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Slaughter announces stimulus funds for clean water planning projects

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(NY) MPNnow.com – Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Perinton, today announced that almost $366,000 in federal stimulus funds will go towards the planning of clean water projects for Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes. “The freshwater from the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes is one of our greatest local resources,” said Slaughter. “I’m pleased that federal stimulus dollars are going towards grants used to help us keep local waters clean.” More

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Michigan waterways enriched with 600,000 pounds of toxic chemicals

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(MI) The Bay City Times – This just in: A report from Environment Michigan says industrial facilities dumped 575,930 pounds of toxic chemicals into Michigan’s waterways in 2007. The “Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act,” also details chemical discharges across the United States. “While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” Shelley Vinyard, environmental associate with Environment Michigan, said a statement.  More

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Stimulus money locks Grafton in a dam debate

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Village officials must make a choice by the end of the month: Replace the Bridge St. dam on the Milwaukee River within 10 years for up to $4 million, or remove the structure within the next year using federal grant funds. Think it’s an easy call? Hundreds of residents are expected to jam a hearing Thursday at John Long Middle School, just as they have packed past meetings. Many have signed petitions to save the dam.

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U.S. Steel opens discussion

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – U.S. Steel representatives are holding an invitation-only meeting with environmental groups today to discuss its newly re-released wastewater permit. A company representative said the purpose of the meeting was to “have a conversation” and be transparent about the permit. More

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Environmental report gives NWI another bad mark

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – Northwest Indiana and the Hoosier state received more dubious environmental distinctions Wednesday in a new report about toxic water pollution. Indiana industries led the nation in toxic chemical discharges in 2007 at 27.3 million pounds, according to the report. More

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Energy Star label must mean what it says to consumers and taxpayers

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(OH) Cleveland Plain-Dealer – Consumers who have been looking for the Energy Star label on appliances, light bulbs and building materials such as windows, doors and skylights since 1996 may be saving money on their energy bills. Or, it turns out, they may not be. That they cannot know for sure is a real disappointment. The federal Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aren’t certain which Energy Star products live up to the label. Although those agencies are responsible for administering the program, loopholes, poor management and bureaucratic overlap let manufacturers certify products as deserving of the high-efficiency designation that actually aren’t.

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Take action now on climate change

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(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle – For more than 30 years I have studied weather and climate, and I believe human activity is upsetting our planet’s well-balanced, natural systems. This is not a blind belief in some quasi-religious or ideological position. It is a matter of the preponderance of evidence. Consider that for 200 years humans have mined massive amounts of carbon in the form of oil and coal from the Earth, and released it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. That’s not part of the planet’s natural cycle of carbon. This carbon has been stored away, out of the natural cycle, for eons before being released by humans and their machines into the atmosphere.

Wildlife

New insight on old pesticide spells trouble for the Great Lakes’ invasive sea lamprey

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By Jeff Gillies
Oct. 20, 2009

While Great Lakes officials beat back the voracious Asian carp at the gates of Lake Michigan, they still wrangle with another nasty fish that snuck in at least 90 years ago. Sea lampreys, eel-like parasitic fish native to the Atlantic Ocean, use a mouthful of teeth and a bony tongue to latch onto and scrape through fish flesh. Scientists debate whether the lamprey is native to Lake Ontario, where it was discovered in 1835. But it invaded Lake Erie by 1921 and the rest of the Great Lakes by 1946.

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City Awarded $105 Million in Exxon Mobil Lawsuit

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(NY) The New York Times – A federal jury on Monday found Exxon Mobil liable for contaminating groundwater in New York City and awarded the city $104.7 million in compensatory damages. The city had sought $250 million in damages to finance construction of a treatment plant to make the water in five wells in southeastern Queens drinkable. But lawyers for the city called the jury’s decision a “total victory” for their side. More

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Environmental Journalism Program Halted

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(NY) The New York Times – Columbia University’s dual masters program in environmental journalism has been suspended, according to the school’s Web site, which now includes the following “important note”. Due to the current weakness in the job market for environmental journalists, Columbia’s dual degree program in Earth & Environmental Science Journalism will not be accepting new students for the fall of 2010. Check back here for further developments. More