Water
Court rules on gravel pit pond status
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The state changed its mind whether a permit is needed to store water treatment residuals there.
Wildlife
Study looks at biofences for managing wolves
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The measures they studied include scent marks, playing recordings of the howling of other wolf packs and human activity.
Land
Bankruptcy judge: Michigan farmland sale doesn’t violate conservation easement
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Local conservancy argues that sale violates prohibition on dividing land, makes it less viable for agriculture and harder to manage the easement.
Land
Transportation experts eye four major proposed Michigan rail routes
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They say that rail is good for the environment and the economy and also for attracting and keeping young workers in the state.
Wildlife
Parts of upper Great Lakes could suit cougars
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Study says food, water, elevation, vegetation, remoteness are suitable. Recolonization could bring political and cultural problems similar to those involving wolves.
Waste
Pennsylvania study finds contaminants in drilling wastewater
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The results showed that ammonium was discharged to rivers at well above the Environmental Protection Agency’s aquatic life criteria.
Air
New York company pleads guilty to asbestos violation
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The prosecution said the company failed to inspect asbestos debris and pools of water, comply with pretesting waiting periods, properly calibrate pumps and perform air sampling and decontamination of equipment.
Wildlife
Earthworms rob forests of key nutrients; pave way for other invaders
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By Chris Symons
Compost box heroes, or the root of all ecological evil? Worms in Great Lakes forests are not what they seem. Trilliums are smaller, algal blooms are more common and hummingbird populations are decreasing. All of these are made worse by non-native earthworms in Great Lakes soil. A recent study in Ecosystems journal identified four key minerals that earthworms remove from soil and that native plants need to grow.
Wildlife
Some ostracods survive goby guts
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Survival provides insight into fish as agents of species dispersal.
Energy
Q&A: Energy Institute director forecasts Michigan’s future
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In an interview with Midwest Energy News last week, Barteau navigates the conceptual and political aspects of renewable-energy in Michigan.