Echo

Mid-Michigan sewage plant one of seven in Great Lakes states recognized by EPA for innovation

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A mid-Michigan wastewater treatment plant worker once discovered what happens when a sewage digester gets an upset stomach. “He sat down to have a cup of coffee and he looked at the window and it was black,” said Jeff Ranes, manager of the Delhi Township plant near Lansing. “That thing actually blew its seal around the lid.”

Sludge ran through the plant’s parking lot, but a quick cleanup prevented any contamination, he said. But that shouldn’t happen anymore. The township recently wrapped up construction on a set of new digesters, part of $10 million project that will increase the plant’s capacity while generating electricity and producing clean “biosolids.”

Waste

Michigan may join most Great Lakes states in banning mercury in toys, landfills

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Even though only 1 percent of toys contain mercury, Mike Shriberg says that’s too much of the dangerous element in the hands of vulnerable children. “You’re still talking about millions of products out there,” said Shribert, a children’s health advocate. The Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health, where Shriberg directs policy, is pushing a package of bills in the Michigan Legislature to tighten restrictions on mercury-containing products, including toys. The bills passed the house last week and were sent to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. Michigan and Pennsylvania are the only two Great Lakes states that haven’t banned the sale of mercury-added “novelties,” a term lawmakers use to cover products as diverse as  toys, games, shoes and yard statues.

Echo

Wisconsin county overcomes air pollution imports to avoid regulation

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By Julia Cechvala
Great Lakes Echo

For the past six years the Dane County Clean Air Coalition has promoted voluntary efforts to reduce air pollution. In February they paid off when the coalition announced that the county meets the federal standards for fine particle pollution. This means that Dane, along with Brown and Columbia counties, escaped regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency can impose on “non-attainment areas.”

Plenty of air quality challenges have confronted Dane County, including some outside the county’s control. Emissions as far away as Texas or Ohio affect Wisconsin’s air, according to Larry Bruss, head of regional pollution issues for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Industrial farms, factories and power plants emit pollutants that combine to form ground level ozone and fine particle pollution.

Echo

Environmental project in Northern Michigan holds promise for energy future

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By Andy Balaskovitz
Great Lakes Echo
March 28, 2009

More than 3,000 feet below the ground in Gaylord, Mich., scientists hope to find solutions to America’s energy dilemma. They seek evidence of a coal-powered future that does not contribute to global warming. And Michigan may be sitting on a key part of the answer. Last year they injected 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) underground into a geological feature called a saline formation. They want to see if it will stay there forever.