Echo

Shoreview experiment may eliminate storm drains

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(MN) Minnesota Star-Tribune – Shoreview is betting on a new “green” concrete paving method that lets rainwater pass right through the street surface to prevent damaging runoff. Pervious concrete — made of gravel and cement minus the sand that gives regular concrete its impenetrable density — has the porous quality of a Rice Krispies bar. Because it will allow water to drain straight to the ground below, Shoreview will install about a mile of pervious concrete streets without storm sewers in the Woodbridge neighborhood on Lake Owasso. More

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Granholm to attend White House meeting on rail funding

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – Gov. Jennifer Granholm is one of eight governors coming to the White House on Wednesday to talk about options and funding for high-speed rail with Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The meeting is set for 1 p.m. Attending the meeting with Granholm will be Govs. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jay Nixon of Missouri, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Sonny Perdue of Georgia, Pat Quinn of Illinois and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama identified 10 potential high-speed rail corridors which could compete for $8 billion — plus additional funding over five years — to get projects underway. More

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Shippers lose ballast ruling

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – The shipping industry has lost another round in its fight to keep states from passing their own ballast rules to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species. A New York State Supreme Court justice on Friday tossed out a shipping industry challenge of that state’s tough new ballast treatment requirements intended to keep freighters from dumping unwanted organisms into the world’s largest freshwater system. “This decision is a critical win for New York’s right and responsibility to protect our Great Lakes and resources,” New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. “The court’s decision not only defends our state’s actions, but affirms our right to take necessary measures to fight the plague of invasive species.” More

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Drinking water legislation inspired by Crestwood issue sent to Quinn

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(IL) The Chicago Tribune – Legislation inspired by a controversy over tainted water in Crestwood went to the desk of Gov. Pat Quinn today as House lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to ensure citizens are notified when their drinking water is contaminated. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley), followed Tribune revelations that Crestwood village residents unknowingly drank water drawn from a contaminated well for more than two decades. Current law requires owners and operators of a water system to be notified when water is contaminated, but it does not require citizens using the water to be notified, according to Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, whose office is investigating the issue and worked with Quinn on the proposal. More

Water

Spawning sturgeon typifies good karma

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(OH) The Toledo Blade – Spawning by lake sturgeon in Canadian waters of the Detroit River has been confirmed for the first time in 30 years, boosting hopes for continued recovery of this rare, ancient species in the river and adjoining waters of western Lake Erie. The spawning is occurring on a reef built last fall at the head of Fighting Island, across from Wyandotte, Mich., under an American-Canadian partnership. Sturgeon, considered an indicator of ecosystem health, are estimated at just one percent of their former numbers in the Detroit River. More

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Water watchers call for new rules to ensure protection in coming century

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(ON) The Hamilton Spectator – As Canada and the United States prepare to mark the centennial of the Boundary Waters Treaty, key thinkers and organization leaders from both countries are calling for a new, 21st-century vision to protect and prevent further degradation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system over the next 100 years. They’re frustrated that neither Canada nor the U.S. has responded to the International Joint Commission’s call to rewrite the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972. More

Water

A Clearer Clean Water Act

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(NY) The New York Times – The Obama administration has rightly declared its support for Congressional efforts to restore the broad reach of the Clean Water Act. The law, passed in 1972, was intended to protect all of the waters of the United States, large and small. That mission has since been muddied by two Supreme Court decisions that narrowed the law’s scope, weakened its safeguards against pollution and confused federal regulators. The administration has written to Senate and House committees urging them to act on bills that would restore federal jurisdiction over all wetlands and streams. All of the environmental big guns signed: Nancy Sutley, the chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Ken Salazar, the interior secretary; Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary; and Terrence Salt, the acting chief of Army Corps of Engineers. More

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Early prevention urged to defeat emerald ash borer’s new larvae

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(OH) The Toledo Blade – Now’s the time to apply insecticide to ash trees you might be trying to save from a new crop of emerald ash borers.  

The sooner, the better. If you fail to spray ash trees by the end of June, you should wait until fall or the spring of 2010, said Amy Stone, Ohio State University extension agent in Toledo. More

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Michigan releases air quality report for public comment

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(MI) Bay City Times – The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has released an air quality monitoring plan for public comment.  The report interprets past air monitoring data to determine which air pollutants will be measured at what site locations during the upcoming year and beyond. The Annual Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network Review is available on the DEQ Web site at www.michigan.gov/deqair. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. June 22. More

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GM’s Volt electric vehicle plans a go regardless of bankruptcy

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(MI) The Saginaw News – No matter what happens with General Motors Corp.’s bankruptcy filed in New York today, a company official says the Volt electric vehicle project is still moving in high gear. And that could be good news for GM factories and suppliers operating in the Great Lakes Bay Region and Flint. GM plans to build the 4-cylinder gas engine for the Volt at a GM factory in Flint. It also has hinted that it plans to use Bay City’s GM Powertrain factory to produce parts for the project. More