When Great Lakes Now Host Ward Detwiler isn’t introducing PBS audiences to the joys and troubles of the Great Lakes on our monthly program, he’s busy running a software company that’s revolutionizing MRI technology.
That work recently landed him on DBusiness Magazine‘s 2020 “30 in Their Thirties” list.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/dbusiness-crains-list-ward-detwiler/
By Lynne Peeples, Ensia, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
This story is the first in a nine-month investigation of drinking water contamination across the U.S. The series is supported by funding from the Park Foundation and Water Foundation.
Once a week, Florencia Ramos makes a special trip to the R–N Market in Lindsay, California.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/drinking-unsafe-water-contaminants-solutions/
EDENVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Residents who lost their lakes when dams collapsed in mid-Michigan could be getting expensive long-term bills to restore them.
People near Wixom and Sanford lakes in Midland and Gladwin counties could pay thousands of dollars per year for 40 years, if that duration is allowed by the state, the Four Lakes Task Force said Thursday during an online meeting.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-residents-midland-dams-paying-for-years/
By Elena Bruess, Circle of Blue
At the shoreline, between lake and land, Melissa Wiatrolik reflects on those who were here before Michigan became Michigan. She had been raised in a community that honored the dead, that understood that their ancestors were always present. As a child, she had watched her own family clean the gravestones of those before her.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/michigan-rising-lake-levels-sacred-ground/
Following the Midland dam failures in May, a special task force was set up to evaluate Michigan’s dam safety rules and regulations. The task force had its first meeting virtually on Tuesday.
Learn more about the task force in Michigan Radio’s report here.
Read more about Midland and dams on Great Lakes Now:
Dam Investment: How does Michigan stack up against Great Lakes peers?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/michigan-dam-safety-task-force/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Enbridge said Wednesday it will fully resume operation of a Michigan Great Lakes oil pipeline after a partial shutdown this summer because of damage to a support structure.
Circuit Judge James Jamo signed an order allowing the Canadian company to restore the flow through one of its Line 5 pipes beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-judge-line-5-great-lakes-pipeline/
By Kelly House, Bridge, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Enbridge Energy had already won the blessing from Michigan’s Republican Legislature to build a tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac to keep oil flowing through Line 5, and survived a legal challenge that sought to unravel that plan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/enbridge-line-5-permit-michigan-critics/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in the Midwest is refuting the findings of an internal investigation that found that a lack of record-keeping controls and standard operating procedures could be preventing it from fulfilling federal record-keeping responsibilities.
The EPA’s Office of Inspector General found that Region 5, which oversees EPA activities in Indiana and five other states, could not verify whether employees were using the agency’s official record-keeping system, preserving records for litigation holds and agency use, or knew how to report and investigate a suspected loss of records.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/epa-region-5-internal-watchdog-report-record-keeping/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An invasive aquatic plant — first detected in southeastern Michigan in 1996 — has been found in four inland lakes in Washtenaw and Jackson counties.
The presence of European frogbit has been confirmed within the Waterloo Recreation Area, according to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-frogbit-invasive-aquatic-plant-michigan-inland-lakes/
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.
Forty years after Uniroyal shut down in Detroit, contaminated sediment cleanup is starting in the Detroit River off this former industrial site.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/great-lakes-moment-uniroyal-contaminated-sediment-cleanup/
Josh Otten reached down and pulled two turtles from the bow compartment of his kayak. One was the size of a dinner plate; the other was barely the size of a silver dollar pancake. Both were northern map turtles, the most common species of turtle in the Kalamazoo River watershed, according to Otten who played a key role in the rescue and rehabilitation of more than 2,000 turtles in 2010 following the Kalamazoo River oil spill.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/turtle-recovery-kalamazoo-river-enbridge-oil-spill/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Michigan’s Bay County to lose millions in tax revenue with closure of coal plant; a COVID-19 study looking at energy crises cites rural areas and tribal nations in Michigan; and Ohio legislators begin the repeal process for controversial House Bill 6.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/great-lakes-energy-ohio-nuclear-michigan-coal-crisis/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers on Tuesday began approving a budget bill that would authorize the federal government’s supplemental $300-a-week unemployment benefit during the coronavirus pandemic and provide $6 million in state funding for costs related to devastating flooding in the Midland area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-michigan-house-jobless-benefits-flood-costs/
Alongside the illnesses, deaths and closures caused by COVID-19, the threat of climate change still hangs over communities across the Great Lakes region and around the world. And the people and organizations fighting against climate change and for environmental justice have found themselves caught between these two threats to public health.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/intersecting-crises-climate-change-justice-covid-19/
In her first regional appearance after taking office in January 2019, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made it clear that Michigan would take a leadership role on Great Lakes issues.
“Michigan has to lead on Great Lakes issues,” Whitmer told Great Lakes Now after speaking to fellow Great Lakes governors and Canadian premiers and the broader Great Lakes community in Milwaukee.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/michigan-state-great-lakes-drinking-water-quality/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Keeping a 64-year-old oil pipeline in operation by running one portion through a proposed Great Lakes tunnel would safeguard the economy and energy supplies, supporters said Monday, while opponents described the project as an unnecessary risk that would contribute to global warming.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-pipeline-tunnel-supporters-foes-clash-michigan-panel/
After a stint as an intern for Great Lakes Now, Kathy Johnson is shining a light on the Kalamazoo River oil spill 10 years ago and the subsequent turtle recovery efforts with her first fully produced segment for Great Lakes Now.
Like many journalists working in the Great Lakes region covering stories about the Great Lakes, Kathy Johnson’s roots begin in the region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-producer-ecosystems-life-water-covering-lakes/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A $600 million deal between the state of Michigan and Flint residents who were harmed by lead-tainted water is a step toward making amends for a disaster that upended life in the poor, majority-Black city, Gov.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-whitmer-flint-water-deal-600-million/
Michigan will pay $600 million to compensate Flint residents whose health was damaged by lead-tainted drinking water after the city heeded state regulators’ advice not to treat it properly, an attorney involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Details will be released later this week, according to the attorney, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about it ahead of an official announcement.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-michigan-deal-flint-water-crisis/
Grand Traverse County, Michigan
CCO Meeting:
Tuesday, September 15 from 1-2:30pm EST
For information on attending this meeting please send your name and local address to Edgar.Patino@ogilvy.com and you will be provided with information on joining the meeting.
Open House:
To be scheduled
Charlevoix County, Michigan
Tuesday, September 15 from 3-4:30pm EST
For information on attending this meeting please send your name and local address to Edgar.Patino@ogilvy.com and you will be provided with information on joining the meeting.
Open House:
To be scheduled
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
https://www.greatlakescoast.org/2020/08/19/lake-michigan-community-consultation-officers-meeting-and-open-house-for-grand-traverse-county-and-charlevoix-county-michigan/
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan regulators have rejected a suburban Detroit county’s plan to convert state waters into an open-air sewage treatment lagoon.
The Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said Friday it had denied Macomb County’s application to place the structure at the end of the Chapaton Retention Treatment Basin.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-michigan-macomb-county-sewage-treatment-lagoon-plan/
ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) — A bald eagle launched an aerial assault on a drone operated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy — known as EGLE — ripping off a propeller and sending the aircraft into Lake Michigan.
The attack happened July 21, when the drone was mapping shoreline erosion near Escanaba in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to document and help communities cope with high water levels, the department said in a statement.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-bald-eagle-drone-lake-michigan/
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/2020/08/pfas-news-roundup-pfas-in-fast-food-packaging-every-madison-well/
ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) — Michigan officials are investigating a fish kill that affected a dozen species on the middle branch of the Escanaba River in the Upper Peninsula.
The die-off was reported Aug. 9 on the 52-mile-long river, which is popular with anglers, officials said Wednesday.
It happened near Gladstone, downstream of Verso Corp.’s Escanaba Paper Mill, which the previous week had reported the rupture of a pipe at its wastewater treatment plant.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-michigan-fish-kill-escanaba-river/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Nature is returning to craters left from lakes drained by two dams that failed in May during torrential rain in mid-Michigan.
But not always in a good way.
“Shortly after the water receded, you could look out over the exposed bottom lands of the lake and it was like looking at the Sahara Desert,” said Dave Rothman, a board member with the Four Lakes Task Force, which is looking to obtain the four dams as well as the two lakes that were not drained.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-plants-midland-michigan-lakes-dams-failure/
Calling their communities sacrifice zones for being home to hazardous waste storage sites, residents in a Detroit neighborhood are taking a stand.
Last week, residents with support from the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center filed a formal complaint with Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy over the agency’s January decision to allow a storage site to increase capacity by nine fold.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/detroit-activists-environmental-justice-hazardous-waste-sites/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Controversial open-pit sulfide mine in UP faces major delays due to COVID-19, utility companies in Ohio and Illinois set to resume disconnections after pandemic-induced moratorium lapses, and Enbridge completes replacement work on Line 5 under St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-energy-back-forty-mine-illinois-ohio-utility-shutoff/
Mass water shutoffs in Detroit following the city’s bankruptcy proceedings brought the issue of water affordability and water shutoffs into public notoriety in the U.S. in 2014.
The threat of COVID-19 brought the issue back to the forefront as the CDC urged people to wash their hands frequently.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/water-debt-environmental-justice/
Michigan is at the forefront of states in the U.S. when it comes to taking action against per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of manmade chemicals found in a wide range of consumer products as well as firefighting foam.
On Monday, Michigan’s new statewide PFAS maximum contaminant levels took effect, and they are currently among the most comprehensive and strict standards in the country in limiting the amount of PFAS in drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/pfas-michigan-legislative-push-action/
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.
Guy O. Williams knew very little about the Great Lakes growing up in Lanham, Maryland, about 10 miles northeast of Washington, D.C.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-moment-guy-williams-environmental-justice/
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/2020/07/pfas-new-compound-artic-seawater-michigan-rules/
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 ory:
Indiana:
The White River Alliance, the premier organization for regional water resource protection in Indiana, is going virtual for the third annual Indiana Water Summit, a forum developed to examine the complex interests and issues that face Indiana’s water supply.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/drinking-water-lead-pittsburgh-ny-stream-protection/
DETROIT (AP) — Flint residents whose health and homes were harmed by lead-contaminated water scored a legal milestone Wednesday when the Michigan Supreme Court said they could proceed with a lawsuit against public officials for the disastrous decisions that caused the scandal.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-court-flint-class-action-lead-water/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Carin Tunney, Great Lakes Now
A million-dollar grant to study aquaculture aims to boost the number of fish farms in the Great Lakes region.
Aquaculture refers to raising fish both to eat and to stock streams and lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/grant-great-lakes-aquaculture/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Recent damage that prompted the temporary shutdown of an Enbridge oil pipeline in a channel linking two of the Great Lakes may have been done by vessels working for the company, according to an in-house report provided Thursday to The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-enbridge-contractor-vessels-line-5-pipeline-support/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer criticized Enbridge Inc. on Wednesday for what she described as the company’s refusal to make an airtight pledge to pay for damages caused by a potential oil spill from its pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-whitmer-enbridge-dodging-responsibility-line-5-oil-spill/
With two segments in the latest episode of the Great Lakes Now monthly program, producer David Ruck is bringing audiences insight about two major issues in the Great Lakes region: how pollution from farmland impacts water quality and what financial cost current high water levels are having for communities around the region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/water-great-lakes-now-producer/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan sought a written pledge Friday from Enbridge Inc. to cover costs that would arise if oil were to leak from its dual pipelines that extend across a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, although the Canadian pipeline company said it had already made such a promise.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-michigan-enbridge-line-5-pledge-funds-oil-spill/
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/2020/07/pfas-michigan-wisconsin-legislation-foam-covid-19/
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:
Indiana:
When its water supply was running low in May, Andrews tapped into an unused well but was forced to shut it down again after the town found high levels of cancer-causing chemical vinyl chloride left over from a factory now owned by Raytheon Technologies.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/drinking-water-ohio-shutoffs-lead-exposure-private-wells/
Great Lakes states and provinces have opened up their parks to overnight campers again now that COVID-19 closures have been lifted.
In March, national parks were closed in Canada, along with Ontario provincial parks. In the U.S., while parks remained open to visitors, facilities and many campgrounds were closed to the public.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/visitors-flock-parks-beaches-lakes-provinces-states-reopen/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Protections to prevent water shutoffs during the coronavirus pandemic are being extended to the end of the year under an order signed Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Since March, 2,477 Michiganders have had their water restored through a grant to help utilities reconnect consumers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-water-shutoff-extended-michigan-governor/
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tromped through a strawberry festival in central Florida, detailing the government’s new trade pact. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked about foreign policy at a roundtable in south Florida.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-trump-cabinet-members-michigan-wisconsin-voters/
Nestle might be selling its contentious Michigan bottled water brand, but water rights activists in the Great Lakes region aren’t so quick to let go of the issue.
Swiss-based Nestle recently announced it’s looking for buyers for its North America regional brands including Ice Mountain which has operated in Michigan since the early 2000’s.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/nestle-great-lakes-exit-bottled-water/
Fatbergs — massive buildups of wipes and hygiene products congealed with greases and oils — make for a cringe-worthy topic. And the damage they cause to sewer systems can be a huge amount of trouble for the people in charge of those sewer systems.
That includes Candice Miller, the Public Works Commissioner in southeast Michigan’s Macomb County.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/legislation-flushable-wipes-court-law-fatberg/
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.
Scientists have predicted that warmer, wetter and wilder weather is coming and that this will be one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st Century.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/water-levels-climate-change-warmer-wetter-wilder/
The U.S. headed into the Fourth of July weekend with many parades and fireworks displays canceled, beaches and bars closed, and health authorities warning that this will be a crucial test of Americans’ self-control that could determine the trajectory of the surging coronavirus outbreak.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-july-fourth-weekend-covid-19/
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer doesn’t need another crisis.
For six of her 18 months in office she’s been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic that grips Michigan and shows few signs of abating. Then came a May rain deluge that contributed to the failure of an already dangerous dam that displaced 10,000 people.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/whitmer-michigan-dilemma-line-5-northern-michigan/
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/2020/07/pfas-michigan-foam-pfas-covid-19/
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge Wednesday allowed Enbridge to resume pumping oil through a Midwestern pipeline, nearly a week after shutting it down because of damage to a structure that anchors a section of the line running through a Great Lakes channel.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-michigan-judge-restart-line-5-oil-pipeline/
