(MI) Michigan Messenger – Federal environmental officials recently announced an agreement with Georgia-Pacific Corp. to begin work on capping a Kalamazoo Township landfill filled with material laden with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, part of a federal Superfund cleanup of the Kalamazoo River.

(MN) Minnesota Star-Tribune – Shoreview is betting on a new “green” concrete paving method that lets rainwater pass right through the street surface to prevent damaging runoff.

(MI) Detroit Free Press – Gov. Jennifer Granholm is one of eight governors coming to the White House on Wednesday to talk about options and funding for high-speed rail with Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

By Sarah Coefield, coefield@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 4, 2009
An ice jam that stalled the St. Clair River for nearly a month in 1984 may have caused Lake Huron to drain faster in subsequent years.
Lake Huron water levels have been dropping the past 40 to 50 years. That prompted a Canadian group of Georgian Bay cottage associations, upset that the low water threatened wetlands and diminished waterfronts, to search out the cause. Consultants for the Georgian Bay Association in 2004 identified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredging of the …

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 3, 2009
When the Great Lakes are high, shoreline houses risk erosion that could tumble them into the water. When they are low, more structures are exposed to wind damage, boaters can’t pull up to docks and ships can’t transport as much cargo.
And lately, both things have happened at the same time, puzzling scientists and frustrating property owners.
Since the late 1990s, the average water levels of lakes Michigan and Huron have dropped, said Frank Quinn, a former research hydrologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 2, 2009
Environmental groups praise a New York Supreme Court justice’s recent decision to uphold that state’s new ballast water treatment requirements, and the shippers say that the standard is just too high.
But they both agree on one thing: There should be some federal action taken to regulate ballast water.
Ballast water is carried in ships to provide stability. It is taken on when a ship unloads cargo and is discharged when it is loaded up again. It has been blamed for carrying from foreign …

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – The shipping industry has lost another round in its fight to keep states from passing their own ballast rules to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species.

(IL) The Chicago Tribune – Legislation inspired by a controversy over tainted water in Crestwood went to the desk of Gov. Pat Quinn today as House lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to ensure citizens are notified when their drinking water is contaminated.

(OH) The Toledo Blade – Spawning by lake sturgeon in Canadian waters of the Detroit River has been confirmed for the first time in 30 years, boosting hopes for continued recovery of this rare, ancient species in the river and adjoining waters of western Lake Erie.

(ON) The Hamilton Spectator – As Canada and the United States prepare to mark the centennial of the Boundary Waters Treaty, key thinkers and organization leaders from both countries are calling for a new, 21st-century vision to protect and prevent further degradation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system over the next 100 years.