Echo

Greece polluted site remains uncleaned

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(NY) Rochester Democrat and Chronicle – Eight years after agreeing to clean up contamination at an old shipyard and military plant on Dewey Avenue in Greece, the property owner has given up, leaving New York state with the task of overseeing remediation of the heavily polluted site. Longtime Greece residents remember the huge building at 4777 Dewey Ave. as the Odenbach Shipbuilding Co. In the 1950s, the structure became Air Force Plant No. 51, where bomber and missile-related equipment was manufactured.

Echo

America’s dirty little secret

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(ON) The Globe and Mail –  The United States has proved to be the biggest laggard, refusing to sign the 1997 Kyoto Protocol or to adopt any effective domestic emissions controls. As we head into the global summit in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. is once again the focus of concern. Even now, American politics remain strongly divided over climate change — though President Barack Obama has new opportunities to break the logjam. A year after the 1992 treaty, Bill Clinton tried to pass an energy tax that would have helped the U.S. to begin reducing its dependence on fossil fuels. The proposal not only failed, but triggered a political backlash.

Echo

Second annual Michigan energy prize is $100,000

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(MI) The Mudpuppy – It’s Year Two for the Clean Energy Prize competition and sponsors DTE Energy and the University of Michigan have changed the rules. This time around, teams don’t have to include a U-M student. Any team that includes a student from a Michigan college or university is eligible. Go green, if you want (as in Michigan State University).  More

Waste

Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None

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(NY) The New York Times – Across the nation, an antigarbage strategy known as “zero waste” is moving from the fringes to the mainstream, taking hold in school cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and corporations. The movement is simple in concept if not always in execution: Produce less waste. Shun polystyrene foam containers or any other packaging that is not biodegradable. Recycle or compost whatever you can. More

Echo

BP permit must be rewritten

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is forcing the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite part of the air permit for BP’s Whiting refinery. EPA says BP and IDEM left out or underestimated several sources of air pollution that need to be counted when determining what kind of air pollution control equipment is necessary. More

Echo

Consumers Energy trying to build new coal plant on coastal wetlands

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(MI) Bay City Times – Consumers Energy Co. is trying to strike a deal with state and federal regulators to build a new power plant on up to 170 acres of coastal wetlands in Bay County, environmental groups contend. The Lone Tree Council, a Bay City-area environmental group, obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act showing negotiations have been going on for a number of months between the company and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers. More

Echo

Obey feared to have jumped sides

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(WI) Green Bay Press Gazette – Environmentalists are scratching their heads and wondering if Rep. Dave Obey has abandoned them. They worry that the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee who has been an ally, is using his clout to weaken or delay implementation of a rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency to limit emissions from large ships within 200 miles of coasts. More

Echo

Raising a stink over… The Big Pipe

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(ON) The Toronto Star – Ontario’s environment ministry has given its blessing to a massive, controversial $550 million sewage line — known as the “Big Pipe” — that will open the door to billions of dollars worth of new development in the eastern GTA. However, years after construction started on the project in York Region, politicians are embroiled in in-fighting, as the remainder of the pipeline proposed to run through Pickering faces opposition from residents. More

Echo

Small town takes lead in protecting groundwater spanning three states

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By Sarah Coefield
Oct. 20, 2009

A small group in Bryan, Ohio spent six years securing federal protection for an aquifer that provides water to 385,000 people in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is poised to designate the Michindoh aquifer as the sole source of drinking water for 1,600 square miles.  The designation will include all or part of nine counties in the three states that supply its name. The protection is important for communities with few drinking water options. And for Bryan, the Michindoh aquifer is the only option.