Great Lakes Month in Review: Asian carp and petcoke

Current State checks in monthly with Great Lakes commentator and journalist Gary Wilson for updates on environmental stories from around the basin. For today’s Great Lakes Month in Review, we’re focusing on petcoke piles and Asian carp.

Mr. Great Lakes: A new urban nature preserve and the Thumb Loop

Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM. Nov. 22, 2013 – The Environment Report, with Jeff Kart, Mr. Great Lakes by jeffkart

This week, Kart discusses the first urban nature preserve in Bay City and the beginnings of a 140-mile Thumb Loop high-voltage transmission line. Text at Mr. Great Lakes

Minnesota’s second wolf hunt offers lessons for Michigan

After a year filled with controversy, Michigan is holding it’s first wolf hunt in nearly 40 years.

Although this is Michigan’s first hunt, that’s not the case for other states in the upper Midwest.

Minnesota and Wisconsin are both heading into their second wolf hunt this year.

Michigan economic developers eye Blue Economy

When people think of Michigan’s economy, they typically point to the State’s automobile industry or its agricultural sector. Often overlooked is one of Michigan’s greatest natural assets: water. A new report commissioned by the governor’s office focuses on accelerating Michigan’s water based or ‘Blue economy.’ The paper’s author, John Austin, is the Director of the Michigan Economic Center at Prima Civitas Foundation. Austin says that a ‘Blue Economy’ is similar to a ‘Green Economy.’ Michigan economic developers eye ‘Blue Economy’ by Great Lakes Echo

New report outlines attitudes on Michigan’s energy future

In 2008, the state legislature passed Michigan’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. The law requires that by the year 2015, utilities must generate at least 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources. As 2015 approaches, state officials are working to determine the next steps for Michigan’s energy policy.