Echo

Great Lakes govs not so green, but some drive alternative fuel vehicles

By |

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
July 8, 2009

Several Great Lakes governors own hybrid vehicles, but that’s not enough to place them among the country’s greenest state chief executives, according to one recent study. None of the region’s governors made it into the top ten in the study by Greenopia, an environmental consumer interest Web site and blog. Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, Minnesota and Pennsylvania’s governors did squeeze into the top 25. The report evaluated the governors’ policies and stances on climate change, energy conservation and tax incentives to encourage green consumers, said Doug Mazeffa, head of research at Greenopia. “We looked at them relative to other governors, and also weighted their transparency,” he said.

Echo

Environment agencies in Great Lakes states reorganize, downsize

By |

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

Some cash-strapped state agencies charged with protecting the Great Lakes environment are merging and reorganizing to do more with less. Michigan’s Senate could vote next week to combine that state’s Department of Environmental Quality with the Department of Natural Resources. The House of Representatives approved a similar measure recently. Other states are considering similar moves. Ironically, the functions of both of Michigan’s agencies had once been combined.

Echo

Stimulus-backed high-speed rail could benefit Great Lakes region; environmental benefits uncertain

By |

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 22, 2009

The prospect of traveling from Chicago to Detroit at 110 mph might be more feasible with the recent release of federal rules for obtaining a piece of the $8 billion in stimulus funds for the high-speed rail. The criteria looks good for the Great Lakes region as it favors multi-state proposals. Regional transportation officials have proposed a high-speed rail with a central hub in Chicago that travels to Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis and other cities. But will people give up their automobiles and make the shift? “The high-speed rail can look really good environmentally,” said Mikhail Chester, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

Echo

Most Americans believe global warming harm not yet here; Great Lakes residents less concerned than national average

By |

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

Although a new federal report says global warming is already causing harm, many Americans believe it is tomorrow’s problem – that it won’t hurt people for another 10 years. And those surveyed in five Great Lakes states are less worried than the national average, according to a recent study by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. The study found six levels of concern about warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. These “six Americas” were defined as alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged, doubtful and dismissive. “Basically, we believe you can find the six groups in any community – just different proportions,” Anthony Leiserowitz, study co-author and a research scientist at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies wrote in an e-mail.

Echo

VIDEO: Minnesota polar explorer finds evidence of climate change in the Arctic

By |

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 16, 2009

Minnesota native and nationally renowned polar explorer Will Steger has watched ice melt practically under his feet in the coldest regions of the world. “About 15 years ago, scientists predicted that changes in global warming would first be seen in polar regions,” Steger said recently. “So unfortunately, most of the changes people have not seen yet.”

But Steger, who has traversed both Antarctica and the Arctic, and has spent more than 40 years leading and participating in polar expeditions, says that he has seen the changes first-hand. Along with five other explorers, he crossed more than 3,700 miles of Antarctica in 1989 and 1990. Temperatures were at average 80 degrees below zero, and the team spent six months at an altitude above 7,000 feet.

Echo

Climate variation main cause in Huron and Michigan’s dropping levels, report says

By |

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

Some shoreline cottage owners blame dredging and other human-caused activities for eroding the St. Clair River and lowering Lake Huron. But experts with the International Joint Commission cite variations in climate as the main cause for dropping lake levels in recent years. Although erosion from both human and natural causes contributed to the declining water levels in lakes Michigan and Huron, it has only played a small part in recent years, said Frank Quinn, a participant in the IJC study. “The change in (the lake levels) was maybe 50 centimeters from the 1990s to the present, and my finding was that between five and seven centimeters was due to erosion,” said Quinn, a former senior research hydrologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Echo

Officials say natural causes dropped Lake Huron and Michigan levels; homeowners don’t buy it

By |

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 Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. At the same time the average water level of Lake Erie has risen.

“The lake levels normally oscillate together,” Quinn said.

Echo

New York ballast decision may help control invasive species throughout the Great Lakes

By |

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 ports many of the invasive plants and animals altering the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Echo

Regulation of Great Lakes’ water levels possible, experts debate effects

By |

By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 9, 2009

Imagine turbines at the bottom of the St. Clair River that can control the height of the water on Lake Huron. What’s more, they can generate electricity. Sound farfetched? They’re not, according to Craig Stow, a physical research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Echo

Great Lakes groups urge passage of Obama cleanup plan; cite jobs, environment benefits

By |

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

Regional environmental and economic groups on Thursday urged Congress to quickly approve President Barack Obama’s proposed allocation of $475 million to restore and protect the Great Lakes. “This initiative, from our perspective, is the exact priorities the Great Lakes need, and the right amount,” said Andy Buchsbaum, co-chair of Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. The proposal allocates the most money – $146 million – to cleaning toxic substances from contaminated sediments. Other funding would go to keeping out and removing invasive species, preventing pollution, improving near-shore health and protecting habitat and wildlife. The president has not identified specific geographic regions that would receive the funding.