By Haley Walker
October 23, 2009
U.S. drivers as a whole spent the equivalent of 175 million days in traffic jams in 2007, according to a recent report.
That’s enough time to listen to War and Peace on your car stereo 160 million times, said the Texas Transportation Institute researchers who published the 2009 Urban Mobility Report.
It is a slight drop from 2006. “Congestion went down because of high gas prices in 2007,” said Tim Lomax, research engineer with the transportation institute.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(IN) The Post-Tribune - Northwest Indiana and the Hoosier state received more dubious environmental distinctions Wednesday in a new report about toxic water pollution.

(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.

(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.

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.

(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.