Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/echo/page/199/)
(ON) The Toronto Star – Sewage spills into Lake Ontario — such as the one that happened in 2006 — are unavoidable but that will change over time, a prominent city councillor insisted yesterday. “We have a $1-billion plan over the next 25 years which is in the process — large retention tanks and trunk sewers — which will over time solve the problem of sewage leaks,” said Councillor Adam Giambrone, a member of Toronto’s public works committee. More
(IN) Indianapolis Star – Restaurants, coffeehouses and other eateries are finding more ways to bring eco-friendly practices into their business plans and daily routine. They’re monitoring and evaluating their water and energy usage to become more efficient. The use of nontoxic cleaning products and recyclable restroom paper products is picking up steam, too. More
(MI) The Macomb Daily – County officials were pleased and a bit mystified recently when a Health Department program that provides safe disposal of household hazardous wastes attracted 776 vehicles, which brought a combined 27 tons of liquid waste to the Warren Recycling Center. Officials said it was the biggest turnout in the 7-year history of the program, which offers a rotating disposal service at various locations around the county. More
(NY) The New York Times – Poking out of the ground near the smokestacks of the Mountaineer power plant here are two wells that look much like those that draw natural gas to the surface. But these are about to do something new: inject a power plant’s carbon dioxide into the earth. A behemoth built in 1980, long before global warming stirred broad concern, Mountaineer is poised to become the world’s first coal-fired power plant to capture and bury some of the carbon dioxide it churns out. More
(NY) The New York Times – The Obama administration called Thursday for a comprehensive national system for regulating the use of federal waters along the nation’s marine and Great Lakes shores, now administered by a hodgepodge of federal, state or other agencies with often-conflicting goals. The recommendation, outlined in an interim report by a panel appointed in June by President Obama, said regulators should consider marine regions as a whole when issuing rules rather than, say, regulating fishing one species at a time. More
By Andrew Norman
namronwerdna@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 21, 2009
Supporters of a climate change bill targeted members of Congress from the eight Great Lakes states with campaign cash to get the measure through the House last June. On average they gave $215,920 to each representative in the 125-member Great Lakes delegation since 2003, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit and non-partisan research group that tracks money in U.S. politics. That’s substantially higher than the $188,938 average for all of Congress. Great Lakes delegates who voted against the bill received $41,000 more on average than their national counterparts; the region’s delegates who supported the bill received $15,000 more on average.
By Haley Walker
Walkerh4@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 18, 2009
More than three-quarters of the women in a recent survey said they pay the electric bills in their households. Women… …who pay household electricity bills – 77 percent
…willing to pay $30 more a month for clean energy – 53 percent
…who have conserved electricity – 97 percent
Source: Women’s Survey on Energy and the Environment
Almost all of them said they felt obligated to reduce electricity use. And more than half were willing to spend $30 more on electricity bills for clean energy, according to the June survey by the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment and another group, Women Impacting Public Policy.
By Jeff Gillies
jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 17, 2009
The Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay both field noxious summer algae blooms fueled by dirt and nutrients from farm fields. The six northeastern states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay have a patchwork plan to curb it. It doesn’t work and never will, says a recent report by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit lobbyist and research group. The report claims runoff prevention programs fail because they’re voluntary — farmers that don’t want to participate don’t have to.
By Sarah Coefield
coefield@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 15, 2009
A run on guns and ammo in the wake of President Barack Obama’s election last year may be a boon to Great Lakes wildlife. A federal tax on the manufacture and import of firearms, ammunition, bows and arrows is distributed to states for wildlife conservation and hunter education programs.
And those tax collections are climbing fast. Background checks for gun purchases hit record levels in November and corresponded with significant gun and ammunition sales. Gun enthusiasts say they’re stocking up because they fear interference in gun rights by the Obama administration.