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Great Lakes Echo - Environmental news of the Great Lakes region

Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/green-gavel/page/4/)

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Green Gavel

Green Gavel is an occasional series of stories about court decisions affecting the Great Lakes environment.

Green Gavel

Michigan court upholds penalty for filling wetland

By Eric Freedman | November 30, 2016

Couple fined $10,000 and told to remove fill.

Echo

Indiana motel manager faces prison for DOOM

By Morgan Linn | November 21, 2016

A motel manager used an unregistered pesticide to treat bed bugs and is expected to plead guilty to violating the Federal Insecticide Act

Green Gavel

Minnesota court rules police needed search warrant to track poaching suspect

By Ian Wendrow | November 14, 2016

Conservation officers had seized deer and elk antlers from the suspects home.

Air

Erie Coke Corp. faces $500,000 fine for benzene violations

By Natasha Blakely | November 7, 2016

Earlier enforcement action was taken in a 2010 consent decree that included a $6 million penalty.

Green Gavel

New York sewage dumper gets fine, probation.

By Eric Freedman | September 8, 2016

The chief operator of a municipal wastewater treatment plant pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act.

Homepage Featured

Asbestos removal threatened residents; contractor fined

By Eric Freedman | September 1, 2016

Attempt to cut costs threatened health, according to U.S. Attorney.

Air

Air conditioner thief faces long spell in the cooler

By Eric Freedman | August 29, 2016

A heroin addict is convicted of an environmental felony for releasing ozone-damaging chemicals during the theft of commercial air conditioners.

Green Gavel

Recycling scam lands conspirator in the pokey

By Eric Freedman | July 28, 2016

He pleaded guilty to defrauding scrap metal brokers by charging them for recycling services that were never provided.

Recreation

Poached Canadian bear, wolf get Wisconsin hunters in hot water

By Eric Freedman | July 18, 2016

Boasts on Facebook lead to conviction.

Air

New York judge sentences developer in asbestos case

By Eric Freedman | July 14, 2016

Workers uncertified in asbestos removal said they were offered cash to remove the material when a container company refused to dump it.

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About Great Lakes Echo

Environmental news of the Great Lakes region from the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.

  • How seeds from the past are saving a unique flower of the Great Lakes

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva More than 30 years ago, a group of scientists planted just 4,200 seeds of the rare Pitcher’s thistle in the sandy dunes of the Great Lakes. At the time, no one knew if the new populations would survive. Today, three decades later, the restored populations are thriving and spreading.

  • Henderson holding a swan
    From otters to butterflies: How Minnesota became a pioneer in nongame wildlife conservation

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva In the late 1970s, when most wildlife conservation programs in the United States focused almost exclusively on game species, a quiet but historic shift began in Minnesota. It was here that one of the nation’s first state programs dedicated to protecting so-called nongame wildlife emerged from butterflies and bats to bald eagles and river otters. That story is now told in detail by Carrol Henderson in his new book, “A National Legacy: Fifty Years of Nongame Wildlife Conservation in Minnesota."

  • Michigan’s water infrastructure sees improvements, work still needs to be done

    By Clara Lincolnhol The U.S. would need to invest nearly $3.4 trillion over the next 20 years to fix and update drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, says researchers from The Value of Water Campaign. Much of that infrastructure was built 40 to 50 years ago and shows its age. Michigan’s is no exception. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the state a D+ for its drinking water infrastructure, a D in storm water management and a C for its wastewater infrastructure. Funding is a major problem. Proposed data centers would put more stress on the infrastructure.

  • Mussels in a green net.
    Endangered spectaclecase mussels reintroduced into the Chippewa River

    By Ada Tussing To combat the population loss of spectaclecase mussels, researchers with both the Minnesota and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources released over 177 mussels into the Chippewa River in Northwest Wisconsin.

  • Michigan allocates $77 million to clean thousands of contaminated sites

    By Clara Lincolnhol Michigan is pouring $77 million into clean-up of contaminated abandoned real estate such as former factories. The director of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says the goal is to make the cleaned-up sites safe for housing, commercial developments and other uses.

  • Winter makes curved roads dangerous; researchers seek solutions

    By Eric Freedman Flashing light on warning signs near curves can slow drivers and reduce the odds of a crash during winter weather conditions, says a new study by Michigan State University engineers.

  • The cover of “Dead Moose on Isle Royale: Off Trail with the Citizen Scientists of the Wolf-Moose Project." The cover is moose antlers on the ground.
    Great Lakes books for your holiday gift list 

    By Eric Freedman   Looking for a holiday gift for a reader who loves the Great Lakes? Here are five prospects to consider – and what our reporters learned from interviewing their authors this year.

  • A side-by-side of the historic Portage Canal and modern Portage Canal from an aerial view.
    Restoration of historical site improves quality of life for Portage, Wisconsin residents

    By Joshua Kim Following the completion of segments 1 and 2 of the Portage Canal, local residents and visitors can use the historic site and its amenities following years of disrepair.

  • What herring gulls tell us about plastic pollution

    By Victoria Witke Christina Petalas, a doctoral student McGill University, studies herring gulls to learn about plastic pollution near the St. Lawrence River. Across two studies, she found plastic additives in every bird sampled, which could have human health consequences.

  • Scientists update geological map of northern Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula 

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva The U.S. Geological Survey has began large-scale low-level airplane flights over Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin to obtain high-resolution data on subsurface mineral structures and bedrock composition. The data will be used to create two- and three-dimensional maps to better understand the geological structure at depths of about 10,000 feet.

  • Great Lakes Echo

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