Echo

Mercury limits vary for Great Lakes; may harm already polluted waters

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By Elisabeth Pernicone
Dec. 16, 2009

Due to its many health threats, mercury is regulated in foods, pesticides and industry.  But some coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes region discharge mercury into water at levels hundreds of times greater than deemed safe for wildlife and up to 25 times greater than deemed safe for humans. It’s all legal, and even when it’s not, most violators are never fined. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to step up its regulations of mercury and other contaminants in coal-fired power plant wastewater.

Echo

Michigan mulls tax break for a fifth battery maker

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By Jordan Travis
Dec. 11, 2009

LANSING, Mich. — Any Michigan business hoping to claim a fifth advanced battery manufacturing tax credit will have until March 31, 2010, if Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores, gets his way. The lawmaker introduced a bill that would extend the deadline to apply for a credit of up to $25 million per year for four years. The bill, he said, was written with fortu PowerCell GmbH, a German battery manufacturing company, in mind.

Echo

Was it worth it? One Asian carp found

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(IL) Treehugger An emergency operation to stop invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes used more than 2,000 gallons of rotenone to poison six miles of a canal near Chicago this week. Tens of thousands of fish were killed. Just one Asian carp, the target of the poisoning, was found. An estimated 100 tons of dead fish will be taken to a landfill. Studies have shown that Asian carp tend to sink to the bottom when they die.

Echo

When cars die, the environment may suffer

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By Elisabeth Pernicone and Shawntina Phillips
Dec. 1, 2009

Last summer’s Cash for Clunkers Program collected 700,000 used cars, according to the United States Department of Transportation. Although it was successful in giving Americans a $3,500 or $4,500 credit for a new fuel-efficient car, the environment could need a rebate of its own. “Automobiles have a lot of fluids that can be hazardous to the environment,” said Christine Grossman, enforcement specialist at the Waste and Hazardous Materials Division of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. “Some fluids are spilled or released as gases into the environment and result in problems with clean up and air emission.”

According to the Steel Recycling Institute, the automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the North America.

Air

Burning cars: Flames aren’t the worst environmental hazard

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By Thea Neal
Dec. 1, 2009

Salvaged cars aren’t the only ones producing dangerous byproducts. A simple spark at an accident can turn cars into environmental health hazards. Burning cars often emit dangerous toxic gases, said Bill Peters, owner of East Lansing Automotive Center. “So many toxins are released, especially cyanide gas.

Echo

Great Lakes music map now features odes to gobies, muck and a bull-whipped dog

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By Great Lakes Echo
Nov. 18, 2009

Echo’s Great Lakes music map map is growing with new reader contributions of songs inspired by the lakes. Check out the additions by clicking on the map found here. Among our favorites of the new additions: 

Terry Brown We’ve got this Mucky Water (Clifford Stuehmer) A late entry that helps beef out Lake Huron’s representation. Gun Street Girl (Tom Waits) with the wonderful line: “Sittin’ by the Erie with a bull-whipped dog.”

Echo

Getting the measure of the green economy: Enviro jobs are hard to count

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By Brian Laskowski and Agnieszka Spieszny

Detroit Workers for Environmental Justice runs a green-jobs training program for low-income or unemployed Detroiters, some of whom formerly worked for the auto industry. Kinnus Paul said his organization boasts a 100 percent job placement mostly in hands-on clean-up work. “You have to clean up before you green up” is the agency’s motto, the job developer jokes. Jobs include hazardous waste clean up, lead and asbestos abatement, weatherization installation. But while Paul knows a green job when he sees one, government agencies tracking an activity they hope fuels the economy struggle with the definition.

Echo

Column: Can a kind man kill?

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Cast your vote: Should Andy hunt? By Andy McGlashen
Nov. 10, 2009

Last week I watched the great John Huston film The Misfits, and there’s a scene I can’t get out of my head.  Clark Gable, Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift have taken Marilyn Monroe with them on a “mustanging” trip into some Nevada mountains. Monroe goes into hysterics when she learns that the men aren’t wrangling wild horses so birthday girls can lope around on them — they’re to be slaughtered for dog food.  “Honey, a kind man can kill,” Gable says, as much to convince himself as to calm her.  “No,” she insists.  “He can’t.”

The scene resonates because I want to take part in Michigan’s firearm deer season, which opens on November 15, but I’m not sure if I should.  I can’t decide if a kind man can kill. I used to be a deer hunter, and still am in thought if not in deed.  My driving becomes somewhat serpentine in farm country where the fields want a good looking-over.  If I’m lucky enough to spot a band of whitetails, some old urge still gnaws at me if any of them sports an ivory-hued rack.  I still look for rubs and tracks in the woods.  I sometimes crave venison stew.

Echo

Climate change study to help cherry growers assess global supply, markets and competitors

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By Steve Davy
Nov. 6, 2009

Despite the global nature of modern industries there has never been a study measuring the impact of climate change across an industry. Until now. The National Science Foundation recently awarded a $1.5 million grant to an international research team to study climate change and the tart cherry industry. The aim of the study is to provide tart cherry farmers with a global perspective on their industry.