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New Michigan law requires homeowners associations to allow rooftop solar

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.

People who want to install solar panels on their roofs have to consider a lot: sunlight, cost, and coordinating with contractors and utilities.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/07/new-michigan-law-requires-homeowners-associations-to-allow-rooftop-solar/

Interlochen Public Radio

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What is a liquid? Utilities sue to avoid coal ash cleanup — and lose

By Gautama Mehta, Grist

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

Across America, millions of tons of toxic waste are sitting in pits next to coal plants. But whether they will get cleaned up has come down to a legal debate over the definitions of words.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/07/what-is-a-liquid-utilities-sue-to-avoid-coal-ash-cleanup-and-lose/

Grist

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News

Great Lakes Commission releases user-friendly, secure Great Lakes water use database

Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) announced today that it has released an updated Great Lakes Water Use Database website that is more secure and will make it easier for the public to access water use data. Upgrades to the site include: a streamlined, more intuitive process for water use data managers to report their jurisdictions’ data and metadata; an improved public-facing “create your own query” tool that will allow users to create charts based on their specific data selections; and enhanced security features to better protect data before it is published.

“More than 30 million people in the basin rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, jobs, industry and more,” said Loren Wobig, Great Lakes Commissioner and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s alternate on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council (Compact Council) and Designee on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body (Regional Body). “This new website will help regional decision-makers better manage our water resources responsibly for all the basin’s residents.”

“One of the key goals of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence water management compact and agreement was facilitating the exchange of data and strengthening the scientific information upon which decisions are made,” said Peter Johnson, Deputy Director of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers (GSGP), the organization that serves as secretariat to the Compact Council and Regional Body. “This upgrade to the water use database is an important step in further advancing the Governors’ and Premiers’ water management priorities.”

For nearly 40 years, as part of the historic water agreements, the eight states and two provinces in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin have provided water use data to the regional water use database. The GLC compiles and summarizes these datasets into an annual report that is submitted to the Compact Council and Regional Body, which manage the agreements to sustainably manage Great Lakes water.

To view the new website, visit waterusedata.glc.org.

The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, is a binational government agency established in 1955 to protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. Its membership includes leaders from the eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin. The GLC recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. Learn more at www.glc.org.

Contact

For media inquiries, please contact Beth Wanamaker, beth@glc.org.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/news/wudb-071224

Beth Wanamaker

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Environmental and administrative lawyers say that efforts to protect Wisconsin’s water from contaminants such as PFAS could be harmed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the 40-year-old precedent known as Chevron deference. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Examiner.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-court-decision-impact

James Polidori

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A Wisconsin state law forbids lead pipe replacement when a private water utility is involved. Superior Water, Light & Power – the only private water utility statewide – and local officials are pushing to change the law in order to accelerate lead pipe replacement. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-lead-removal

James Polidori

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In: Daily News

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has proposed a new project to mitigate the immediate risks of erosion along the Line 5 oil pipeline, a move that comes amid fraught conflict between the Band and the Canadian oil giant Enbridge. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-erosion-prevention

James Polidori

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In: Daily News

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has launched an environmental review of the potential impacts of repowering the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in west Michigan’s Covert Township. Read the full story by The Detroit News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-nuclear-plant-restart

James Polidori

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In: Daily News

The historic 1,000-pound anchor from the Oak Leaf, a schooner-turned-barge that sank in Wisconsin’s Sturgeon Bay in 1928, was recently moved to Bullhead Point, a small spit of land jutting into the Sturgeon Bay channel which is now on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historical and Archaeological District. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-anchor-relocation

James Polidori

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In: Daily News

As of Wednesday, eight Michigan beaches were closed due to high Escherichia coli, or E. coli, levels in the water within Arenac, Bay, Macomb, Oakland, Lenawee, and Allegan counties. Beach closure information is updated regularly on BeachGuard, a site run by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Read the full story by The Alpena News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-beach-closures

James Polidori