A U.S. National Weather Service Station radar signature of an estimated 500,000-member bank and barn swallow and purple martin “roost ring” (or bird doughnut) over Long Point, Ontario has bird enthusiasts fascinated. Read the full story by The Toronto Star.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-bird-migration

Jill Estrada

During a web conference hosted by the International Joint Commission on Tuesday, Kyle McCune, alternate U.S. chair for all three regional water regulation boards under IJC jurisdiction, explained why water levels are significantly low. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-water-levels

Jill Estrada

Supporters and opponents of a Line 5 tunnel make comments to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/line-5-comments-army-corps-engineers/

Michigan Radio

How we name things affects how we think about them. We name fields, and forests, and marshes, and streams as separate things, so we tend to think of them as separate things. But separating these habitats in our vocabulary and in our minds obscures the innumerable connections that bind these habitats into a single working landscape.

The post September: Connections first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/09/02/september-connections/

Guest Contributor

Drinking Water News Roundup: Steps to ensure safe drinking water, Indigenous business leaders raise awareness

From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.

Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.

Click on the headline to read the full story:

 

Illinois:

  • Illinois prisons have unsafe water, groups warn – Chicago Sun-Times

Water at Illinois state prisons is contaminated with toxic metals and other potentially harmful contaminants, including the bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease, a coalition of activists said Thursday, urging Gov.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/drinking-water-news-roundup-safe-drinking-water-business-leaders-raise-awareness/

Tynnetta Harris

This home in Herbster, Wisconsin, was moved 150 feet back from an eroding Lake Superior bluff in 2003. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The dynamics of land and water were on display for members of the Coastal Hazards of Superior (CHAOS) group when they toured Lake Superior’s South Shore at a homesite in Herbster, Wisconsin, last week. The home, now owned by Dan and Mary Schneider, was moved 20 years ago farther inland from an eroding lake bluff in one of the first efforts to address coastal home erosion and establish setback distances in Bayfield County.

Homeowner Dan Schneider shows CHAOS tour participants some eroding bluff east of his home. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The tour was organized and led by CHAOS Coordinator Sarah Brown and Karina Heim, coastal training coordinator with the National Lake Superior Estuarine Research Reserve. It featured talks by homeowner Dan Schneider, Northland College Professor of Geoscience Tom Fitz, and Bayfield County Land Records Administrator Scott Galetka, who is also a member of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Outreach and Education Committee.

I was one of the lucky tour participants along with Natalie Chin, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s climate and tourism outreach specialist.

Schneider, who has owned the 52-acre property since 2019, said he was happy to open his homesite for the tour. “The area’s got such an incredible geological history and cultural history, for us, it’s amazing to live here.”

He showed us where the house was originally situated, right on the edge of the 150-foot bluff. It now lies 150 feet farther back. The bluff was eroding from Lake Superior waves at the bottom and from stormwater runoff and groundwater flow at the top.

Moving the 3-bedroom home was a major undertaking. “They (the original owners) found a mover, but then they had to deal with the potable water supply, the electrical supply and the sanitary sewer,” Schneider said.

The spot where the house was moved to offered its own challenges in the form of shallow groundwater. Swales were installed along with drain tiles, ditches and a pond to keep the water from flowing into the house.

This is the bluff overlooking Lake Superior that was the original site of the home. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Schneider said that not much erosion had occurred on the bluff since the home was moved, but that a bluff east of the house had been eroding actively. We walked about 200 feet in that direction for a view. Dirt and gravel tumbled down the slopes, which were bare of vegetation.

Fitz explained that the slopes were composed of clay and sand, remnants of the last stages of glaciation about 14,000 years ago. “There’s contact between clay of the Miller Creek Formation and sand from the Copper Falls Formation about 15 feet down,” Fitz said. “That contact is probably playing an important role in the stability of this bluff – or rather, the instability.” This sand-clay interaction characterizes much of the geology of Lake Superior’s South Shore.

Geology in action — a tour participant peers down into an eroding bluff on the Schneider property. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Fitz described how groundwater was moving along the top of the clay layer and coming out of the side of the bluff, forming erosion. “What we see here is obvious evidence of the power of moving water,” he said, citing clay around the house for the groundwater issues that Schneider has noticed there.

“What we have here is a big, ‘wow.’ Geology in action,” Fitz said.

The good news is that Schneider’s house is safe from erosion thanks to its current setback from the bluff. The bad news is that the eastern ravine is eroding.

Schneider said that when he purchased the property, he noticed the erosion in the ravine, but it didn’t bother him. “I knew in my lifetime I wouldn’t need to worry about it. The privilege of living out here was worth it,” he said.

Back at a picnic table near the original bluff, we heard from Galetka, who explained how Bayfield County tracks coastal land changes over time. One of the ways he currently uses is a drone equipped with a 35 mm camera.

“I began this job in 2007. I’ve seen this program of setbacks and the importance of making sure we have science backing up where homes should go behind the bluff,” Galetka said. “This was the site that sparked everything. It was kind of like the poster child.”

CHAOS Coordinator Sarah Brown (left) and Wisconsin Sea Grant Climate and Tourism Outreach Specialist, Natalie Chin (right) look at photos of the home-moving process with Northland College Geoscience Professor Tom Fitz. Bayfield County Land Records Administrator Scott Galetka is in the background. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The wind was too stiff for Galetka to demonstrate his drone, but that allowed us to have a close look as it rested on the picnic table. He said that technology has advanced greatly since the home was originally moved and that data sets are much more accurate now.

We came away from the tour with a greater appreciation for the intricacies involved in how land and water interact, and admiration for the forethought required to preserve a beautiful Lake Superior home.

For more information about coastal erosion along the South Shore and to hear from Jane Bucy, the original owner of the Schneider home, about the house-moving process, you can watch a YouTube video of the CHAOS group’s June 2022 meeting.

The post Visiting the house that sparked coastal land use setbacks first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/visiting-the-house-that-sparked-coastal-land-use-setbacks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=visiting-the-house-that-sparked-coastal-land-use-setbacks

Marie Zhuikov

“The Erie Situation – and beyond”

Whether you go out on a boat, to a beach or get your drinking water from Lake Erie, you know harmful algal blooms are a problem.

But these mucky, green blooms are not limited to the southernmost of the Great Lakes. The blooms are a bigger threat in the northernmost lake, the connectors like the Detroit River and Lake St.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/the-erie-situation-and-beyond/

GLN Editor

Episode 2208 Lesson Plans: Combatting Coal Ash

This lesson will explore the phenomenon of coal ash contamination in groundwater and the threat it poses to Lake Michigan and other areas of the Great Lakes waterways. Students will learn about the history of coal ash disposal, the discovery of coal ash in groundwater, and efforts to address the problem.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/episode-2208-coal-ash-lesson-plan/

Gary Abud Jr.

Reuse can divert coal ash from landfills, but challenges remain

The amount of coal ash in the United States is hard to fathom. There are over 700 impoundments holding more than 2 billion cubic yards of ash — enough to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania one-half inch deep. 

Coal ash includes heavy metals like chromium, arsenic and selenium — linked to higher rates of cancer and other diseases — that can leach into groundwater. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/reuse-divert-coal-ash-from-landfills-challenges-remain/

Tom Quinn

A new vessel has joined the U.S. Flag Fleet and has the distinction of being the first to be built on the Great Lakes since the early 1980’s. The ship was built by the Interlake Steamship Company and designed to carry all types of cargo throughout the Great Lakes freshwater system but officials say the vessel was specifically designed to navigate the tight bends of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-greatlakesfreighter

Hannah Reynolds

Restoring water service to seven southeast Michigan communities affected by an August 13 water main break will take even longer than initially estimated, officials for the Great Lakes Water Authority said. They attribute the delay to needing to send a piece of pipe back to its manufacturer because it didn’t meet specifications. Read the full story by The Detroit News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-restoringwater-mainbreak

Hannah Reynolds

A recent study out of Université du Québec à Rimouski has identified new combinations of contaminants in the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario that could affect biodiversity. Read the full story by Global News Canada.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-emergingcontaminants-stlawrenceriver

Hannah Reynolds

McGill University researchers and scientists have been busy launching weather balloons high above Quebec this year as part of an effort to better understand regional climate change. Read the full story by CBC News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-climatechangestudy-stlawrenceriver

Hannah Reynolds

Five million Illinoisans live near water systems that utilize Lake Michigan water, which is reported to have “worrisome concentrations” of PFAS, according to a database of Illinois PFAS water testing created by the Chicago Tribune. Local leaders in Illinois have said they were aware of the latest research regarding PFAS are awaiting new guidance from the EPA. Read the full story by The Record North Shore.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-foreverchemicals-treatment-water

Hannah Reynolds

City Council members from Toledo, Maumee and Bowling Green joined Rep. Marcy Kaptur at a press conference Tuesday to talk about how the Great Lakes Authority proposal could help northwest Ohio. Read the full story by WNWO-TV – Toledo, OH. 

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-greatlakesauthorityproposal-kaptur

Hannah Reynolds

The Great Lakes are very susceptible to microplastics, because of the enormous amount of industry and the concentration of the population around the lakes. The Cleveland Water Department began testing for microplastics in 2019 and are still working to understand the problem. Read the full story by Spectrum News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-microplastics-clevelandwater

Hannah Reynolds

On the Airwaves: Great Lakes Now’s Anna Sysling talks “Poisonous Ponds”

As the Great Lakes Now-Northwestern University journalism project “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” continues to publish, Great Lakes Now producer Anna Sysling made a return to public radio to share more about the issue with Detroit audiences.

Sysling, who left WDET, Detroit’s NPR station last year to join Great Lakes Now full-time, spoke with Morning Edition Host Pat Batcheller about the project.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/great-lakes-now-anna-sysling-talks-poisonous-ponds/

GLN Editor

The Ohio Division of Wildlife is reminding pet fish owners not to release their aquarium fish into state waters, since they can harm native fish species. Technicians found what appeared to be a foot-long goldfish during a fish survey this month on Lake Erie in Fairport Harbor, the division posted Monday to its Facebook page. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-hugegoldfish-lakeerie

Hannah Reynolds

Fall leaves are just around the corner—and so are Great Lakes Aquaculture Days. The annual event, hosted by the Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative and Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, will take place Oct. 26-27.

It’s a chance for current fish farmers, as well as those interested in aquaculture and its products, to learn more about this fast-growing segment of the agriculture industry and get technical advice.

This year’s theme will be fish health, covered through discussions, Q&A sessions and hand-on activities addressing the topic.

The event has a unique hybrid structure: Day 1 is virtual, and Day 2 encompasses in-person sessions in each of the Great Lakes states. Wisconsin’s in-person activities will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus and be organized by Sea Grant Fisheries Specialist Dr. Titus Seilheimer.

On Day 1, fish health experts will discuss preventative measures for keeping fish healthy. Those virtual presentations take place from noon to 3 p.m. central time.

Day 2 will focus on reactive measures to take when fish get sick. There will be time for attendees to create their own fish health management plan. “Attendees will have the chance to dissect an actual fish and take a dissection kit home with them,” Seilheimer said. “You can’t replicate a dissection with pictures, so this will be a great opportunity for farmers.” Due to limited in-person space, aquaculture farmers have registration priority for Day 2, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch will be included.

For more event information (including possible travel reimbursement) and registration, visit Michigan State University’s webpage for this event.

The post Great Lakes Aquaculture Days to focus on fish health first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/glad-focuses-on-fish-health/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=glad-focuses-on-fish-health

Jennifer Smith

Setting Lake Erie limits

The total allowable catch (TAC) for yellow perch and walleye went up this year in Lake Erie. The raise is indicative of booming walleye population in recent years as well as a healthy perch population in most areas of the lake.

The walleye TAC rose 18% from 12.28 million fish in 2021 to 14.53 million this year, with yellow perch rising 15% from 6.23 million pounds last year to 7.18 million pounds this year.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/setting-lake-erie-limits/

James Proffitt

Under current climate trends, Michigan’s Up North forests could be doomed

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/michigans-up-north-forests-could-be-doomed/

Bridge Michigan

For Emily Rau, whose term as the J. Philip Keillor Wisconsin Coastal Management-Sea Grant Fellow is coming to a close, the year-long position has been a homecoming in more ways than one. It brought her back to her home state of Wisconsin; to the city of her undergraduate alma mater, UW-Madison; and to a Sea Grant program.

Emily Rau, a 2021-22 Keillor Fellow, stands at Pebble Beach in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. For her fellowship, Rau has been stationed at the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program (WCMP). Some of the funding to help the Village of Sister Bay acquire this scenic shoreline came from the WCMP. (Submitted photo)

While in graduate school at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, Rau spent two years as a research assistant at Michigan Sea Grant, where, among other projects, she was the lead author for a report about employment trends connected to the Great Lakes. At that neighboring Sea Grant program, she saw the organization’s value and that of the broader network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs.

“Michigan Sea Grant helped me discover that I liked helping bridge the gap between science and decision making, especially when it comes to the Great Lakes,” said Rau. It also helped her locate her fellowship with Wisconsin Sea Grant—one that has felt tailor-made for her. Originally from Oak Creek, Wisconsin—a southern suburb of Milwaukee—Great Lakes coastal issues are close to her heart.

Said Rau, “This has been a perfect fellowship for me. I got to learn in depth about a specific subset of Great Lakes management and policy and how the Coastal Management Program works federally and on the state level. And I’m getting to broaden my network by interacting with experts and project partners who do coastal work.”

During her fellowship term from September 2021 to August 2022, Rau’s main task has been working on the third edition of the Wisconsin Coastal Processes Manual and shepherding it through the production process. That work has included writing and editing chapters, coordinating the review of chapters by Sea Grant Editor Elizabeth White, starting a reference system, cleaning up appendices, gathering images and more.

The manual has been a major undertaking that predecessors in her fellowship—including Sea Grant Coastal Engineer Dr. Adam Bechle, now one of Rau’s mentors—have also worked on. As Rau summarized, “The overall goal… is connecting the science of coastal processes with Wisconsin coastal communities along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior that can benefit from that information. It’s taking that science and bringing it to municipalities and local organizations in an easier-to-use format so they’re able to apply that work.”

When not occupied with the manual, Rau has tackled other projects, such as learning about the annual coastal grants cycle at the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Coastal Management Program, where her office is stationed. Municipalities, local governments and university researchers can apply for funding from the program.

“That’s been eye-opening for me because I have never been a part of the grantmaking process before but wanted to experience it,” said Rau. Reviewing some of the submitted proposals and helping administer the grant program have broadened her professional skillset.

Rau also helped develop and facilitate a series of “research roundup” webinars with Carolyn Foley, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s research coordinator, and Chiara Zuccharino-Crowe, Sea Grant liaison to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for the Great Lakes region.

While her Keillor Fellowship is ending, Rau has her next step in her sights: contingent upon funding, she will continue working on coastal issues under another fellowship that will also be based at the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. Through funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) that NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management administers, she anticipates serving as the coastal infrastructure project coordinator, helping to plan, coordinate and develop habitat-focused infrastructure projects funded through that legislation.

As for the Keillor Fellowship focused on coastal hazards, that post will continue with a new fellow for the 2022-23 year, with Hannah Paulson picking up the reins. Stay tuned for more information about Paulson, who, like Rau, hails from a Wisconsin coastal community and holds degrees from both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan.

The post Keillor Fellow reflects on horizon-expanding experience assisting Great Lakes coastal communities first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/keillor-fellow-rau-reflects/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=keillor-fellow-rau-reflects

Jennifer Smith

Energy News Roundup: Michigan’s solar power increases, impact of Inflation Reduction Act on energy

Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.

Click on the headline to read the full story:

 

Illinois

  • Pritzker, Lightfoot tout city’s $422 million deal for green energy — Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago has signed a $422.2 million agreement with Constellation New Energy, LLC to provide renewable power to government buildings, street lights and all other city assets — and a carbon-free footprint — by 2025.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/energy-news-roundup-michigan-solar-power-inflation-reduction-act/

Kathy Johnson

In the year since its designation, the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary has been busy laying the groundwork for future tourism and research, including sonar mapping of the lakebed in the entire sanctuary, installing weather buoys and searching for undiscovered shipwrecks. Read the full story by Manitowoc Herald Times.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-shipwreck-sanctuary

Patrick Canniff

The annual fall migration of monarch butterflies is about to be underway, when scores of the iconic black-and-orange winged insects, recently categorized as endangered, travel thousands of miles to their wintering grounds in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. As monarchs navigate through the Great Lakes, the migration is viewable in Michigan’s hotspots: Stonington Peninsula and Tawas Point State Park. Read the full story by MLive.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-monarch-butterflies

Patrick Canniff

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the Ohio Power Siting had obtained enough information about the potential impacts of Icebreaker on birds and bats before issuing a permit for the project. Now that legal obstacles to the Icebreaker project have been removed, efforts to construct the demonstration wind farm in Lake Erie have started up again. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-wind

Patrick Canniff

Nearly $500,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding was awarded to Muskegon County Water Resources for additional restoration work for Mona Lake. The Great Lakes fish habitat funding will pay for long-contemplated restoration of former celery fields that previously were wetlands along Black Creek and Mona Lake (located inland along Lake Michigan, northwest of Grand Rapids, Michigan). Read the full story by MLive.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-restoration

Patrick Canniff

A pair of eco-friendly drones or “litter bots” made their Michigan debut in Muskegon on this week along the shores of Lake Michigan, where the drones whimsically named “PixieDrone” and “BeBot” trundled through the water and the sand gathering plastic debris that has become endemic in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-drone

Patrick Canniff

Ongoing consideration of remediation and excavation efforts for coal ash ponds in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina may have implications and serve as an example for coal ash units in Indiana and Ohio.  Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-coal-ash

Patrick Canniff

Staff and volunteers at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority in Southern Ontario are working to restore eroding riverbanks along the Nottawasaga River to improve habitat for two species at risk, lake sturgeon and northern brook lamprey. Read the full story by Collingwood Today.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-ontario-fish

Patrick Canniff

Shannon Orr, a professor of political science at Bowling Green State University, is being recognized by Case Studies in the Environment with its top prize article for 2021 for her award-winning research into the various competing interests for keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Sentinel-Tribune.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-carp

Patrick Canniff

On a beautiful and sunny Sunday in Kingston, Ontario, a group of local divers strapped on their gear and hit the water in the name of sustainability. At Gord Downie Pier the divers convened toting along their gear in preparation for the first-ever trash dive for Sustainable Kingston’s “Underwater Pitch-IN” event. Read the full story by Global News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-trash-dive

Patrick Canniff

After a two-month delay, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced plans to start dredging the South Haven Harbor in South Haven, Michigan this month. Sampling results confirm the proposed outer harbor dredge material is suitable and 18,000 cubic yards of material will be placed as nourishment material south of South Beach. Read the full story by South Haven Tribune.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-dredge

Patrick Canniff

To excavate or not to excavate: With toxic coal ash, that is the question

Eighty-eight-year-old Hilda Barg hunched her shoulders and rested her forearms on her hardwood dining table, talking fiercely about coal ash contamination in her neighborhood. Barg, a lifelong resident and former supervisor of Prince William County, Virginia, is leading a local fight against how Dominion Energy — the state’s largest electric utility — is dealing with toxic coal ash at its Possum Point plant 3 miles from Barg’s home. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/excavate-toxic-coal-ash-question/

Hayley Starshak and Mrinali Dhembla

A federal grand jury has indicted a Minnesota farmer for allegedly cheating buyers of more than $46 million by falsely labeling non-GMO soybeans and corn as organic.

The post Minnesota farmer accused of multimillion dollar organic grain scan first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/08/29/minnesota-farmer-accused-of-multimillion-dollar-organic-grain-scan/

Guest Contributor

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Brown, northwestern Kewaunee, southern Door, northwestern Calumet, northeastern Winnebago, southern Oconto and eastern Outagamie Counties through 645 PM CDT... At 553 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along a line extending from 13 miles southeast of Gillett to 6 miles east

Original Article

Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service

Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service

https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI126407488F78.SpecialWeatherStatement.12640748B304WI.GRBSPSGRB.ce06a839b270345b617501fa75335439

w-nws.webmaster@noaa.gov

“Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” featured on One Detroit program

A special segment for Detroit Public Television’s public affairs program, “One Detroit,” features Great Lakes Now’s collaborative reporting project about coal ash.

A toxic substance, coal ash is what’s left over after burning coal. While the use of coal is declining across the Great Lakes region, the ash that remains from decades of producing energy with it is a problem.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/poisonous-ponds-featured-on-one-detroit-program/

GLN Editor

At almost 300 sites on the Great Lakes and coast to coast, unregulated buried and landfilled coal ash is putting water supplies at risk, alleges a federal lawsuit filed August 25.  Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-coal-ash

Theresa Gruninger

For the many coal plants located on the shores of the Great Lakes, coal ash flooding into the lakes and tributaries is a serious risk highlighted in a June 2022 report by the Environmental Law & Policy Center that focused on how climate change could exacerbate rainfall and high lake levels in southern Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-coal-ash-climate-change

Theresa Gruninger

The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation is studying how fish species spawn in Lake Ontario and hoping to help boost their population in the process by creating two “spawning reefs” in Chaumont Bay and Black River Bay, for several species of native fish. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Dexter, NY.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-lake-ontario

Theresa Gruninger

Located at Lake Superior State University’s Richard & Theresa Barch Center for Freshwater Research and Education, the Center of Expertise will conduct research examining the impacts of oil spills in freshwater environments to help develop effective responses. Read the full story by The Sault News.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-coast-guard

Theresa Gruninger

Ohio’s South Bass Islands are hoping visitors are able to vacation and learn about the importance of Lake Erie. Ohio Sea Grant’s Aquatic Visitors Center and the Ohio State University’s Stone Lab are hard at work helping tourists understand the shared responsibility for this natural resource. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.

Original Article

Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Commission

https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-south-bass-island

Theresa Gruninger