Water

Herb Gray departs IJC frustrated by inaction on Great Lakes

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(ON) Canada.com – Nearly seven months ago, Herb Gray watched as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon, met halfway across the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls and – amid considerable fanfare – pledged to redraft and bolster a decades-old treaty aimed at protecting the Great Lakes from environmental harm.  

This week, on the eve of Gray’s departure after eight years as Canadian chairman of the International Joint Commission that oversees transboundary waters, he expressed frustration that the “very fine words” spoken by Clinton and Cannon at the bridge ceremony in June had not yet led to the launch of formal negotiations between the two countries to modernize and strengthen the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. More

Water

Waukesha sets Jan. 28 meeting on bid for Lake Michigan water

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – City officials later this month will unveil a draft application to pump Lake Michigan water to Waukesha for its residents and businesses, Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak said Tuesday. Switching Waukesha’s supply from groundwater wells to the lake – if approved by the governors of Wisconsin and the other seven Great Lakes states – would cost an estimated $78 million in construction costs, officials said. The price includes building a pipeline to discharge the city’s treated wastewater to Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa so the water would flow back to Lake Michigan, as required by a Great Lakes protection compact. More

Wildlife

Wolf killings in U.P., 2 other states probed

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(MI) The Detroit News – Federal agents are investigating a recent rash of illegal wolf killings across northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday asked for the public’s help in finding suspects in 16 wolf killings across the three states in November and December. More

Echo

Freighters making progress

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(MI) Port Huron Herald – Freighters are continuing their way down the St. Clair River and into Lake St. Clair, said “Freighter” Frank Frisk, a maritime consultant at the Great Lakes Maritime Center. Nine freighters were at a standstill in Lake Huron until this morning due to an ice jam in the river near Algonac and Harsens Island. More

Echo

Appleton Papers to appeal PCB ruling

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(WI) Green Bay Press Gazette – A court fight over funding a paper-industry cleanup of PCB contamination in the Fox River rekindled Monday when one company disclosed plans to appeal a judge’s recent ruling and another moved to reassert its own legal claims.

An attorney for Appleton Papers Inc. said the company will appeal U.S. District Judge William Griesbach’s ruling Dec. 16 to dismiss a claim by Appleton Papers and NCR Corp. for cleanup contributions from several other parties. More

Echo

Bryan takes lead in drive to protect its precious water

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(OH) Toledo Blade – While the water-blessed Great Lakes region hasn’t encountered Western-style conflicts over water yet, legal scholars expect that to change with the Earth’s population rising and its climate warming.  Increased demands for food, energy, and manufactured goods this century are expected to drive up the value of water everywhere – not just that found at the surface of major lakes, rivers, and streams. More

Echo

President misses the boat on Asian carp danger

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(OH) Toledo Blade – Imagine a terrorist heading toward your community. Not a disgruntled Nigerian with possible ties to al-Qaeda, mind you. But a hyperactive, monster fish from Asia armed with a voracious appetite and the ability to wipe out a Great Lakes fishery valued at $7 billion.  
It’s an especially frightful scenario for Ohio and Michigan, two states looking to the sportfishing industry for help in recovering from economic ruin with more recreation and tourism. More

Echo

Asian carp: Take that carp and fry it

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – Asian carp may indeed be poised to destroy commercial fishing as we know it in the Great Lakes, but Reggie McLeod likes his smoked or pickled. The Vietnamese community cooks carp in coconut milk with lemon grass and chili peppers. The Polish like to draw out the pungent fishy odor by soaking it in milk and onions. More

Echo

Stimulus funds sought for White Lake shoreline restoration

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(MI) Muskegon Chronicle – Muskegon County commissioners have given the green light for conservation groups to pursue up to $2 million in federal stimulus funds for a shoreline restoration project for White Lake. Jeff Auch, executive director of the Muskegon Conservation District, said local officials could learn if money from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will be awarded in the spring. Auch’s group is working with the White Lake Public Advisory Council. More

Echo

Sanctuary snapshot

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(MI) The Alpena News – By the end of this year, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary staff hope to have a completed document that will provide a snapshot of the state of the sanctuary’s resources. About a month ago staff began work on the sanctuary’s first condition report, a document they are required to do. Thunder Bay had not completed one before because it was younger than other sanctuaries and didn’t have enough data for a report. This year was a good time to do one with the completion of the sanctuary’s management plan in late 2009, said Deputy Superintendent Russ Green. More