done this last year, I knew how hard it was going to be,” Detwiler said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/kids-calendar-art-contest-healthy-water-management/
WHITEHALL, Mich. (AP) — A change in Lake Michigan water levels has revealed a shipwreck from the 1880s that is visible in western Michigan for the first time since 2018.
Experts believe it’s the wooden spine of the Contest, said Craig Rich, director of the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-shifting-sand-water-shipwreck-1880s/
In the ongoing conflict over Line 5’s presence and future in Michigan, much of the debate has been between the Canadian energy company Enbridge, Inc. and the state of Michigan, or between Michigan environmentalists and Michigan businesses.
A recent joint committee session in the Michigan Senate heard from a third party: Canada.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/enbridge-line-5-debate-canadian-representatives-impact-economy/
Climate change in the Great Lakes region means more intense storms. Already some towns are finding they’re flooding where they never have before. One city in Michigan is finding the solution is nature.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/cities-natural-infrastructure-extreme-rain-events/
If you have the good fortune to gaze at a Great Lake – any Great Lake – sometime in this strange year, you’re not likely to spot a glaring example of President Joseph R. Biden’s new emphasis on protecting the environment.
But that doesn’t mean they aren’t coming.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/air-wind-solar-great-lakes-energy-president-biden/
Last year when the Midland dams gave way, more than 21 billion gallons of water rushed into the Tittabawassee River. More than three and a quarter billion gallons of that ended up in the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/wetlands-property-damage-save-lives-floods/
By Elena Bruess, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/treaty-rights-line-5-oil-pipelines-controversial-history/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration released a plan Friday to make sure Michigan will have enough propane if a controversial pipeline is shut down.
The strategy addresses a frequent objection to the Democratic governor’s demand that Enbridge Inc.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-whitmer-plan-supply-propane-line-5-pipeline/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/pfas-news-roundup-indiana-introduces-pfas-bills-michigan-citizens-unhappy-about-8-month-disclosure-delay/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/university-michigan-discovery-lake-erie-dead-zone/
DETROIT (AP) — Lawyers who negotiated a $641 million settlement for victims of Flint’s lead-contaminated water are asking a judge to set aside up to 32% for fees and expenses for years of work on the case.
If granted, the request would total $202 million in fees and $7 million in expenses for dozens of attorneys who made a deal with the state of Michigan, Flint, a hospital and an engineering firm, according to a court filing Monday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-lawyers-32-percent-641m-flint-tainted-water-settlement/
As climate change complicates Lake Erie’s algae problem, scientists say farmers must do far more to reduce phosphorus runoff. But will enough farmers change their ways without a government mandate?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/farmers-pollution-lake-erie-regulations/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Environmentalists in Wisconsin sue EPA over regulation rollback favoring coal plants, bankruptcy plan for Ohio nuclear power company upheld by appeals court, Prairie Island tribe prepares for massive investment in renewable energy, and Ford Motors to invest millions for electric vehicle construction in southeast Michigan
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Indiana:
When the 2021 legislative session began, more than 75 bills related to the environment had been filed in Indiana’s General Assembly.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/energy-news-indiana-bills-ontario-hike-line-5-oversight-panel/
When Chris Wilson speared a 63-inch, 61-pound sturgeon, it was only moments after he lugged the fish out of his shanty before a small crowd appeared. Some trotted over from nearby shanties and one man rode up on an ATV – he wasn’t fishing but simply spending the morning checking out the season.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/sturgeon-spearing-conservation-efforts-fish/
With warming temperatures, fluctuating water levels and a series of extreme storms, Lake Superior is undergoing dramatic alterations amid climate change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/michigan-regulations-septic-system-codes-property-rights/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Detroit is well known as the automobile capital of the United States, the Arsenal of Democracy, the home of Motown and techno music, world-class architecture and building the middle class.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/marine-pollution-control-rouge-river-to-persian-gulf-oil-spill-cleanups-detroit-company/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/pfas-news-pennsylvania-utillity-michigan-officials-wait/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
More Illinois Residents Are Turning to Lake Michigan for Their Drinking Water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/drinking-water-climate-change-withdrawals-michigan-quebec-first-nations/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-dams-immediate-attention-prevent-next-failure/
With warming temperatures, fluctuating water levels and a series of extreme storms, Lake Superior is undergoing dramatic alterations amid climate change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/future-lake-superior-climate-disruption-climate-change/
Warming waters are hard on some fish, such as walleye, and more favorable to others, such as smallmouth bass. With so many environmental stresses, it’s difficult to gauge the future of individual lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-inland-lakes-ice-fishing-fish-less-ice/
Intense storm events and flooding are changing the ecology of rivers in the Great Lakes region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/intense-storms-climate-change-harming-michigan-streams-rivers/
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Some residents in southwestern Michigan and the Detroit area will get plumbing repairs in their homes as part of a new initiative to reduce water waste.
Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said the “Water Leak Pilot” program is expected to highlight the benefits of reducing water waste for consumers, water suppliers and the overall community.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/ap-pilot-michigan-program-reduce-water-waste-homes/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Taylor Haelterman, Great Lakes Echo
High school students, community groups and Lake Superior State University will use landscaping this summer to reduce pollution flowing into the St. Marys River.
The project recently received $250,000 from the United States Forest Service as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that protects Great Lakes drinking water and habitat.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/university-st-marys-river-clean-green-boost/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/water-biden-administration-deliver-environmental-justice-pledges/
The years-long saga surrounding Nestlé and its Michigan groundwater withdrawals comes to an end – in a way – as Nestlé withdraws from the situation, selling its North American water brands to another corporation.
Nestlé announced this week that it unloaded a number of U.S. and Canadian brands, including Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Ice Mountain Brand 100% Natural Spring Water and Pure Life.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/nestle-north-america-bottled-water-brands-sold-investment-firm/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/pfas-fish-wildlife-researchers-michigan/
Salt-speckled sidewalks, driveways and highways are synonymous with winter in the Great Lakes region. But while road salt is highly effective at deicing surfaces, the safety that salt provides for humans places a heavy burden on freshwater ecosystems.
“We have an unhealthy addiction to road salt,” said Claire Oswald, a hydrologist and associate professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/road-salt-reducing-usage-great-lakes-freshwater-ecosystem/
Michigan and the Great Lakes region — with an abundance of fresh water, warming winters and less fire-prone forests — stand to attract millions of new residents in the coming years looking to escape flooded coastal areas and the parched land of the West.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/water-great-lakes-climate-refuge-prepared/
Are you a Detroit high school student interested in the environment, TV production and planning community events?
(Or maybe you know one and could share this with them?)
With funding from PBS Education, Great Lakes Now and the Belle Isle Conservancy are offering a paid internship for a high school student to help plan the April 24 Spring Clean Up on Belle Isle event AND produce a video about it to help other students and organizations have similar events to raise environmental awareness.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/pbs-great-lakes-now-belle-isle-conservancy-high-school-intern/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Eric Freedman, Capital News Service
A former top-ranking Michigan official is now overseeing national energy policy — again.
This time it’s the Biden administration’s new Secretary of Energy, former Democratic Gov.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/former-michigan-governor-leads-national-energy-policy/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/high-demand-new-michigan-water-infrastructure-grants/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/pfas-minnesota-biden-epa-regulations/
By Steve Carmody, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/glwa-dwsd-oakland-county-overflows-rouge-river/
Detroit’s Michelle Martinez is acutely aware of the patience needed when your profession is advocating for environmental justice, the fair and meaningful involvement of all people related to environmental laws and policies.
Martinez is acting executive director and statewide coordinator for the grassroots Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition.
It was 1994, almost three decades ago, that President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 putting the federal spotlight on environmental justice.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/detroit-advocate-hopeful-environmental-justice-progress-decades-inertia/
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — The Clinton River, which runs through parts of Macomb County, is one of three southeastern Michigan rivers expected to be studied as part of an effort to improve water quality and wastewater treatment in the region.
The monitoring is part of the Great Lakes Water Authority’s Regional River Water Quality Monitoring Program, according to the Macomb County Public Works office.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/ap-program-study-clinton-river-water-quality/
It could be weeks before Michigan’s commercial fishing outfits can get back to catching whitefish – but even then they’re not sure what’s left of the season will save their businesses.
That’s because they’re tied up in a legal fight over the rules of their game – rules imposed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in January that limit when and where commercial fishers can operate in the Michigan waters of the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-commercial-fishers-mdnr-rules-court/
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/future-plans-line-5-climate-change/
By Steve Carmody, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/task-force-delays-report-recommending-changes-to-michigan-dam-safety-regulations/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-thin-ice-climate-experts/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/pfas-michigan-indigenous-wisconsin-fish-dnr-legislation/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
As recently as the 1980s, a small backwater on the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River in Trenton, Michigan, was so polluted and toxic that scientists named it the Black Lagoon.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/beavers-detroit-river-black-lagoon-restoration/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s environmental agency said Friday it has approved construction of an underground tunnel to house a replacement for a controversial oil pipeline in a channel linking two of the Great Lakes.
The decision, a victory for Enbridge Inc., comes as the Canadian company resists Democratic Gov.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-michigan-approves-great-lakes-oil-pipeline-tunnel-permits/
The Enbridge Line 5 tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac today got another step closer to being built.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced its approval of the permits that Enbridge is required to have to build the replacement tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/egle-approves-permits-enbridge-line-5-tunnel/
Even the youngest Great Lakes fans can learn more about the world’s largest surface freshwater system – and they can do it while watching educational television.
The Michigan Learning Channel launched statewide earlier this month as a new distance-learning initiative. All six Michigan PBS stations are involved in the channel, with Detroit Public Television leading the effort.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/great-lakes-now-saturday-evenings-michigan-learning-channel/
DETROIT (AP) — A judge granted preliminary approval Thursday to a $641 million deal that would benefit Flint residents who were harmed by lead-contaminated water.
The settlement includes $600 million from the state of Michigan, although Flint, an area hospital and an engineering firm are also part of the agreement.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-judge-preliminary-ok-641m-flint-water-deal/
After being snubbed in 2020, the folks who make their living by fishing the Great Lakes – both commercially and for sport – have been included in the latest round of federal relief from the economic ravages of COVID-19.
With the second round, passed Dec. 27 and known as the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Act of 2021, Great Lakes tribal fisheries were included in the $30 million allotted for tribal fisheries nationwide.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/great-lakes-fisheries-federal-covid-19-relief-funds/
In a Great Lakes world dominated by policy proclamations, fights for funding and the never-ending conflict between the triad of politicians, business and environmental interests, Michigan poet Alison Swan operates on a different level.
Fully cognizant of these struggles, Swan engages them on a human and experiential level through her poetry by calling “the reader to witness, appreciate and sustain this world before it becomes too late,” as described on the cover of her new book, “A Fine Canopy.”
“A Fine Canopy” is a collection of poems based on Swan’s life-long personal experiences, diverse locales where she has lived and material collected over decades.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/michigan-alison-swan-environmental-experiential-poetry-book/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — One of the world’s longest-running wildlife field studies has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since 1959, a research team has spent most of the winter observing the interplay between wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-pandemic-interrupts-longtime-isle-royale-wolf-moose-study/
