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Report: US getting better at conserving water

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(GA) Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Americans are using less water per person now than they have since the mid-1950s, thanks to water-saving technologies and a nationwide push to safeguard dwindling supplies. A report released Thursday by the U.S. Geological Survey also shows that industries as well as the general population are sucking up less water overall than in 1980, when the nation’s thirst for water peaked. More

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Congress OKs $475M for Great Lakes

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(MI) The Detroit News – Congress approved legislation Thursday that includes $475 million to restore the Great Lakes by combating invasive species, cleaning up highly polluted sites and expanding wetlands. The bill also includes $131 million to finance wastewater and drinking water projects in Michigan, $11.2 million for 14 projects in the state, and $1 million for mass marking of hatchery fish in the Great Lakes. “This legislation provides a significant boost to protect and clean up the Great Lakes, improve Michigan’s parks and lands, provide communities with safe drinking water and improved wastewater infrastructure, and preserve key facets of Michigan’s heritage,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit. More

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Oceans panel visits Great Lakes

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(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle – A White House panel developing a strategy for managing oceans and their coastlines is including the Great Lakes in its plan, which will propose ways to protect the environment while preventing conflicts among users. The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, which President Barack Obama established in June, convenes the last of six regional public meetings Thursday in Cleveland. It will be the only gathering devoted specifically to the Great Lakes. More

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EPA says air around schools safe in the short-term

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – The air around two Northwest Indiana elementary schools contains a slew of hazardous air pollutants, but not enough to be of short-term concern, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday. The EPA began monitoring by Jefferson Elementary on Jackson Street in Gary and Abraham Lincoln Elementary on East 135th Street in East Chicago on Aug. 23. More

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Septage plant probe advances

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(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle – A downstate engineering firm will probe questions surrounding design and construction of Grand Traverse County’s troubled septage plant, an effort to determine whether its architects committed professional negligence. The county’s Board of Public Works voted 7 to 1 this week to hire Grand Rapids-based engineering firm Prein & Newhof for up to $19,500 to investigate septage plant design firm Gourdie-Fraser Inc. and project manager Michael Houlihan. More

Energy

We Energies’ project starts creating power

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – The most expensive construction project in state history, We Energies’ new $2.3 billion coal-fired plant in Oak Creek, has begun generating power, having reached several construction milestones in recent months, the company’s chairman said Thursday. The plant consists of two coal-fired boilers next to an older coal plant on Lake Michigan. The first of the two boilers began burning coal earlier this month and has been running at 25% of maximum power in recent days, said Gale Klappa, chairman and chief executive of Wisconsin Energy Corp., the parent of We Energies. Bechtel Power Corp., the contractor on the project, also has made progress on building the second boiler, which is now 74% complete, Klappa said. More

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DNR/DEQ marriage good idea

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(MI) The Daily Mining Gazette – Last week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued an executive order creating the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, effective Jan. 17, 2010. Granholm’s order will abolish the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and reverse an action by former Gov. John Engler to create the DEQ in 1995. In a news release, Granholm said, “The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is a new department for the 21st Century.” More

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Great Lakes researchers create fruit to meet consumer preferences

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By Haley Marie Walker
Oct. 30, 2009

Jim Luby is a fruit forensics investigator. The University of Minnesota horticulture professor is among 29 researchers on a project using genetics to create fruit with characteristics consumers want. “It is similar to human forensics,” Luby said. “The way we are able to relate differences in DNA from one individual to another, we will now do with differences in traits of fruit.”

The project, called RosBREED, targets five fruits in the Rosaceae plant family: strawberries, apples, peaches and sweet and tart cherries.

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Power plant proposals narrowed

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(MI) The Escanaba Daily Press – Proposals to buy Escanaba’s power plant and offers to sell energy to the city are under the microscope as city representatives looked deeper into details Wednesday. City administrators and members of city council and the Electrical Advisory Committee (EAC) met in a special joint meeting Wednesday to be updated on the proposals in greater depth. More