Echo

New federal funding proposal could help kill exotic organisms in the ballast of Great Lakes ships

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Editors note: This story is part of an occasional series of Echo reports on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 20, 2009

Preventing shipborne organisms from damaging the Great Lakes ecosystem is one target of the Obama Administration’s $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Ships carry ballast water to make them more stable as their cargo is offloaded. When they take on more cargo, they flush the ballast back into the lake or ocean.  That water can carry from foreign ports plants and animals that compete with native organisms for habitat and food.

Echo

Great Lakes watchers anxious to fill EPA post that’s key to restoration initiative

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 14, 2009

Great Lakes officials are anxious for the Obama Administration to appoint the region’s top Environmental Protection Agency administrator. “The appointment is always important, but for (the Great Lakes states), right now it’s absolutely critical,” said Andy Buchsbaum, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes region. “For the first time in history, we could get millions and millions of dollars from Congress, and the administrator is important to making sure the money is spent well.”

The Chicago-based Region 5 administrator is responsible for the Great Lakes program under the Clean Water Act. Region 5 includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Echo

Insect pest invades region; popcorn, cattle feed at risk

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 12, 2009

Insects about an inch long are starting to eat their way through the Midwest’s corn and beans. The western bean cutworm, native to the central high plains and western corn belt, was found in Pennsylvania for the first time this year.  In 2006 it first appeared in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. “We thought it might be here, but we didn’t expect to find the distribution we already found – it’s surprising how widespread it already is,” said John Tooker, assistant professor of entomology at Pennsylvania State University. In 2008, the cutworm was trapped in Wayne County, Ohio, about 90 miles from Pennsylvania.

Echo

Advocates for cleaning Michigan toxic hotspots plot strategy for securing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative dollars

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 5, 2009

Federal agencies and Michigan residents looking to clean up Great Lakes toxic hotspots planned Tuesday how to obtain a piece of the Obama Administration’s proposed $475 million environmental protection initiative. The meeting was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan has 14 of the Great Lakes’ 43 Areas of Concern, or AOCs, designated by the U.S and Canada as impaired or unable to support aquatic life. Only one U.S. site, located in New York, has been cleaned to where it could be formally delisted. “Some people feel that’s not a lot of progress over the past 20 years,” said Matt Doss, policy director for the Great Lakes Commission, who moderated the meeting.

Echo

VIDEO: Michigan residents urge public input for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

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Editors note: Catch tweets of hearing from Echo and others on Twitter at #GLRI Related stories here. Related poll here. By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 3, 2009

When more than 30 Michigan residents approached the microphone at a Great Lakes public hearing Monday, two messages were repeated: the public needs to be included in the Obama Administration’s $475 million plan to restore the Great Lakes, and there needs to be an effort to educate others. “If we don’t educate people to understand how their day-to-day activities impact the quality of the Great Lakes, our efforts may be lost,” one resident said.

Echo

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative meeting in East Lansing, Mich., tonight; State Area of Concern officials plan strategy Tuesday

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 3, 2009

Environmental Protection Agency officials are coming to Michigan tonight to discuss how the Obama Administration’s proposed $475 million to clean up the Great Lakes should be spent. The two-hour public meeting starts at 5 p.m. at Michigan State University’s Kellogg Center, 55 S. Harrison Ave. in East Lansing. This is the seventh hearing in a series of eight – one was designated in each of the Great Lakes states.

Echo

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative may restore fish passages, habitats

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Editors note: Congress may invest $475 million this year in Great Lakes cleanup. This story is part of an occasional look at proposals for spending it. Weigh in on this and other ideas or suggest your own on Echo’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative forum. Other stories. By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
July 24, 2009

Old hydropower dams and roadways that cross streams can keep Great Lakes fish from traveling upstream to spawn.

Echo

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative may battle beach bacteria

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Editors note: Congress is considering a $475 million appropriation for Great Lakes cleanup.  This story is part of an occasional look at proposals for how to spend it.  Is this an appropriate use of these funds? Weigh in on this and other ideas or suggest your own on Echo’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative forum. Other stories. By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
July 21, 2009

Getting buried in the sand at the beach is a childhood rite-of-passage that could have negative consequences. Children could also be playing with bacteria and viruses that can lead to vomiting or diarrhea.

Echo

Great Lakes fish consumption advisories rise slightly; researchers question extent of mercury risk

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Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
July 17, 2009

Those looking to enjoy a meal of Great Lakes’ fish are best off going to Lake Superior, according to a recent Canadian study. The report compared the number of fish consumption advisories for each of the Great Lakes in 2009 to the number in 2007. Lake Superior had the least restrictive advisories, said Mike Layton, author of the report by Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based nonprofit that focuses on improving health and the environment. Consumption advisories indicate the presence of chemical contaminants in fish. Lake Superior does not have any advisories that are considered “most restrictive,” where zero meals of certain fish are recommended.  All the other lakes have at least three; Lake Ontario has 18.