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Boat tax break may be thrown overboard
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Some Great Lakes lawmakers want to eliminate the tax provision giving a tax break on boats classified as second home. But opponents worry that it will hurt the boating industry more than yacht owners.
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Leaky pipes: Researchers find sewage in most Milwaukee stormwater discharges
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A recent study found almost 90 percent of storm water outfalls tested in Milwaukee contained human sewage.
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New smartphone app hits the Great Lakes beach
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myBeachCast app. Image: Limno Tech
A new smartphone app provides beach advisories and other environmental information in real time. The myBeachCast app provides hourly updates from beach databases in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, said Christine Manninen, communications and web programming director at the Great Lakes Commission, the Ann Arbor-based agency that developed the widget. Illinois will join soon. The other four Great Lakes states will be added before next May when the second version of the app will be launched, she said.
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Satellite images detect air pollution in the Great Lakes region
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Satellite images recently showed air pollution from Ontario fires in the Great Lakes region. Nitrogen dioxide, which forms when nitrogen combines with oxygen during combustion, appears in NASA satellite images taken from July 15 to July 18. The fires caused thousands of Canadian residents to evacuate. The image was created with NASA’s Ozone Measuring Instrument. It measures the number of nitrogen dioxide molecules in a cubic centimeter.
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Teachers return today after weeklong Lake Superior research trip
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Fifteen Great Lakes area educators worked with scientists for a week, deepening their understanding of the environment.
The hope is that the experience will ultimately benefit their students.
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The Kalamazoo oil spill: One year later
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Today, a year after the oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan, it still poses a major cleanup challenge, the Associated Press reports. Enbridge Inc., the owner of the pipeline that caused the 800,000-gallon oil spill, has an Aug. 31 deadline given by the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the oil. But the oil footprint is larger than anticipated and many pockets of oil may not have been identified. Regulators told the Associated Press that this could mean the cleanup may continue for a couple of years.
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Photo Friday: Rocky Lake Ontario
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You can find new images weekly on Scott Thomas’ photography blog.
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Experts answer questions about the Great Lakes
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Inquisitive about the Great Lakes? Submit or tweet your questions and they could be answered by scientists or other experts. Specialists on board the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s research vessel Lake Guardian are exploring Lake Superior this week. They are answering questions about the Great Lakes submitted by the public through a form starting today. Individuals can alternatively tweet questions to @EPAresearch using the #LakeSci11 hashtag. The Great Lakes are hugely important for individuals in the Great Lakes basin but they are also a national treasure, said Melissa Anley-Mills, member of the science communication staff for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Want to buy a Great Lakes lighthouse? Act now
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Bidding ends today for two of them.
Need more time to ponder new digs?
Here are a few more up for grabs.