Great Lakes Echo » Great Links

U.S. Unveils Plan to Keep Asian Carp Out of Great Lakes

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:25:55 +0000

(NY) Wall Street Journal - Federal officials Monday unveiled a multi-pronged attack to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes and prevent an invasion that could potentially devastate a $7 billion recreation fishing industry.

Among the tactics in a $78.5 million, 25-point plan: Navigational locks in Illinois waterways that lead to Lake Michigan will be opened less frequently, and officials will more aggressively search for and kill the fish when they are found. More

Gov. Granholm calls Obama’s Asian carp plan too weak

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:25:30 +0000

(MI) The Detroit News - The Obama administration proposed Monday a $78.5 million plan to try to prevent the voracious Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes, but Gov. Jennifer Granholm said it falls short of what’s needed to protect the fragile ecosystem from another threat.

“The economic damage from these carp coming into the Great Lakes system would be irreparable,” Granholm told reporters after a meeting between Midwest governors and administration officials at the White House. “They should shut the locks down until they get these other measures in place, and permanently have a solution to separating these two water systems.” More

Public can comment on Waukesha water plan

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:24:56 +0000

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - The public is invited to comment on topics to be included in an environmental impact study of Waukesha’s pending bid for Great Lakes water.

The Waukesha City Council likely will be asked in March or April to approve submitting an application to the DNR, Mayor Larry Nelson has said. A draft application released last month says the city would buy up to 18.5 million gallons a day of Lake Michigan water to meet demand several decades from now.

The lake water would replace radium-tainted water from the city’s deep sandstone wells. More

A Federal Climate Service Is Created to Provide Data

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:24:24 +0000

(NY) The New York Times – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will create a new climate change office to gather and provide data to governments, industry and academia as part of a broad federal effort to prepare for long-term changes to the planet, officials said Monday.The new unit, to be known as the NOAA Climate Service, will assemble the roughly 550 scientists and analysts already working on the issue at the agency into a cohesive group under a single leader. More

Wolverine’s clock ticking

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:23:48 +0000

(MI) The Alpena News - While commitment to the Rogers City area and all of Presque Isle County remains high for Wolverine Power, the window of opportunity to build the billion dollar proposed power plant in the Carmeuese Quarry might be shrinking faster than anyone imagined.

Eric Baker, president and CEO of Wolverine Power, said the process has taken a decided slow-down movement, but the company still has its sights on Rogers City as a site for power generation. More

Decision to halt dredging threatens shipping in Green Bay harbor

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:21:18 +0000

(WI) Green Bay Post Gazette - An impasse involving federal and state governmental agencies has put at risk the shipping business in the Green Bay harbor.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it isn’t going to do any more dredging of the 3.3-mile navigation channel and turning basins until 2017, a decision it admits will make the channel “economically not viable … for most commercial vessels.” More

Winds of Change? The Growing Interest in Great Lakes Energy

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:20:29 +0000

(NY) Buffalo Rising – Anyone who lives on the shores of the Great Lakes knows that the waves are not the only powerful force in these ecosystems. From the days of shipping grain and coal on sailing vessels like schooners to the wind driven waves of Great Lakes surfers today, the wind is an undeniable feature of Great Lakes ecosystems and communities.

The challenges of global climate change and an energy system based on unsustainable and polluting fossil fuels, however, have recently lead many individuals across the Great Lakes basin to consider how else this immense force could be used to the power our bi-national region in a more sustainable way. The latest wave of interest in Great Lakes wind is coming in the form of offshore wind turbines. While this technology has been used by several European nations, there are currently no offshore wind energy facilities in the United States or Canada. And, of specific interest for the Great Lakes, there are no offshore wind turbines in freshwater systems throughout the entire world. More

$337,000 is awarded over lead

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:20:01 +0000

(MI) Detroit Free Press - A Wayne County jury ruled Monday that five neighbors of a former Detroit lead smelter should be paid a total of $117,000 in damages because the plant created a nuisance in their neighborhood over a decade.

The group also got $220,000 to reimburse attorneys for the cost of medical, soil and other testing. More

EPA to update Pines residents about coal ash contamination

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:19:39 +0000

(IN) The Post Tribune - Residents of Pines are concerned that radiation from fly ash in their yards poses a health risk and that a coal ash landfill nearby is causing water pollution that could make it to Lake Michigan.

Residents will raise their concerns at a meeting tonight with federal officials. More

U.S. power plant blast triggers fears in Oakville

Karessa Weir — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:16:38 +0000

(ON) Toronto Star - An Oakville citizens’ group says the explosion at a 620-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Connecticut that killed five highlights the hazards of building a similar power station in their neighbourhood.

“It’s one of those things that confirms the possibilities of the dangers of having a plant in a residential community,” said Daniela Morawetz, president of the Chartwell-Maple Grove Residents Association, an Oakville ratepayers association of 1,600 homeowners located next door to the future site of Canada’s largest gas-fired power plant. More