Echo

Some of our favorite reader comments of 2009

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Jan. 5, 2010

A sampling of comments Echo staff enjoyed in 2009:

Story: New Great Lakes quiz
Comment: “My ex is definitely an Asian carp. He’s huge, gross-looking, and he frequently pops up when I least expect him to. I wish there was an electric fence to keep him away from Michigan.” Story: The bed bugs bit but they won’t spread disease, report says
Comment: “They ARE awful, Thanks to my mother-in-law giving us an infested bedframe, now our whole house is infested.

Echo

Top 10 Great Lakes stories of 2009

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Dec. 31, 2009

Here’s Echo’s pick of 2009’s top Great Lakes environmental stories. How’d we do? Click the headline above to see the entire list of stories or to leave a comment. #1  Climate change
Perhaps it’s no surprise to see a global issue top a list of regional environmental stories of the year.  It’s Echo’s top choice not for its worldwide breadth but for its particular impact on the Great Lakes region.  The stakes are high for a region with nearly 20 percent of world’s fresh surface water.

Waste

Bills would allow grass in Michigan landfills

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(MI) The Detroit News – After close to 20 years of separating lawn clippings from trash, bills under consideration in Lansing would roll back Michigan’s 1990 yard waste ban in an effort to convert grass to gas. Bills in the House and the Senate would exempt an estimated more than 20 landfills from the ban to increase production of landfill gas, a renewable energy source that can be sold to utility companies. More

Echo

Special Report: Cleaning Coal

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The Great Lakes states are home to 155 coal-fired power plants that discharge wastewater into local lakes and streams.  That wastewater can carry heavy metals and other dangerous contaminants, and has gone largely unregulated for the past 27 years.  Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to step in with new rules to fend off environmental concerns. Join the Great Lakes Echo for a four-day series unpacking the problems with power plant wastewater in the Great Lakes. Day 1. Great Lakes states spotty on coal limits; some water contaminants ignored. Day 2.

Waste

Few Great Lakes power plants even look for this toxic contaminant in their waste

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By Sarah Coefield
Dec. 17, 2009

Gibson Lake, built by one of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants to store wastewater, has attracted birds and fishermen to its shores for years. But after years of wastewater discharge, the Indiana lake contains high levels of selenium that threaten hundreds of species of birds, including the endangered least tern, and render fish unsafe to eat. Selenium is an essential nutrient, but in wildlife and people excess amounts can be dangerous. As with mercury, selenium monitoring and regulations are spotty across the Great Lakes region.

Echo

Mercury limits vary for Great Lakes; may harm already polluted waters

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By Elisabeth Pernicone
Dec. 16, 2009

Due to its many health threats, mercury is regulated in foods, pesticides and industry.  But some coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes region discharge mercury into water at levels hundreds of times greater than deemed safe for wildlife and up to 25 times greater than deemed safe for humans. It’s all legal, and even when it’s not, most violators are never fined. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to step up its regulations of mercury and other contaminants in coal-fired power plant wastewater.

Echo

Great Lakes states spotty on coal limits; some water contaminants ignored.

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By Sarah Coefield
Dec. 15, 2009

Power plants across the nation dump water laced with metals and other contaminants into streams and lakes, threatening drinking water supplies and wildlife. Some states let plants emit metals at hundreds of times the level that federal officials say is safe.  Others don’t even require monitoring for most of them. But now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a new regulation that would require more than 600 coal-fired power plants to clean up–perhaps even eliminate–the waste they put into lakes, rivers and other waterways. And electricity users will foot the bill.

Echo

Opinion: Environmental hearings should be messy, inefficient and public

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By David Poulson
Dec. 14, 2009

Confession may be good for the soul but it sure makes for lousy public policy. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last week dug out an old chestnut of a strategy for soliciting comment on a $600 million copper-nickel mine. Critics nickname this process the confessional style of public discourse. Usually government officials resort to it as an efficient way to handle hearings where hundreds of people are eager to express dissatisfaction, if not anger.

Echo

Top Great Lakes environmental news stories

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The Echo staff is soliciting nominations for the top Great Lakes environmental news stories of 2009. Nominate or support nominations in the comments section below this post. Guidelines:

You need not cite a particular news story, although you can. Nominate an issue that’s been in the news. It should have occurred in 2009.