(IN) The Post-Tribune - Mercury is contained in the 700,000 tons of blast furnace waste that ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor has stored directly on the ground less than 500 feet from Lake Michigan for the past two decades.

(MI) The Daily Press - The Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D), is looking into the possibility of a district energy plant to power the city buildings of Manistique.

(NY) Buffalo News - The St. Marys Challenger was built in 1906 and still plies the Great Lakes.But critics of proposed federal rules regarding ship emissions say the venerable vessel and a dozen other steamships on the Great Lakes could be forced off the waters by the more stringent requirements.

(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle - Michigan’s program that shields bogs, marshes, swamps and other wetlands from overdevelopment remains on shaky ground even after surviving the most serious challenge in its 30-year history.

(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle - A local tribe could become involved in plans to treat large-scale pollution at Bay Harbor Resort on Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay.

By Andrew Norman
Oct. 26, 2009
Political liabilities and the absence of key committee posts mean that senators from Great Lakes states are unlikely to play major roles in climate change legislation. But the region’s members will influence the bill by defending specific industries, according to political analysts.
“The folks will not be major players,” said Richard Hula, chair of the political science department at Michigan State University. Instead, they will form a loose coalition to resist anything that further dampens the manufacturing sector.

By Nick Mordowanec
Oct. 25, 2009
LANSING – Some Michigan schools are at the forefront of making environmental improvements.

By Mehak Bansil
Oct. 25, 2009
LANSING—A bill awaiting Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s signature would change permit requirements for those who already own a dock, pier or other anchoring structure and those looking to build one in an inland lake or stream.

Oct. 24, 2009
Listen to Echo contributor Steven Davy interview Matt Dunstone, the maker of Kalamazoo River: US, which explores that troubled west Michigan river. Davy hosts the Nonchalant Café.
A film trailer appears below the interview.
The movie’s Web site has showtimes and locations.

Steve’s earlier Echo contribution: Perennial wheat passes the cookie test.

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Waukesha’s pursuit of Lake Michigan water does not have to wait until state rules are adopted implementing a Great Lakes protection compact, state Department of Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank says in a letter to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.