Echo

“Neighborhood electric vehicles” get ready for life in the fast lane

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – Move over hybrids; modified golf carts are headed from the fairways to the roadways in Illinois, offering an incongruous yet eco-friendly alternative for those satisfied with more leisurely travel.Dubbed “neighborhood electric vehicles” and retrofitted with safety features, the new category of mini-cars will be street-legal beginning Jan. 1. Operating for pennies per mile, limited to 25 m.p.h. and restricted to local roads, the battery-powered buggies are quietly generating buzz. More

Echo

DNR may expand deer season

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(MI) The Daily Press – The Department of Natural Resources is looking into shifting the firearm deer season beginning in 2010. The opening date could change, and/or an extra weekend added to the season, if the DNR and the Natural Resources Commission find the shift to be a good idea. More

Echo

U.S. EPA asking for input on enforcement priorities

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(MI) The Mudpuppy – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking comments on future priorities for its national enforcement program. The feedback is being taken online through Dec. 1. The agency’s current enforcement priorities focus on pollution from stormwater runoff, air toxics, concentrated animal feeding operations and mineral processing. More

Energy

Hung out to dry: Here’s one way to save energy

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(OH) The Toledo Blade – Why don’t more people dry their clothes on a clothesline? Al drew my attention to the Lucas Soil & Water Conservation District’s 2009 newsletter. The article states that your dryer accounts for about 15 percent of your electric bill. It said the United States relies on dryers more than other countries. In Italy, fewer than 5 percent of households have a dryer. On one hand, this comes as no surprise.

Echo

Group Proposes Measures to Stop Invasive Species

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(NY) Treehugger – A new report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature says ports and trade hotspots in the United States need to do more to detect and respond to foreign invaders like the quagga. Quaggas have transformed the Great Lakes ecosystem, outcompeting native species, harming fish populations, clogging up drinking water intake pipes and helping fuel toxic algal blooms. More

Echo

Ash piles named on national list of dangerous sites

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(MI) Bay City Times – Consumers Energy plans to fix the second of two leaky coal ash landfills at its power plant in Bay County by the end of the year. The company’s Karn-Weadock plant in Hampton Township is named on a national list of toxic coal ash sites recently released by Earthjustice, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit. More

Echo

Cleanup of hot spot begins

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(ON) The Chronicle Journal – Exploratory work began this week on a project that may one day allow Marathon‘s polluted harbour to be taken off the list of industrial hot spots on the Great Lakes. Drill crews worked from a barge on Peninsula Harbour on Thursday, taking core samples of the harbour‘s bottom that will help engineers design a protective cap. More

Energy

The green road ahead

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(IN) The Indianapolis Star – In mid-August, President Barack Obama visited Northern Indiana to announce $2.4 billion in stimulus funds to benefit the green vehicle industry. The money will go to companies and institutions to develop advanced batteries and other components used to increase the number of hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles. Our share, Obama announced, will include $416 million in grants to Hoosier companies and universities. Indiana is the second-largest recipient of funding for advanced vehicles; Michigan is the first. More

Echo

End of the road for public beach?

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(MI) The Holland Sentinel – Lower courts have issued conflicting resolutions about the beach at the end of 121st Avenue, resulting in two sets of signs with two sets of directions. Now, the Michigan Court of Appeals might give the final direction after it hears testimony Wednesday about the issue of beach use along Lake Michigan. More

Echo

Getting Benton Harbor to tap area’s bounty

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(MI) The Herald-Palladium – Fruit and vegetable growers from six farms stood at folding tables Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot at the Mercy Center in Benton Harbor. The tables were filled with locally grown produce, all the colors of the rainbow. More