By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
April 30, 2009
More than $41 million in stimulus funding is going towards dredging channels and repairing outdated structures at 15 Great Lakes harbors in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District.
In all, the eight Great Lakes states scored $94 million for such work. But shipping organizations are angry that only 2 percent of the funds distributed nationwide went to the Great Lakes states.

A white-tailed deer and possibly a bald eagle were victims of a wildlife poisoning in Baraga County this spring.

Although poisoning cases are rare, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials said they want to find out exactly what happened, even if the survey takes an extended period of time.

Dramatic changes are coming to the networks that bring energy from plants to homes, from the high-voltage lines that carry it over great distances to the house meters that measure how much consumers use, according to officials and industry experts.

Even though only 1 percent of toys contain mercury, Mike Shriberg says that’s too much of the dangerous element in the hands of vulnerable children.
“You’re still talking about millions of products out there,” said Shribert, a children’s health advocate.
The Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health, where Shriberg directs policy, is pushing a package of bills in the Michigan Legislature to tighten restrictions on mercury-containing products, including toys.
The bills passed the house last week and were sent to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs.
Michigan and Pennsylvania are the …

Anglers who ate Great Lakes fish have 33 percent fewer PCBs and 43 percent less DDT in their bodies than they did a decade ago, largely because they changed their diet and switched to less contaminated fish, according to a study by Wisconsin researchers.
The scientists compared blood drawn from people in 1994-1995 with blood from the same people drawn roughly nine years later. Most of the 293 men and women tested were sports fishers and boat captains who consumed large amounts of Great Lakes fish.
One reason for the decline “is …

Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
April 23, 2009

The largest, deepest and coldest Great Lake holds another distinction, – it has the highest levels of toxaphene found in the region and possibly anywhere in the world.
Since federal bans on persistent pollutants in the 1970s and 80s, most chemical concentrations have declined in the Great Lakes.
Some Great Lakes toxicologists say the same is true of toxaphene.

By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo 4/22/09
Indian cement plants, Russian incinerators and Chinese farms send large amounts of persistent pollutants to the Great Lakes.
The continued expulsion of these toxins pose serious environmental and health problems for all countries, including those who have long since banned these chemicals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Climate change may further complicate the issue.

Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo 4/21/09

As contaminated sediment is cleaned up in the Great Lakes, persistent pollutants continue to blow in, threatening again to poison soil and harm human health.
That has some experts questioning if it’s worthwhile to spend money to remove toxic sediments if they will once more become contaminated in a matter of years.

Millions of dollars have been spent cleaning historic Great Lakes contamination. Millions more are sought. Does it make sense to clean the lakes before the pollution sources are eliminated?
A look at toxic fallout.

(MI) The News-Herald – DTE Energy shut down its Fermi 2 reactor plant in Monroe County on March 28 after an unexpected vibration in plant equipment was detected.