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In: data centers, Drinking Water, groundwater, PFAS

Data Center bills in the Wisconsin State Legislature

On February 17, 2026 the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology, and Tourism held a hearing on data center development bills. River Alliance’s Agriculture and Policy Director Mike Tiboris attended the hearing and submitted the following testimony on why our state should pause new data center construction until our leaders fully understand the implications of how industries with extreme energy and water demands will have on our resources.

Chair Bradley and the members of the Committee on Utilities, Technology, and Tourism:

Thank you for holding this hearing for several bills on the emerging issues related to data center development in Wisconsin. River Alliance of Wisconsin has registered neutral on SB 729 and opposed on both SB 843 and AB 840 as written. River Alliance is a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization that empowers people to protect and restore Wisconsin’s waters at a local level. The organization’s supporters include more than 5,000 individuals and businesses and nearly a hundred local watershed organizations. 

All of these bills recognize that we must thoughtfully confront the sudden construction pressure from a rapidly evolving technology. Our concern is that we do not allow Wisconsin’s water, among our most valuable public assets, to be mortgaged for unproven benefits and without adequate protection. A medium-sized data center consumes as much water as 1000 households per year for cooling (110 million gallons). Rapid and improperly regulated data center construction poses a potentially serious threat to our natural water resources. The benefits to Wisconsin of data center construction are unproven, but the hazards to our water are quite clear. Data centers directly use water to cool servers that generate heat either through evaporative cooling or through the addition of contaminants that can be discharged in wastewater and enter the environment. Further, these facilities may invite the construction of new hydropower facilities on already taxed river systems and cause aging, outdated, facilities to stay online. Often touted as “green”, hydropower operations can cause myriad negative environmental impacts, from preventing fish migrations to reducing water quality and water quantity at critical times of the year, affecting aquatic life and recreation.

Our preference in this moment of uncertainty would be to pause all new data center construction until we can develop appropriate legislative mechanisms for managing its downsides. Legislators’ recently proposed moratorium on data center construction should be used to give the Legislature time to create thoughtful controls that ensure new data centers actually benefit Wisconsinites and do not cause problems we could avoid if we took the time to prepare for them. Our abundant natural water and land resources are an obvious attraction for companies that want to build projects in Wisconsin, but we should be very careful to make sure the benefits are not simply handed to companies to export from the state for their own profit at the cost of damage to an irreplaceable public good and, at best, uncertain employment or tax benefits.

 

SB 729

River Alliance has registered neutral on SB 729. We are supportive of the bill’s emphasis on making sure that data centers pay for the energy that they use and that their usage does not drive up the cost of energy for Wisconsin homeowners. Similarly, it is common sense that such large water users should be required to report on their usage when it accounts for 25 percent or more of the total water usage of all customers for a water utility. Enforcing transparency about usage will help communities, utilities, and municipalities respond appropriately to water demand increases that could have very negative effects on local water sources, ecosystem health, and the costs of water provision.

We support the idea of encouraging data centers to rely on renewable wind and solar energy sources. SB 729 would require that at least 70 percent of the total annual electric energy used by the buildings be derived from renewable resources, as defined under s.16.75(12)(a)4. The definition of “renewable energy” referenced, however, includes hydropower, and we do not support the construction of new hydroelectric generation facilities to power data centers. 

Many people believe that hydropower, which uses dams and gravity to spin electricity generating turbines, is a clean, climate-smart, energy source. This is a misconception. While wind and solar power offer renewable low-carbon energy and are generally cheaper than fossil fuels, hydropower can cause environmental damage. Dams and reservoirs alter river flows, raise water temperature, degrade water quality, increase sedimentation in reservoirs, and prevent migrations of fish and native mussels harming aquatic ecosystems and Wisconsin communities. Reservoirs are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, predominantly methane, an especially potent greenhouse gas, that results from eutrophication and harmful algal blooms.

Again, River Alliance supports the approach that SB 729 takes to create water usage transparency and accountability, to ensure that the costs of new energy and water demand are borne by the data centers and not by other customers, and to encourage the use of renewable energy like wind and solar as power sources. We are concerned that, in its current form, the bill will encourage expansions of hydropower generation that will extensively damage aquatic ecosystems and may be more destructive to the climate than fossil fuel use in some cases.

 

SB 843 and AB 840

The above reasons also underwrite our opposition to both of these bills as written. The bills require that “any renewable energy facility that primarily serves the load of a data center must be located at the site of the data center.” (Section 2. 196.492(2), lines 16-17). Again, using the definition of renewable energy from s. 196.378 (1)(fg), we are concerned this will encourage the construction of new, environmentally damaging, hydropower facilities. Limiting the use of renewable energy to sources constructed on site is unnecessarily restrictive and would likely have the effect of discouraging renewable energy use entirely. Because the bills do not explicitly require that data center owners pay the full cost of their energy use, this will drive up the cost of energy for Wisconsin residents while increasing pollution.

However, the requirements to require reporting to the DNR about annual water usage and to ensure that the costs of reclamation and failure of the facility are borne by the data center owners are sensible. 

We are encouraged by the serious interest the Legislature is taking in managing the environmental consequences of data center construction. Given the likelihood that the industry will expand rapidly in the coming years, we hope this is the beginning of a sustained conversation about how to ensure that the benefits of data centers accrue to Wisconsinites and that these do not come with irreparable harm to our land and water resources.

– Mike Tiboris, Agriculture and Policy Director

 

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The post Data Center bills in the Wisconsin State Legislature appeared first on River Alliance of WI.

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Blog - River Alliance of WI

Blog - River Alliance of WI

https://wisconsinrivers.org/data-center-bills/

Allison Werner

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In: Featured, Industry, Energy, Economic Development

This story is part of a Great Lakes News Collaborative series called Shockwave: Rising energy demand and the future of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes region is in the midst of a seismic energy shakeup, from skyrocketing data center demand and a nuclear energy boom, to expanding renewables and electrification. In 2026, the Great Lakes News Collaborative will explore how shifting supply and demand affect the region and its waters.

The collaborative’s five newsrooms — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal — are funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. – As a study in troubled operation, the Palisades Nuclear Plant once was ranked by the federal government as one of the four worst-performing nuclear power stations in the country. The 51-year-old facility closed in 2022, joining Big Rock Point near Charlevoix and 11 other nuclear plants decommissioned outside Michigan in what appeared to represent the sunset of the era of splitting atoms to produce electricity.

Not so fast. Sometime in the next few months a New Jersey-based company called Holtec International is expected to finish renovating Palisades, fire up the old reactor, and add 800 megawatts of generating capacity to Michigan’s electricity supply. It would be the first time a decommissioned nuclear plant has ever restarted in the United States. 

And that’s not the only game-changing nuclear development occurring at the Palisades site along the Lake Michigan shoreline in the state’s southwest corner. Holtec is busy seeking permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal licensing and safety agency, to start construction for a new 680-megawatt nuclear generating station next door to the old reactor. The company wants to power the new plant with not one but two 340-megawatt advanced small modular reactors. 

So-called “SMRs” are now viewed by the industry, government, utilities, and big energy consumers as one of the go-to electrical generating technologies of the 21st century. Holtec’s planned Pioneer I and II small reactors, and its Palisades reactor restart, signal the opening of a new era of electrical supply and demand in the Great Lakes basin. 

Holtec’s commitment to nuclear power, like other developers in the U.S. nuclear sector, is motivated by several converging and unconfirmed projections that are prompting billions of dollars in investment. By far the most important are that the cost of building nuclear plants will fall, and that demand for electricity will significantly increase. Nuclear developers and utility executives have embraced both optimistic scenarios, especially that electrical demand could increase as much as 50 percent by mid-century, driven by data center construction, new manufacturing plants, growing cities, and electrified transportation. Both of Holtec’s projects in Michigan, and several more developments by other companies in Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, and Ontario, are giving nuclear power new purchase in the region’s energy landscape.

One of the most influential supporters is Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is positioning Michigan at the lead of the nuclear revival era. She declared in a statement that opening Palisades and adding the SMR plant “will lower energy costs, reaffirm Michigan’s clean energy leadership, and show the world that we are the best place to do business.” 

Gov. Whitmer signed legislation in 2023 mandating that 100 percent of the state’s electricity come from “clean power” sources, among them nuclear energy. Michigan awarded Holtec $300 million to restart Palisades, a portion of the public funding package that included $1.52 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy. The Energy Department also awarded Holtec $400 million more to develop the new SMR plant. 

A study of SMR development by the Department of Energy in 2023 found that construction costs for the first plants, like the one Holtec is planning, will be high because of limits on the supply chain providing parts, construction experience, and unknown interest rates for financing. At current estimates of SMR construction costs of $12 million to $15 million per megawatt, Holtec’s 680-megawatt plant could be put into operation at a cost of $7 billion to $10 billion.

Michigan’s bid to stimulate new markets for nuclear energy, moreover, are still dogged by old concerns about safety, waste management, and the cost of construction and operation. Three public interest groups filed a federal lawsuit in November asserting that opening the old Palisades reactor was illegal and unsafe. The case is pending in Federal District Court in Grand Rapids.

Safety, Cost, Waste Addressed

By any measure, managing high-level radioactive waste from commercial reactors has not changed much in the last half century and persists as an issue because no permanent waste repository has been established in the U.S. But other considerations of the risks, benefits, and cost of nuclear power are tilting in new directions, especially for SMR plants like the one Holtec is proposing in Michigan. 

SMR developers make a consistent case for proceeding with the new technology. 

Water consumption looks to be an environmental advantage, particularly in water-abundant regions like the Great Lakes. Holtec’s environmental statement filed with the NRC reports that the two reactors will draw 25,000 gallons a minute for operation, as much as 36 million gallons a day. At that rate the new plant, which is 15 percent smaller than the existing Palisades plant, will withdraw 75 percent less water. 

Because of its more compact 123-acre footprint, the new Holtec plant would easily fit onto the 438-acre site that already encompasses the existing reactor. It will transmit electricity with the existing powerlines and infrastructure. And like other commercial reactors, SMRs don’t discharge climate-warming gases, a big factor in why nuclear power has gained considerably more support in public polling in recent years.

When it comes to operational safety, Holtec and other SMR plant developers say their designs also answer that concern. The advanced modular reactors are smaller and contain less fuel, produce lower levels of radiation, and can operate at a lower temperature and pressure than big conventional reactors. Those properties enable engineers to design a reactor that can be cooled with water or air, and can be shut down with gravity-fed systems that don’t rely on mechanical pumps. 

“When it comes to safety the question is, ‘How do I keep this cool?’” said Brendan Kochunas, associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan. “And that comes back to the amount of fuel that you have in the core. SMRs have smaller cores. There’s less heat being produced so you need to remove less heat.”

Industry executives assert that because the reactors are smaller than conventional 1,000-megawatt plants, they will require fewer construction materials, take fewer years to build, and be less expensive to operate. Industry executives say their goal is to standardize designs so that parts can be manufactured and new reactors can be assembled and shipped on trucks or by rail.  And because SMR plants have multiple reactors, one can be shut down for maintenance while the others continue operating. 

“In discussions we’ve had about small modular reactors, there may be lower upfront costs and potentially faster deployment because you don’t have quite as much concrete,” said Scott Burnell, the spokesman for the NRC in an interview. “And once you get into operation, the concept is you’ve got several small reactors running. If you bring one down for maintenance, you still have others running, generating profit.”

Race For Orders

Holtec is competing with 30 other SMR developers in the U.S. to be among the first to bring its reactor to market. Patrick O’Brien, the Holtec spokesman, explained that the company has spent 15 years designing the SMR-300, preparing architectural plans for the generating station, and keeping the NRC informed of its activities. Though the SMR-300 has not received an operating license, O’Brien said Holtec is confident it will be approved and the plant would be operating in 2032. “A lot of the work was done up front,” he said. “We’re anticipating two and a half more years’ worth of licensing work from the NRC. And two and a half years of construction.”

That’s an optimistic schedule for new nuclear plants. NuScale, an SMR designer based in Oregon, licensed its first 66-megawatt reactor with the NRC in 2023. It has yet to build a new plant. NuScale’s first project to install seven SMRs at a 462-megawatt plant in Idaho collapsed after construction cost estimates increased from under $4 billion to more than $9 billion. 

The NuScale experience reveals that uncontrolled costs are a primary impediment not just for big traditional reactors but also to SMR development. SMRs don’t exist in North America or Europe, and just three SMRs operate in the world – two 35-megawatt reactors operating on a ship in Russia and a third 125-megawatt SMR in China. “One always has to remember that these are experimental technologies,” said Joseph Romm, a physicist and senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. “Both the Russian and Chinese reactors had huge cost overruns.”

According to an important study published last year by the University of Michigan, SMRs also may produce new environmental risks that could attract more review. Small reactors, for instance, have the potential to introduce new and unregulated byproducts and increased levels of radioactivity due to the demand for highly enriched uranium fuel, according to the report, “The Reactor Around The Corner.” 

Another likely environmental risk is deploying small reactors to power big industrial projects in the world’s wild and undeveloped places. SMRs pack a lot of energy into a small and portable power source, said the report’s authors, who projected that the small reactors will enable construction of big mines and industrial plants in terrain that has been too expensive to reach or entirely inaccessible. “SMRs will introduce and exacerbate direct and indirect environmental harms, especially on marginalized communities, that complicate the justification for using them to mitigate climate change,” they wrote.

Midwest Familiarity with Atomic Technology 


To date, elected leaders and residents in Michigan and the other Great Lakes states have responded to the opening of a new era of nuclear development with much more enthusiasm than alarm. That may be due principally to the region’s pioneering role in fostering atomic energy. The first nuclear chain reaction occurred at the University of Chicago in 1942. Argonne National Laboratory opened in Illinois in 1946 to serve as the center of atomic research and technology development. The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania opened in 1957 as the first commercial nuclear generating station.

Not since the height of commercial nuclear energy construction in the 1960s and 1970s have Great Lakes states seen such a concentration of new nuclear projects either underway or planned. The Palisades restart would push the number of operating nuclear reactors in the eight states to 24, second only to the more than 30 big reactors operating in the six Southeast states. 

More big reactors could be on the way. DTE Energy notified the NRC last year that it is actively studying the development of a new reactor at its Fermi Nuclear Generating Station south of Detroit along Lake Erie. 

SMR plants, too, are attracting attention in the Great Lakes basin. Ontario Power Generation is constructing a 1,200-megawatt plant, composed of four 300-megawatt SMRs, at its Darlington Nuclear Generating Station along the shore of Lake Ontario. It could be the first operating commercial SMR plant in North America. 

Utah-based EnergySolutions is proposing to build “new nuclear generation” along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin at the Kewaunee Power Station, which closed operation in 2013. Oklo Inc., a California company, is proposing a SMR reactor in Portsmouth, Ohio, where a closed federal plant once enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. The University of Illinois notified the NRC that it is developing a gas-cooled SMR research reactor at its campus in Champaign-Urbana. 

The surge of interest is the second time this century that utilities, government, and investors have tried to revive nuclear power in the U.S., and is driven by many of the same factors. One is federal policy to promote nuclear projects. The second is a tide of government financing that can be traced back to 2021 when President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that directed $8 billion to nuclear energy. Three years later Biden signed the ADVANCE Act to make it easier and less expensive for nuclear plant developers to license their designs with the NRC.

President Trump also supports nuclear energy. He signed four executive orders in 2025 to accelerate the deployment and integration of advanced nuclear reactor technologies, and directed federal agencies to take aggressive action to build a nuclear production industry to mine and enrich uranium and construct manufacturing plants to fabricate fuel, reactors, and parts. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy exempted SMRs from National Environmental Policy Act review. 

Westinghouse late last year signed an agreement with the U.S. government to build ten 1,000-megawatt reactors in the U.S. That agreement is tied to the pact that President Trump reached with Japan last October to finance $332 billion “to support critical energy infrastructure in the United States” including the construction of ten Westinghouse AP1000 reactors and SMRs. The president also wants to develop the capacity to recycle nuclear fuel to reduce highly radioactive waste. 

Trump’s goal is to quadruple electrical generation capacity from nuclear power from 97 gigawatts today, powered by 94 operating reactors, to 400 gigawatts by 2050.

In the last five years Congress has enacted more than $20 billion in direct appropriations for nuclear energy programs, along with tax credits and federal loan authority that add billions more in federal support for existing and advanced reactors. 

U.S. technology giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft also are getting involved. 

Company executives are establishing formal agreements with nuclear developers to build and buy power for their data centers. Meta, for instance, has an agreement with Oklo Inc. to build a proposed 1,200-megawatt SMR plant in Ohio. The high-tech stalwarts also joined 14 major global banks and financial institutions, 140 nuclear industry companies, and 31 countries in signing a pledge last year in Texas to support tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050.

Just Marketing?

The big unknown is how much of this fervor is grounded in reality, and how much is hype and marketing. During the last attempt to revive nuclear energy in the U.S., from 2007 to 2010, the NRC counted over 20 nuclear plant proposals to review. But the heat of atomic hope quickly cooled as fracking started to produce ample supplies of natural gas, and much less expensive wind and solar power was gaining momentum. Just two new reactors that started construction during that period actually got built and began operating at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle. It took the utility 15 years to finish the project in 2024 at a cost of more than $30 billion. 

“Some vendors are overselling the vision,” said Kochunas of the University of Michigan. “I hope we do see some SMRs. They still have challenges in their economics. For it to succeed, one of these companies is going to need to establish a pretty substantial order book.” 

Could that be Holtec? 

“Yes,” Kochunas said. “I think they’ll get that built in Michigan. If they execute the project successfully, they will have opportunities to build more of them. Hopefully, you’ll see people lining up to get them. But if the execution of the project goes poorly and there’s significant delays and cost overruns and problems, it’s going to be hard to change that first impression.”

The post A nuclear shift buoyed by billions, and the waters of the Great Lakes appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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Great Lakes Now

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/02/18/a-nuclear-shift-buoyed-by-billions-and-the-waters-of-the-great-lakes/

Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue

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A new study examines the uniqueness of work that research centers conduct in the Great Lakes region, highlighting their importance amid dramatic changes in federal funding. Research centers in the region work together as a collaborative that complements each of them, underscoring the vitality of this network. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-research-centers

James Polidori

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation last week announced the release of proposed changes to coolwater sportfish regulations to help protect spawning fish, increase the reproductive capacity of walleye in Lake Ontario’s eastern basin, and eliminate unnecessary special regulations. Read the full story by The Syracuse Post-Standard.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-sportfishing-regulations

James Polidori

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Shipwreck hunters discovered a sunken Canadian freighter—the James Carruthers—on Lake Huron last year, the last shipwreck to be found that went down in the lake during a famous 1913 storm. The vessel was a large steel freighter equipped with state-of-the-art communication and safety equipment and was launched in Ontario in 1913, the same year it sank. Read the full story by The Detroit News.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-shipwreck-discovery

James Polidori

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Ashland, Wisconsin’s new $11.5 million water intake pipe is operating successfully after crews repaired construction damage before bringing the system online in November. The new pipe, stretching out into Lake Superior, replaces the former intake constructed in 1891 that required multiple repairs over the years. Read the full story by the Ashland Daily Press.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-infrastructure-repairs

James Polidori

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was named the fourth best “one-of-a-kind” beach in the world by TripAdvisor in February 2026. The ranking is based on a high volume of positive reviews and opinions submitted to the TripAdvisor community over a 12-month period. Read the full story by WWTV – Cadillac, MI.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-dune-honors

James Polidori

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More than 30 years ago, a group of scientists planted 4,200 seeds of the rare Pitcher’s thistle in the western Great Lakes sand dunes. Today, the restored populations are thriving and spreading, providing the foundation for a newly published study. Read the full story by The Iron Mountain Daily News.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-flower-restoration

James Polidori

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The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reported that since the sturgeon spearing season began on Saturday, there have been 1,092 sturgeon speared on Lake Winnebago: 521 adult females, 423 males and 148 juvenile females. Another 279 fish were speared on upriver lakes Poygan, Winneconne and Butte des Morts. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-sturgeon-spearfishing

James Polidori

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More than 150 years after it sank in Lake Erie, the stone-hauling sailing vessel the Clough has been positively identified, the National Museum of the Great Lakes (NMGL) announced Wednesday. The Cleveland Underwater Explorers (CLUE) worked with the support of NMGL to identify the vessel, classified as a “bark” – a three-masted vessel rigged with square sails on the foremast, and schooner sails on the main and mizzen masts. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-shipwreck-identification

James Polidori

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At the peak of the deep freeze, ice caves and ice volcanoes appeared along the shores of Lake Erie in Crystal Beach, Ontario. Lake Erie is nearly 95% covered in ice; if the cold weather continues across the Great Lakes Region, the possibility exists that Lake Erie could reach 100% ice cover for only the fourth times since records began. Read the full story by BurlingtonToday.com.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-erie-ice

James Polidori

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The recent discovery of the Lac La Belle, which sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1872, does more than scratch it from the list of long-sought shipwrecks. It takes one back – if only for a moment – to when traveling around the Great Lakes didn’t mean climbing in a car or boarding a train but buying a ticket on a steamer. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260218-shipwreck-history

James Polidori

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In: aquatic invasive species, Bret Shaw, clean drain dry, recreational boating, Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers, Tim Campbell, Todd Newman

Millions of dollars are spent each year on programs that encourage recreational boaters to help stop the spread of aquatic invasive species like zebra mussels and hydrilla. But do these programs, like the national Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! and Clean Drain Dry brands, actually work?

Recently published research from a University of Wisconsin–Madison team shows — for the first time — that yes, they do.

“Before now, we only assumed these messages work,” said Tim Campbell, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s aquatic invasive species outreach specialist and coauthor of the study. “This research shows, for sure, that Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! and Clean Drain Dry outreach help keep our lakes and rivers free of invasive species.”

A man in reflective sunglasses wearing a Stop Aquatic Hitchikers shirt points to a sign telling boaters to remove invasive species from their boats

Tim Campbell points to a common sight at boat launches: a Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! sign informing people about AIS. Photo by Tim Campbell / ASC

Campbell and coauthors Todd Newman and Bret Shaw of the UW–Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication worked with a national social science research firm to survey boaters about their actions related to invasive species prevention and their awareness of two invasive species prevention messages and brands, Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! and Clean Drain Dry. The study found that boaters who were more aware of the brands reported that they removed plants from boats and drained water from live wells more often than people who were unaware of the programs.

Outreach materials from both brands are ready to use and available to anyone, often for free or at a nominal cost. 

“What I like about this research is that it supports that there are some easy and effective things anyone can do, like using Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! and Clean Drain Dry,” said Campbell. He added that, while important, brand awareness is one of many factors that determine if and when boaters take action to prevent the spread of invasive species.  

“These brands and messages are the foundation of our outreach and prevention tools,” said Campbell. “People that are already using these approaches can then layer additional prevention approaches like inspectors and cleaning stations to further protect our lakes and rivers from invasive species.”

***

The University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center administers Wisconsin Sea Grant, the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute, and Water@UW–Madison. The center supports multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach for the protection and sustainable use of Wisconsin’s water resources. Wisconsin Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of marine resources through research, education, outreach, and technology transfer.

The post Education works: Boaters who know the ‘Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!’ rules are doing their part to stop AIS first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/education-works-boaters-who-know-the-stop-aquatic-hitchhikers-rules-are-doing-their-part-to-stop-ais/

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The Energy News Roundup is your source for the latest energy stories from around the Great Lakes.

In Michigan, the state’s attorney general is taking on oil companies, accusing four of them of undermining climate research and driving up energy prices.

In Ohio, a bribery trial is underway against former energy executives accused of orchestrating the largest public corruption scheme in the state’s history.

Burning trash and wood for electricity now qualifies as carbon free in Minnesota. Meanwhile, a shuttered nuclear power plant in Wisconsin could be coming back online.

Find these stories, and more, in the latest Energy News Roundup at https://GreatLakesNow.org

#GreatLakes #Energy #News #Politics #Climate #Electricity

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The post The Latest Great Lakes Energy News appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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Great Lakes Now

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/02/17/the-latest-great-lakes-energy-news/

Great Lakes Now

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Take your passion for native plants to the next level with the Wild Ones Fox Valley Area 50-hour Native Plant Certification! This unique program offers a comprehensive education in Wisconsin’s native flora, perfect for home gardeners, students, teachers, conservation professionals, and nature enthusiasts. Click here to learn more! Certification Program Highlights: Earn [...]

The post Earn Your Native Plant Certification with Wild Ones appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

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Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2026/02/17/wi-plant-cert-2026/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wi-plant-cert-2026

Katie Reed

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Whitefish have declined because of invasive species and climate change-fueled loss of winter ice cover on the Great Lakes. Now scientists are testing whether rivers can serve as spawning refuges. Read the full story by MLive.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260216-whitefish-spawning-refugia

Nichole Angell

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A shipwreck hunter has located the Lac La Belle, a sidewheel steamer that has eluded searchers for more than a century. The wooden-hulled American passenger ship sank October 13, 1872, in a Lake Michigan gale about 20 miles off Racine, Wisconsin. Read the full story by MLive.

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Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260216-found-shipwreck

Nichole Angell

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A natural spectacle along the Lake Superior shore that’s been off-limits to hikers for more than a decade may be accessible again starting Monday. Officials at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin announced Saturday that they’re planning to open foot access to the famed ice caves near Meyers Beach. Read the full story by MPR News.

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Nichole Angell

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On Friday, an administrative law judge upheld a key permit for Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. Granted last year by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the permit allows for 41 miles of new oil pipeline to be built as part of the company’s reroute plan. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260216-line5-permits

Nichole Angell

On:
In: Daily News

In Wisconsin, a Madison-based environmental law firm filed an appeal to Milwaukee Circuit Court on behalf of a Shorewood resident who last summer received a citation from the village for walking the shoreline beyond the public beach. The resident believes it’s everyone’s right to enjoy the Lake Michigan shoreline. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260216-shoreline-access

Nichole Angell

On:
In: Daily News

Michigan researchers have gone back in time to get a picture of how ice cover on the Great Lakes has evolved since the late 19th century. Using historical temperature records from weather stations around the region, researchers improved their understanding of where ice might have formed and for how long it lasted. Read the full story by WXPR – Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260216-ice-data

Nichole Angell

On:
In: Daily News

For the first time in more than two decades, Lake Erie is nearly completely frozen. As a result, surrounding communities could see a number of impactful side effects. Read the full story by The Cool Down.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260216-frozen-erie

Nichole Angell

On:
In: Great Lakes, Research, water

A new study examines the uniqueness of work that research centers conduct in the Great Lakes region, highlighting their importance amid dramatic changes in federal funding.

The post Research centers in the Great Lakes region change the scope of global freshwater ecology first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

https://greatlakesecho.org/2026/02/16/research-centers-in-the-great-lakes-region-change-the-scope-of-global-freshwater-ecology/

Akia Thrower

On:
In: youtube, YouTube | Great Lakes Now

Across the Great Lakes, a network of buoys provides real-time data about waves, wind, and ice. In 2025, one buoy broke free, drifting nearly to the center of Lake Michigan before washing ashore. The data it collected is helping researchers better understand how winter weather impacts the lakes.

#GreatLakes #Science #Weather #Technology #Freshwater #LakeMichigan
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“This Breakaway Buoy Explored Lake Michigan’s Icy Waves” was produced by Great Lakes Now/@detroitpbs

Produced, Written, and Narrated by
Adam Fox-Long

Edited by
Jordan Wingrove
Adam Fox-Long

Additional Material:
Great Lakes Outreach Media
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Russ Miller

The post This Breakaway Buoy Explored Lake Michigan’s Icy Waves | Great Lakes Now appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/02/16/this-breakaway-buoy-explored-lake-michigans-icy-waves-great-lakes-now/

Great Lakes Now

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In: Echo, transportation

By Bauyrzhan Zhaxylykov

New U-M survey finds only about 5% of rural Michigan residents say they would choose an electric vehicle as their next car. Researchers attribute much of that reluctance to misinformation about the availability of public chargers and the cost of EVs and replacement batteries. The Whitmer administration is pushing to expand electric vehicle use to meet climate and clean energy goals.

The post Why Michigan’s rural residents are reluctant to drive electric vehicles first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

https://greatlakesecho.org/2026/02/14/why-michigans-rural-residents-are-reluctant-to-drive-electric-vehicles/

Capital News Service

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In: Daily News

Researchers say the world has entered an era of global ‘water bankruptcy’—a point where many rivers, lakes, aquifers, and glaciers have been pushed past their capacity to recover. This finding has implications on the Great Lakes system as each year, only about one percent of Great Lakes water is replenished through rain, snow, and groundwater. Read the full story by the Welland Tribune.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-water-bankruptcy

James Polidori

On:
In: Daily News

A six-decade history in the Great Lakes region of ecosystem and water protection is being put to the test as a dynamic era of energy investment, rising electricity demand, aging assets and political intervention dawns across the basin. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-energy-water-nexus

James Polidori

On:
In: Daily News

The City of Duluth’s Engineering division will launch a new Private Stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) Inspection and Maintenance Program for certain properties starting this spring. These BMPs help control stormwater runoff, reduce flooding risk and protect water quality in local resources including Lake Superior, the Saint Louis River Bay Estuary, wetlands and 60 streams. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-stormwater-management

James Polidori

On:
In: Daily News

A coalition of environmental advocates introduced state legislation in Illinois Wednesday to guard against data centers causing water shortages, groundwater conflicts, increased water prices and pollution without proper planning and management. Read the full story by the Daily Herald.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-data-center-legislation

James Polidori

On:
In: Daily News

Construction on a new reservoir designed to maintain a secure water supply in London, Ontario is nearly complete. The new addition, fed from Lake Erie and Lake Huron where the water is treated before being pumped to the reservoirs, will be nearly double the capacity of the previous reservoir. Read the full story by CTV News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-water-storage

James Polidori

On:
In: Daily News

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is reminding ice fishermen that there are only a few times and locations where it’s legal to catch lake sturgeon — and they should take care to quickly release any fish they catch by mistake this winter. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-sturgeon-protections

James Polidori

On:
In: Daily News

Lake Superior State University is expanding its Great Lakes research capacity through a $3 million donation to support the university’s Center for Freshwater Research and Education in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The funding will be used to create an Excellence Fund for student research, acquire advanced equipment, and purchase a larger research vessel for applied fieldwork. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260213-research-donation

James Polidori

On:
In: 2026, AIS, aquatic invasive species, Fox-Wolf Basin, Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, Habitat and Wildlife, ice, ice fishing, invasive species, Recreation, reporting, roby, round goby, spearing, sturgeon, Winnebago, Winnebago Waterways

Battle on Bago, Sturgeon Spearing Time on Winnebago Perfect Time to Check That Catch Thousands of folks are arriving on Lake Winnebago this week with big dreams. People are dreaming of spearing a mammoth sturgeon or maybe catching that perfect fish for Battle on Bago resulting in a new truck. Dreaming of creating those [...]

The post Winter Goby Watch During Battle on Bago, Sturgeon Spearing appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2026/02/13/winter-goby-watch-during-battle-on-bago-sturgeon-spearing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=winter-goby-watch-during-battle-on-bago-sturgeon-spearing

Chris Acy

On:
In: Featured, great lakes news collaborative

This story is part of a Great Lakes News Collaborative series called Shockwave: Rising energy demand and the future of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes region is in the midst of a seismic energy shakeup, from skyrocketing data center demand and a nuclear energy boom, to expanding renewables and electrification. In 2026, the Great Lakes News Collaborative will explore how shifting supply and demand affect the region and its waters.

The collaborative’s five newsrooms — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal — are funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

A six-decade history in the Great Lakes region of ecosystem and water protection is being put to the test as a dynamic era of energy investment, rising electricity demand, aging assets, and political intervention dawns across the basin.

The energy story emerging today is one of tumultuous change in energy supply and demand coupled with conflicting state and federal objectives that are colliding with a buzzy economic narrative centered around AI and data centers. Electricity consumption in the basin’s eight states and two provinces is climbing for the first time in at least a decade. 

Forecasts show electricity demand in the region growing 2 to 3 percent annually over the next 10 years. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is injecting carbon-promoting policies into energy markets, requiring coal power plants in Michigan and Indiana to continue operating beyond their announced closure dates while also slowing the solar and wind projects, two energy sources that emit no climate-altering carbon and use little to no water. 

Along with coal, another water-intensive energy source is being revived or reimagined to satisfy projected electricity demands. With nearly $3 billion in federal and state financing, the 55-year-old Palisades Nuclear Generating Station is preparing to restart after a four-year shutdown. When it does, the old reactor will draw 98,000 gallons a minute, 141 million gallons a day from Lake Michigan.  

In addition to these legacy energy sources, new gas-fired power plants, battery storage, transmission lines, and a planned new nuclear plant north of Benton Harbor, Michigan, are being added to keep pace with demand. Agriculture, the region’s biggest water consumer and water polluter, is playing a larger role in energy production – by converting corn into biofuel and producing methane from manure in industrial-scale biodigesters. 

Liquid fuels also remain in the spotlight due to the lingering question of Line 5, an oil pipeline that crosses the Straits of Mackinac. The future of the 73-year-old pipeline is the subject of several lawsuits, with key legal and permitting decisions expected in 2026.

This is the first article in our “Shockwave” project, a series of reports that will investigate the rapid evolution of the energy landscape in the Great Lakes region and the consequences the new era will have for one of the world’s largest reserves of fresh water. Produced by the five partners of the Great Lakes News Collaborative — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public, and The Narwhal — Shockwave will document the depth and breadth of the region’s energy transformation and its influence on water use and pollution.

“As electricity demand is soaring, in part due to data centers, we’re seeing changes in water use, we’re seeing changes in electricity consumption,” said Mike Shriberg, director of the University of Michigan Water Center. “And how our region responds to that over the long term will have a massive impact for the Great Lakes and for our energy future.”

Altogether, these changes amount to an inflection point in the region’s energy policy, one with as many questions as answers. Will data center demand and the White House’s lifeline to fossil fuel units jeopardize state clean energy targets? Will the numerous binational, regional, and state-level consultative bodies enable collaboration that reduces harm to waterways? Can local officials, researchers, and lawmakers assemble the data to inform their responses? Will a decade-long decline in the energy sector’s water use continue or stall? Will the projected data center demand for electricity materialize or will the energy buildout result in stranded assets?

What is certain is that the energy playing field today is set up for a different game than just a few years ago. These are still early days, but the region, its $9.3 trillion economy, its border-crossing energy infrastructure, and its world-class environmental riches stand at the threshold of a profound shift in some of its basic economic inputs and assumptions.

A Detroit Edison worker guides the unloading boom of the freighter Walter J. McCarthy, Jr. to a coal chute at the Monroe power plant in Monroe, Michigan, in this image from 1997. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Top-Down Orders

The changes begin at the top. 

For political, ideological, and grid reliability reasons the Trump administration is adamant on propping up fossil fuels and shepherding a nuclear power revival. It is doing so through executive orders and agency action. 

The Department of Energy issued a series of emergency orders to prevent the coal-fired J.H. Campbell Power Plant, in West Olive, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan, from shutting down last year. It issued a separate order in December to prevent the closures of the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station and F.B. Culley Generating Station in Indiana. 

In addition, the administration extended the deadline for closing coal waste dumps in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, though none is directly within the basin. Though the administration asserts it is “clean,” coal is the dirtiest and among the thirstiest sources of electricity. 

The Department of Energy excluded small modular reactors, or SMRs, and other “advanced” nuclear generation technologies from National Environmental Policy Act review. SMR developers promote the new reactors as more mobile and less risky than the older generation of big reactors. SMRs are under development or have been proposed in Ontario, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

Canada, too, has announced national energy strategies that appear certain to affect Great Lakes waters. Rebuffed and taunted by tariffs imposed by President Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, “We are an energy superpower.” Carney outlined his plan for $1 trillion in fast-tracked Canadian investments in energy, AI, and critical minerals. He also promoted a national infrastructure campaign for oil pipelines, electricity transmission lines, and mines.

Big political announcements are reinforced by facts on the ground. The numbers tell a story of rapid growth in electricity demand that has analysts reaching back decades for a historical equivalent. Some compare it to the push for rural electrification in the United States after the Second World War. Already rising, electricity demand in the Great Lakes region could soar ever higher if high-tech corporate interest in data centers manifests as real-world construction. This comes as NERC, a North American regulatory agency, warns that the Great Lakes region faces high risk of electricity shortfalls in the next five years due to rising demand and power plant retirements.

This represents a head-spinning, era-defining reversal in electrical demand. In Wisconsin, electricity sales had been on a downward slope since the Great Recession began in 2007. By one estimate, data center electricity demand in the state will increase seven-fold by 2030, amounting to more than 4 percent of its electricity consumption. Data center load in northern Illinois has climbed 27 percent annually between 2022 and 2025, according to ComEd, the region’s electric utility. 

DTE Energy, the largest Michigan electric utility, announced a deal last fall to provide power to the 1,383-megawatt Green Chile Ventures data center in Washtenaw County. The Michigan Public Service Commission conditionally approved the state’s first “hyperscale” development in December. 

Consumers, the second largest electric provider in Michigan, has 9,000 megawatts of projects in its development pipeline, mostly for data centers and manufacturing.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced a 20-year deal with Vistra last month to buy 2,100 megawatts from three nuclear plants while also expanding the generating capacity at those facilities. The agreement covers Perry and Davis-Besse, both located along Lake Erie in Ohio, as well as Beaver Valley, in Pennsylvania along the Ohio River. Meta also signed an agreement with California-based Oklo Inc. to build a 1,200-megawatt SMR plant in Ohio.

The rise in electricity demand could pose a challenge to state renewable energy goals. Illinois has a target of 100 percent clean energy by 2050. For Michigan’s electric utilities, the deadline is sooner: 100 percent clean energy by 2040.

That shift to renewables and the closure of water-intensive coal plants has been a net benefit for Great Lakes water so far. Water is drawn from lakes and rivers to cool the equipment at thermoelectric power stations, a category that includes fossil fuels and nuclear. Water withdrawals in the basin for thermoelectric power are down 24 percent compared to a decade ago, according to a University of Michigan report prepared for the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers. That decline is true for power plants that use once-through cooling as well as for those that have recirculating systems that reduce withdrawals but increase consumption.

There are “substantial water savings as the region transitions away from traditional fossil fuels,” the report found. Besides water demand, the shift away from thermoelectric plants means fewer fish sucked into cooling-water pipes or trapped against their screens. It means less thermal pollution of nearshore waters and rivers. It means less mercury deposited into waterways from coal plant air emissions. 

The downward trend could shift upwards this year when the Palisades nuclear plant is scheduled to open, and may tilt higher as another shuttered nuclear plant in Wisconsin could reopen and new SMR plants come online. For data centers, the largest piece of their water use is not in direct operations. It is through the electricity they consume.

Years ago, the Great Lakes Commission, which represents the eight basin states and two Canadian provinces, was thinking about the same questions of water supply. In 2011, the commission published the findings from a multi-year project to identify water quality and quantity vulnerabilities in the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes basin due to thermoelectric power generation. 

The analysis, led by Sandia National Laboratories, considered multiple power generation projections and assessed three energy-related risk factors for the region’s water resources: water quality, thermal pollution of waterways, and low stream flows. It was the first model to consider water resources in future electricity scenarios for the region. A fifth of the basin’s 102 sub-watersheds scored a high risk in at least two categories.

The commission published the analysis, but largely moved on. No follow-up review was completed to determine the project’s effectiveness in shaping policy, said Erika Jensen, the commission’s executive director.

Today with data centers commanding so much attention, the water-energy connection resurfaced. That focus is partly due to growing public pushback against data center growth. Lawmakers in Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota have introduced legislation to mandate more transparency from data center operators on their water and energy use.

At its meeting last October, the Great Lakes Commission signaled its reengagement when the commissioners – largely high-ranking state officials and lawmakers – signed two new resolutions related to energy and water. One resolution encourages water reuse for industry, where appropriate. The other, on the water-energy nexus, asserts the “importance of coordinating and integrating water, energy, and sustainable resource management” in the face of data center development and related industries that are poised to increase energy demand and water use.

The resolutions reaffirmed that energy and water are back on the table at the highest levels, Jensen said. “We’re just getting restarted right now.”

Digital Crossroad, a data center facility in Hammond, Indiana, sits on the shore of Lake Michigan. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Electricity is only part of the region’s evolving energy story. Aging legacy assets are also a part of the mix. 

The most noteworthy of these older assets is Line 5, the 645-mile oil pipeline that runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario. Enbridge, the Canadian company that owns the pipeline, wants to drill a tunnel to house the structure so that it does not sit exposed on the lakebed. Michigan officials are seeking to shut down the line. Lawsuits are proceeding in both state and federal courts, with a U.S. Supreme Court hearing later this month to determine the appropriate venue. 

The outcome will be a bellwether for energy policy, Shriberg said. “It’s really symbolic and may be determinant of which direction this region and this country is headed on energy and water issues.”

Reliable water and cheap energy are foundational economic pieces. Historically, these resource inputs were the great engines of the Great Lakes economy. Water-intensive industries – tanneries, breweries, pulp mills, manufacturers and the like – were drawn to a region where they could extract water and pump out profits. Nuclear and coal-fired power plants were installed on the shores of Michigan, Ontario, Huron, Superior, and Erie, the source of water to cool their electricity-generating equipment.

Today a different set of businesses has entered the market. The entire sweep of large water users catalyzed by the new energy economy – semiconductors, battery manufacturers – need to be part of the water-use equation, said Alaina Harkness, CEO of Current, a Chicago-based organization focused on water innovation.

“If we had better policy and planning frameworks, this could be a great place to do that relative to some of the water-scarce regions in the rest of the country,” Harkness said. “But again, we’ve got to shift our frameworks, got to look much more at water reuse and these water-energy connections.”

There is indeed opportunity in the new energy landscape, said Liesl Clark, director of climate action engagement at the University of Michigan and the former head of the state environment agency. Not just for a foothold in the 21st century economy, but also for continuing on a low-carbon path and strengthening the policies that ensure the region’s water is not abused in the process.

“How do we make sure we’re doing it in the most protective way possible in the state?” Clark asked.

As the new energy era takes shape, that is a prevailing question not just for Michigan but for the region as a whole.

The post The energy boom is coming for Great Lakes water appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/02/12/the-energy-boom-is-coming-for-great-lakes-water/

Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

On:
In: News and Announcements

News

Request for Proposals: Great Lakes Sediment Nutrient Reduction Program

Ann Arbor, Michigan — The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) today issued a request for proposals (RFP) for projects that will help improve Great Lakes water quality by reducing nutrient loads from agricultural watersheds and eroding shorelines and streams. Indigenous Nations, nonfederal units of government, and incorporated nonprofit organizations are invited to apply for grants for up to $300,000 through the 2026 Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program (GLSNRP) grant program.

For 35 years, grants provided by GLSNRP have helped local partners keep nutrients and sediment from entering the Great Lakes. Since 2017, practices implemented with GLSNRP funding have prevented nearly 100,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Great Lakes. 2026 applicants are invited to submit proposals for activities associated with one of the following project types: agricultural nonpoint or stream/shoreline. Grants awarded through GLSNRP may support work over a period of up to four years.
 
A webinar for potential applicants will be held on March 11 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Eastern on April 27 and will be reviewed by a task force of representatives from the eight Great Lakes states, as well as partners at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Final decisions on funded projects are anticipated in summer, with work to begin no later than October 1.
 
This year, the program will support a complementary request for proposals for projects which utilize the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) to create targeted outreach plans for agricultural conservation practice siting. Eligible Indigenous Nations, nonfederal units of government, and incorporated nonprofit organizations are invited to apply for small grants of up to $10,000. Selected projects will begin work no later than October 1, for a duration of up to one year.
 
A webinar for applicants interested in the ACPF small grant opportunity will be held on March 18 at 2 p.m. Eastern. These proposals are also due by 5 p.m. Eastern on April 27 and will also be considered by the GLSNRP Task Force.
 
The GLC has managed GLSNRP with funding support through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative since 2010. Funded projects support progress toward the achievement of GLRI Action Plan IV objectives and goals. This program reflects a longstanding partnership between NRCS, U.S. EPA, and the Great Lakes states. GLSNRP funding is subject to the continued availability of U.S. federal government grants.
 
Please visit www.nutrientreduction.org for more information or contact Connor Roessler at croessler@glc.org.

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

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Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/news/glsnrp-rfp-021226

Beth Wanamaker

On:
In: Art, Echo, Recreation

By Julia Belden

An Alanson-raised author whose book on Ernest Hemingway’s ties to Northern Michigan explains the region’s influence on the novelist’s work. The book “Picturing Hemingway’s Michigan,” has just been released in paperback.

The post Book explores Hemingway’s experiences ‘up north’ first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

https://greatlakesecho.org/2026/02/12/book-explores-hemingways-experiences-up-north/

Julia Belden

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In: For Fun and Recreation, Fox-Wolf Basin

Valentine’s Day is all about the people we care about. Significant others, our kids, our friends, and the neighbors who shovel their sidewalk early and often so the salt can stay in the bag. It's also not a bad day to appreciate the places we care about, too. The lake where you watch the [...]

The post Watershed Valentines: Little Love Notes for Local Water appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

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Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2026/02/11/watershed-valentines-little-love-notes-for-local-water/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=watershed-valentines-little-love-notes-for-local-water

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Hands casting ballots.

Lake Michigan needs your vote! Voting has already started for the Illinois primary election. Races up and down the ballot will have an impact on Lake Michigan, our drinking water, our health, and our wildlife.  

Make sure your voice is heard in the Illinois primary. Vote by March 17! 

You can register to vote, get information on voting by mail or voting early, and find your polling location by visiting your state or local election board: 

Share this information with friends, family, and other members of your community so they can make their voices heard, too! 

Thank you for voting. 

The post Illinois primary election voting has started appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Original Article

News - Alliance for the Great Lakes

News - Alliance for the Great Lakes

https://greatlakes.org/2026/02/illinois-primary-election-voting-has-started/

Judy Freed

On:
In: Daily News

The White House says President Donald Trump has the right to amend a permit for a new bridge between Canada and Michigan, prolonging the latest dispute between the U.S. and its northern neighbor hours after its prime minister signaled there could be a detente. Read the full story by the Associated Press.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260211-brigde-brouhaha

Taaja Tucker-Silva

On:
In: Daily News

A new Michigan Senate bill would address the regulation, inspection, and re-evaluation of septic systems. If passed, Michigan would become the last state with a comprehensive septic code intended to prevent contamination of drinking water. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260211-septic-code

Taaja Tucker-Silva

On:
In: Daily News

The state of Michigan wants more detail from Enbridge about the impact its proposed oil pipeline tunnel may have on archeological sites and coastal wetlands as federal regulators clear a path to permit the long-delayed project under the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by MLive.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260211-line5-decision

Taaja Tucker-Silva

On:
In: Daily News

Didymosphenia geminata — “didymo” for short — also has another, much less scientific, nickname: rock snot. Researchers say it’s native to North America and may have been in Michigan longer than previously thought, but now it is spreading in the state’s waterways. Read the full story by Michigan Public.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260211-rock-snot

Taaja Tucker-Silva