Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/great-lakes/page/13/)
A. Blakeman (Blake) Early died on Sunday, Feb. 7, at the young age of 64 after a long battle with cancer. He was a skilled crafter of some of America’s most powerful pollution control policies.
The 76-year-old moderate from Grand Rapids helped gain the visibility and funding for the Great Lakes that have long been available to the East and West Coasts.
Little Black Creek in Muskegon, Mich., has a long history of abuse. And one of the stream’s biggest threats rushes in every time it rains. Rain is shunted into storm drains that lead straight to the stream.
(ON) Winnepeg Free Press – Environmentalists are calling on the Ontario government to update its regulations in order to stop the pollution of the Great Lakes. Ecojustice, Great Lakes United and Environmental Defence are asking the Environment Ministry to review and amend nine regulations that they claim have become stagnant and ineffective. The groups say some 140 major industries that were supposed to be regulated are still dumping wastewater into municipal sewers, and allowing toxic pollution to enter Ontario’s sewage treatment facilities. More
(IL) Chicago Tribune – In what could be the state’s largest collective gulp of Lake Michigan water in nearly two decades, 10 suburbs are seeking approval to tap the vast but closely guarded natural resource. With groundwater supplies drying up and vulnerable to contamination, the Lake County communities that now rely on wells are casting envious eyes on that tantalizingly close supply — the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world. They propose spending $250 million to lay about 57 miles of pipe and take other steps that would bring Lake Michigan water to the western part of Lake County. More
(ON) Canada.com – Nearly seven months ago, Herb Gray watched as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon, met halfway across the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls and – amid considerable fanfare – pledged to redraft and bolster a decades-old treaty aimed at protecting the Great Lakes from environmental harm.
This week, on the eve of Gray’s departure after eight years as Canadian chairman of the International Joint Commission that oversees transboundary waters, he expressed frustration that the “very fine words” spoken by Clinton and Cannon at the bridge ceremony in June had not yet led to the launch of formal negotiations between the two countries to modernize and strengthen the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. More
(MI) The Alpena News – By the end of this year, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary staff hope to have a completed document that will provide a snapshot of the state of the sanctuary’s resources. About a month ago staff began work on the sanctuary’s first condition report, a document they are required to do. Thunder Bay had not completed one before because it was younger than other sanctuaries and didn’t have enough data for a report. This year was a good time to do one with the completion of the sanctuary’s management plan in late 2009, said Deputy Superintendent Russ Green. More
(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Milwaukee economic development officials would use discounted water rates to help recruit companies from Atlanta and other cities with water supply problems, under a plan endorsed Wednesday. The city would offer reduced rates to Milwaukee’s 100 largest water users that create at least 25 jobs by either moving to the city, or expanding current operations, said Carrie Lewis, Water Works superintendent. More
(MI) Up North Live – The community will have new opportunities to learn about the importance of the Great Lakes with the help of a grant. The Grand Traverse Conservation District was awarded $200,000 from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust for a grant under the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative. More
(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – There are a lot of fish tales going around. Here is a true one that is about more than just the recently famous Asian carp. Once upon a time, many years ago, Chicago was a cesspool. It was so polluted in the late 1800s, it has been written, that chickens could run across the scum that formed on top of the rivers. I don’t know if I believe this because it has also been written that, instead of fish, the rivers were full of the floating carcasses of dead cats and horses, and I am not sure a chicken would go anywhere near a dead horse.