Lake Michigan drops, letting boat launches and roads reopen
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210318-lake-michigan-water
After two seasons of unusable roadways and boat launches, the city of Grand Haven, Michigan is hoping that the past two years of planning will help it be more prepared if lake levels rise again soon. Read and view the full story by WOOD -TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210318-lake-michigan-water
Lake Ontario water levels continue to drop and are currently running near a foot below average. The risk of significant flooding is near zero for Lake Ontario and that is welcome news for those that had damage from the flooding over the past few years. Read and view the full story by WROC -TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210318-ontario-water-levels
Despite the border restrictions during the pandemic, Americans and Canadians who are part of the Detroit River Coalition will be working together during a week-long celebration and cleanup of the Detroit River, April 17-24. Read the full story by The Macomb Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210318-earth-week
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D59AA0.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBCFWGRB.44f3b80c5342270253bcbf3a852b006c
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D59AA0.WindAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBNPWGRB.efe0c6c92dc41c91e07452d193b006a3
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D47C4C.WindAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBNPWGRB.efe0c6c92dc41c91e07452d193b006a3
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D47A58.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBCFWGRB.44f3b80c5342270253bcbf3a852b006c
President Joe Biden’s recent “Buy American” executive order could provide future employment and economic growth for Michigan, food processors and agricultural industries, experts say.
The post Michigan food industries enthused about Biden “Buy American” order first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/03/18/michigan-food-industries-enthused-about-biden-buy-american-order/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D3C25C.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBCFWGRB.44f3b80c5342270253bcbf3a852b006c
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D3C1F8.WindAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBNPWGRB.efe0c6c92dc41c91e07452d193b006a3
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D34E58.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBCFWGRB.44f3b80c5342270253bcbf3a852b006c
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194D349A8.WindAdvisory.126194E281C0WI.GRBNPWGRB.30531cd658ed766fba946f4758d34b25
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers.
Extremely high winds occasionally churn up deep water with low oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in Erie’s central basin and shove it into the shallower western section, creating a hazard for fish and insects on which they feed.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-scientists-climate-whipped-winds-great-lakes-hazards/
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/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194C6A16C.SpecialWeatherStatement.126194C73190WI.GRBSPSGRB.5e771a216ff8e52d0625293ab8f2366d
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources put out an alert to destroy and dispose of certain commercially available moss balls because some of the small, fuzzy flora were found to be infested with zebra mussels. Read the full story by WORT – Madison, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-moss-balls
Keeping petroleum flowing through the Line 5 pipeline is imperative to the economy and energy security of Canada and the U.S., Canadian government, according to comments made by business and union representatives to a Michigan Senate panel earlier this week. Read the full story by The Bridge Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-line-5-shutdown
Keeping petroleum flowing through the Line 5 pipeline is imperative to the economy and energy security of Canada and the U.S., Canadian government, according to comments made by business and union representatives to a Michigan Senate panel earlier this week. Read the full story by The Bridge Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-line-5-shutdown
Courts in the United States would take “many, many years” to resolve the battle between Canada and Michigan over Line 5, according to Enbridge. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-line-5-court-dispute
Climate change in the Great Lakes region means more intense storms, and already some towns are finding they’re flooding where they never have before. One city in Michigan is finding the solution to stormwater runoff is nature. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-natural-infrastructure
Researchers found that a type of algae already found in the Great Lakes could trap up to one trillion pieces of microplastic in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Environmental Health News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-microplastics-and-algae
Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers. Read the full story by The Times Leader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-wind-hazards
Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers. Read the full story by The Times Leader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-wind-hazards
A ban on lead use in fishing equipment is again being discussed by the Minnesota State Legislature. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-lead-ban
Due to a lack of ice cover on Lake Erie, the New York Power Authority says they’re preparing to remove the Lake Erie-Niagara River ice boom this Thursday. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-ice-boom
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has set online listening sessions for residents who live in the Marinette and Peshtigo areas to share their thoughts on PFAS contamination. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-pfas-listening-session
Engineers are using virtual reality to perfect the design of a new Soo Lock that will soon be under construction and they’re sharing some of that imagery with the public. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210317-soo-locks
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (March 17, 2021)—The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is hailing the introduction of new legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021, that invests $50 billion over five years to update antiquated water infrastructure. The Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin face more than $188 billion in repairs and upgrades to their drinking water and wastewater infrastructure over the next 20 years to meet the needs of communities.
Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, said:
“This bill goes a long way in the effort to provide clean drinking water to communities, prevent sewage contamination and other pollutants from harming people’s health, and restoring the Great Lakes. Every person in this country deserves access to clean, safe and affordable water, and this bill provides a level of investment that will help reduce pollution and make water bills more affordable for people. We thank Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Chairwoman Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa) for their leadership on this bill. We look forward to working with the House to pass this bill, before the problems become worse and more expensive to solve.”
The Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021 boosts investments in the EPA’s popular Clean Water State Revolving Fund to $40 billion over five years and provides billions of dollars in grants to address stormwater, sewer overflows, watershed-based pilot programs, and toxic PFAS cleanup.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 160 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at www.healthylakes.org or follow us on Twitter @healthylakes.
The post Coalition Hails Bill to Invest $50 Billion in Water Infrastructure appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/coalition-hails-bill-to-invest-50-billion-in-water-infrastructure/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194C625FC.SpecialWeatherStatement.126194C69550WI.GRBSPSGRB.f78a67b308ead913b6602ecedbbe287d
In the April installment of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks,” Sarah Balgooyen will discuss “Forever Chemicals: PFAS in the Green Bay Watershed.”
The Lake Talks are informal, interactive science presentations on Great Lakes issues, especially those involving Lake Michigan. In light of the ongoing pandemic, spring 2021 Lake Talks are being offered via Zoom.
Balgooyen will speak Thursday, April 15, from 7-8 p.m. (Register now for this Zoom webinar.)
Dr. Sarah Balgooyen at work in a laboratory on the UW-Madison campus. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)
PFAS are a category of chemicals frequently found in firefighting foams, Teflon and many other common products. They are a hot topic in water research because they are estimated to contaminate the drinking water of 16.5 million people in the United States alone, and much more needs to be understood about these chemicals.
One site of concern in Wisconsin is the Tyco Fire Products facility in Marinette. These concerns involve not only drinking water from private wells in the area, but also the possibility for contaminants to get into the bay of Green Bay and, ultimately, out into Lake Michigan.
Balgooyen, who completed her Ph.D. at UW-Madison in 2019, has been studying this area as the J. Philip Keillor Water Science Fellow at Wisconsin Sea Grant.
In this informal talk geared toward a general audience, Balgooyen will talk about her research process and what she’s found so far. There will also be time during the hour for audience questions. This Zoom webinar is free and open to all.
For connection information for future talks, visit the Lake Talks page of the Wisconsin Sea Grant website, or follow Wisconsin Sea Grant on Facebook or Twitter. You can register for Sarah Balgooyen’s talk now.
For questions about this series, contact Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith.
The post Informal science talk to address PFAS in the Green Bay watershed first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/informal-science-talk-to-address-pfas-in-the-green-bay-watershed/
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/
Last year was difficult for West Michigan breweries.
The post Grants help keep breweries open and saves jobs, brewers say first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/03/17/grants-help-keep-breweries-open-and-saves-jobs-brewers-say/
Conventional farming practices have eroded much of the topsoil from a region of the Midwest known as the corn belt, according to a recent study.
The post As much as a third of the topsoil in the corn belt may be gone first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/03/17/as-much-as-a-third-of-the-topsoil-in-the-corn-belt-may-be-gone/
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/
Despite above average outflows from the Great Lakes, water levels remain high due to high weather-caused inflow, damaging shoreline communities and causing costly restoration for homeowners. Read the full story by Orilliamatters.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-shoreline-communities-water-levels
Canada’s federal government announced Monday that it is investing $2 million for projects in Terrace Bay and Red Rock through the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada plan, replacing water mains, sanitary sewers, and storm sewers to reduce the risk of flooding. Read the full story by WDIO – TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-ontario-water-infrastructure
Coast Guard Cutters Mackinaw and Mobile Bay commenced the break out of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal as of Monday March 15. On Tuesday March 16, captain of the port Lake Michigan opened the southern half of Green Bay to commercial navigation. The regulated navigation area previously closed will be reopened as the two Coast Guard ice breakers proceed south creating a track through the ice from Sturgeon Bay to the Fox River entrance. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-sturgeon-bay-canal-shipping
The state of Michigan has announced a total of $3.6 million in grants for 29 projects to combat invasive species that will be awarded through the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program. Read the full story by WLUC – TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-michigan-invasive-species-projects
Midland and other cities were hit hard by a flood caused by the failure of a dam. If that flood happened a few years ago, the damage could have been worse. But, due to wetland restoration efforts, the thousand acres of restored wetlands helped reduce the severity of that flood. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-wetland-restoration-floods
As of March 12, the Great Lakes water levels for 2021 are tracking below last year’s average levels, although Lake Michigan and Huron still remain well above the long-term average levels according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read the full story by WZZM – FM – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-water-levels
The Soo Locks will open 12 hours early this year, kicking off the 2021-22 Great Lakes shipping season a little ahead of schedule on March 24th at noon. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-shipping-soo-locks
The Ontario government is investing $20 million over the next four years in the Greenlands Conservation Partnership to help secure land of ecological importance and promote healthy, natural spaces. The funding will enable conservation groups to restore and manage natural areas while assisting a commitment under the province’s Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan to mitigate effects of climate change. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-ontario-conservation
Pet stores in 32 states were recently found to be selling moss balls studded with the invasive species, zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), and the U.S. government wants the mollusks gone, one mangled moss ball at a time. Read the full story by AtlasObscura.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-invasive-species-mussel-moss
Last November, Gov. Whitmer revoked the easement that allows the Line 5 pipeline to operate, and ordered Enbridge to halt oil transport by May this year. Cited in the revocation, for the first time in the history of Line 5, Michigan’s administration officially acknowledged nearly 200-year-old Indigenous Chippewa and Ottawa treaty rights as one of the reasons to shut down the pipeline project and protect Great Lakes ecology and fisheries. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-line-5-treaty-rights
Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-climate-water-quality
Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210316-climate-water-quality
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/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126194B64588.SpecialWeatherStatement.126194B6BCACWI.GRBSPSGRB.a446b7842bc9225dd8018d225a08c648
Longtime Michigan crusader earned his nickname.
The post Frank Kelley had a lasting impact on Michigan’s environment – and on me first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/03/16/frank-kelley-had-a-lasting-impact-on-michigans-environment-and-on-me/
Chicago environmental groups are pushing to protect urban gardens from fines levied for having too many weeds.
The post Chicago could adopt garden registry soon first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/03/16/chicago-could-adopt-garden-registry-soon/