Echo

Great Lakes: Protecting Michigan’s Treasure

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(MI) The Michigan News – Michigan is defined by the Great Lakes. Our two peninsulas border four of the five Great Lakes and we are
the only state completely within the Great Lakes watershed. As Attorney General, one of Mike Cox’s
primary environmental priorities has been protecting our Great Lakes. Michigan is surrounded by the Great Lakes, “great” because they contain approximately 20% of the Earth’s –
and 95% of the United States’ — fresh water. More than 40,000 square miles of Michigan’s surface area is
water.

Echo

$20 million set for river cleanup

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Federal and state regulators are planning to remove more than 4 million pounds of contaminated sediments from the Milwaukee River and Lincoln Creek at an estimated cost of $20.2 million. The sediments in Lincoln Park on the city’s north side represent the largest single source of pollution from polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the river and Milwaukee’s harbor. The project – set to start next year – is the latest effort in Wisconsin to clean industrial chemicals from waterways flowing into Lake Michigan. More

Nearshore

Work under way on Muskegon Lake shoreline restoration

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(MI) Muskegon Chronicle – One of the largest federal “stimulus” grants for the Muskegon area is being targeted at its greatest asset – the waterfront.  
Design and engineering is well under way and construction could begin by the end of the year on a $10 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant to restore the shoreline habitat along the southern Muskegon Lake shoreline. “With the $10 million, we will see an investment in Muskegon County’s strongest economic development asset … the lake,” said Sandeep Dey, executive director of the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission. “This project is progressing much faster than we had anticipated.”  More

Echo

Effort to restore creek flows to halfway point

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – Good weather is speeding up work for crews that are nearing the halfway point in the $2 million project to restore the lower reaches of Dunes Creek to a natural state. Doug Stukey, assistant property manager for the Department of Natural Resources, said the removal of an 80-foot-wide strip of concrete on the east side of the main parking lot at the Pavilion has been removed and hauled away. Milling of the asphalt down to the original pavement has been completed. More

Air

Once an autumn tradition, leaf-burning now under fire

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(MI) The Detroit News – It used to be a regular part of fall weekends all over Michigan:  a yard full of leaves raked into a pile and burned, creating that distinctive smell that became an integral part of the season. But these days, one man’s nostalgia-inducing aroma is another’s air pollution. In many places, leaf-burning isn’t welcomed with open arms or even welcomed at all. Many older inner-ring communities have banned the practice outright. Other communities that have seen population growth in recent decades have found that closer quarters and leaf-burning don’t mix.

Echo

Erie and Ottawa counties to benefit from lake funding

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(OH) Sandusky Register – Erie and Ottawa counties are slated to receive millions of dollars of new federal funds from a measure just signed by President Barack Obama that seeks to restore the health of the Great Lakes. Obama signed the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative measure Oct. 30. More

Echo

Film on invasive species premieres in Grand Rapids

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(MI) The Detroit News – The film, titled “Lake Invaders: The Fight for Lake Huron,” was produced by faculty and students at Grand Valley State University in Allendale. A screening is scheduled tonight at the DeVos Center. The film was two years in the making and explores the threat invasive species have posed to the lake. It features state Department of Natural Resourcesnstaff from Alpena and the DNR’s Chinook research vessel. More

Echo

Ottawa River dredging delayed again

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(OH) Toledo Blade – Plans to start a $43 million environmental restoration project along the Ottawa River have hit another scheduling snag, though the federal official in charge of the unprecedented two-year project said it could get under way later this month.  

Scott Cieniawski, an environmental engineer in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Chicago, said the agency and seven local businesses known as the Ottawa River Group are finalizing details for subcontracts required before construction may begin. More

Echo

U.S. Steel offers details on wastewater permit

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – Several residents peppered U.S. Steel representatives with questions regarding the company’s 2009 draft wastewater permit for Gary Works on Wednesday night at Indiana University Northwest. Efforts to curb mercury and cyanide, and the company’s wastewater treatment plan were just some of the topics discussed by about a dozen people in attendance. Doreen Carey, environmental affairs director for the city of Gary, said she and other environmental groups were concerned about free cyanide levels and lengthy compliance periods in the previous draft. More

Echo

Maintenance on carp barrier at standstill

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – At the same time nearly a half billion dollars is headed toward the Great Lakes as part of President Barack Obama’s ambitious ecosystem restoration program, nobody at the moment appears to have the dollars to allow the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers to do regular maintenance on the new $9 million Asian carp barrier. That maintenance is needed about every six months and it requires shutting down the barrier for a day or two. The barrier, which is about 20 miles downstream from Lake Michigan on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, was first turned on in April. More