Echo

When It’s OK to Poison Fish

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(NY) New York Times – As the SuperFreakonomics chapter on global warming suggests, solutions that are initially viewed as repugnant sometimes gain acceptance over time. Consider, for example, that environmental groups have supported a “last-ditch effort” by Illinois environmental officials to dump a toxic chemical into a canal. The purpose? To target and kill the giant and destructive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes and potentially bringing about the “collapse of the Great Lakes sport and commercial fishing industry.” More

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Michigan students in Copenhagen for climate conference

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(MI) Bay City Times – Four Alma College students, including one from Saginaw Township, are attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference which begins today in Copenhagen, Denmark. The students, Adam Ellsworth, Ben Roberts of Saginaw Township, Samantha LaChance and Renee Willoughby, are there along with faculty members Murray Borrello and Micheal Vickery. More

Echo

1 Asian carp turns up after fish kill

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – Dozens of boats combed the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal starting in the pre-dawn hours today, ultimately finding a lone Asian carp among tens of thousands of poisoned fish. After officials launched what’s believed to be the largest deliberate fish kill in state history Wednesday night, biologists sifted through the carnage at dump sites along the popular shipping canal near Romeoville. But by late this evening, they had identified just one 22-inch Asian carp, an invasive fish that officials say has the potential to devastate the region’s commercial fishing industry if  allowed to enter the Great Lakes. More

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Environmentalists, shippers criticize ballast plan

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(MI) The Associated Press – A government plan to prevent foreign species carried in ship ballast tanks from invading seacoasts, the Great Lakes and inland waterways is riddled with loopholes and would take effect too slowly, environmentalists say. Shipping companies, meanwhile, contend the regulations proposed by the U.S. Coast Guard would make costly and unreasonable demands while adding to a confusing patchwork of federal and state requirements for handling ballast water. The Coast Guard is accepting public comments on the rules through Friday and could make changes before issuing a final version, said Cmdr. Tim Cummins of the 9th District Prevision Division in Cleveland. No deadline has been set for completing the regulations. More

Wildlife

More than $590,000 awarded for restoration in Great Lakes

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(MI) Petosky News-Review – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced $590,190 in federal funding for fish and wildlife restoration projects in the Great Lakes Basin. The projects will be matched by $309,949 in partner contributions and will focus on the rehabilitation of sustainable populations of native fish and wildlife and their habitats. More

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Ottawa River cleanup nears

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(OH) Toledo Blade – Crews are days away from mobilizing for the Ottawa River’s historic $43 million restoration effort. First up will be dredging of Sibley Creek, an Ottawa River tributary.  

That will take about a month and will involve removal of 15,000 cubic yards of sediment, according to Scott Cieniawski, an environmental engineer in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwest regional office in Chicago. More

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Waukesha postpones Great Lakes water diversion application

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Mayor Larry Nelson has canceled a Dec. 8 public hearing and special Common Council meeting on the city’s proposed switch to Lake Michigan water. 

The meeting will be rescheduled in early January to give city staff more time to complete a draft application, officials said. Waukesha intends to seek the approval of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and each of the governors of the seven other Great Lakes states to buy Lake Michigan water. More

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8 groups request crackdown on invasive species in Lake Superior

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(MN) Pioneer Press – Eight Minnesota environmental and conservation organizations are urging the U.S. Coast Guard to adopt tougher ballast-water standards for ships on the Great Lakes to stop the introduction and spread of harmful invasive aquatic species. In a letter to the Coast Guard this week, the groups said the first step of a proposed rule is too weak and takes too long to put into place. They said that it must be effective in killing even small organisms in the ships’ ballast water and that the deadlines should be moved up. More

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Milfoil is foiled by herbicide on Minnetonka bays

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(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – Two years into a five-year test of herbicides to control Eurasian water milfoil on Lake Minnetonka, results are so encouraging that more shoreline property owners are asking for the chemical treatment in their bays. After seeing the weed fade away this year on Grays Bay and Phelps Bay, residents of Gideons Bay and St. Albans Bay are trying to raise money for milfoil treatments next summer. More

Water

Highland Park project aims to curb sewage flow

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – A plan is under way in Highland Park to help keep at least a small amount of raw sewage out of Lake Michigan — the source of drinking water and recreation for millions of people across the region. In a project that will eventually cost millions of dollars, the North Shore Sanitary District recently approved $150,000 to design the replacement of a mile-long stretch of concrete pipe, three feet in diameter, from a sewage pumping station at Highland Park’s Rosewood Beach to the Clavey Road treatment plant, also in the city. More