Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/keweir/page/34/)
(MI) Lansing State Journal – It’s been 16 years since then-Editorial Page Editor Mark Nixon’s battle cry for riverine improvement. And, to the credit of many, much has been done to improve Lansing’s river. But, as a recent, eye-opening boat tour along its downtown segment illustrates, there is still much to be done to make the Grand River all it could be. More
(MI) The Holland Sentinel – The most effective way for the United States to fight global warming is for Congress to put a price on carbon, either through a cap-and-trade system or, as we’d prefer, a carbon tax that rebates the revenue to taxpayers. But last month the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced a delay in introducing its climate change bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., said last week that such legislation might not be acted on until next year. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to regulate carbon under the Clean Air Act. As Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., once warned, EPA action would create “a glorious mess” of regulation.
(IL) Chicago Tribune – Visitors can study nearly 200 plant scientists in their natural habitat through the windows that line both sides of a main hall in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s gleaming new research center. Watching people watch things grow may seem a trifle mundane, but their work has far-reaching significance — preventing a “mass extinction” of plants over the next half-century. More
(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – We Energies says a lawsuit challenging the coal plants it is building in Oak Creek could be revived if regulators don’t authorize $5 million in funding for environmental initiatives as part of the utility’s rate increase proposal. The possibility of a renewed lawsuit was among several reasons the utility provided in a regulatory filing supporting its request for a 7% rate increase in 2010. More
(MI) AnnArbor.com – A plastic shopping bag ban for the city’s largest retailers will be back before the Ann Arbor City Council tonight. If passed, the ordinance would bar retailers that have gross annual sales of more than $1 million from providing plastic bags. The ordinance doesn’t apply to the small plastic bags often available for produce at grocery stores. More
(ON) The Toronto Star – Sewage spills into Lake Ontario — such as the one that happened in 2006 — are unavoidable but that will change over time, a prominent city councillor insisted yesterday. “We have a $1-billion plan over the next 25 years which is in the process — large retention tanks and trunk sewers — which will over time solve the problem of sewage leaks,” said Councillor Adam Giambrone, a member of Toronto’s public works committee. More
(IN) Indianapolis Star – Restaurants, coffeehouses and other eateries are finding more ways to bring eco-friendly practices into their business plans and daily routine. They’re monitoring and evaluating their water and energy usage to become more efficient. The use of nontoxic cleaning products and recyclable restroom paper products is picking up steam, too. More
(MI) The Macomb Daily – County officials were pleased and a bit mystified recently when a Health Department program that provides safe disposal of household hazardous wastes attracted 776 vehicles, which brought a combined 27 tons of liquid waste to the Warren Recycling Center. Officials said it was the biggest turnout in the 7-year history of the program, which offers a rotating disposal service at various locations around the county. More
(NY) The New York Times – Poking out of the ground near the smokestacks of the Mountaineer power plant here are two wells that look much like those that draw natural gas to the surface. But these are about to do something new: inject a power plant’s carbon dioxide into the earth. A behemoth built in 1980, long before global warming stirred broad concern, Mountaineer is poised to become the world’s first coal-fired power plant to capture and bury some of the carbon dioxide it churns out. More
(NY) The New York Times – The Obama administration called Thursday for a comprehensive national system for regulating the use of federal waters along the nation’s marine and Great Lakes shores, now administered by a hodgepodge of federal, state or other agencies with often-conflicting goals. The recommendation, outlined in an interim report by a panel appointed in June by President Obama, said regulators should consider marine regions as a whole when issuing rules rather than, say, regulating fishing one species at a time. More