Energy
Recycle new light bulbs and avoid mercury risk
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Compact fluorescent light bulbs use less energy.
They also contain mercury, and that has some doctors concerned about their ultimate disposal.
Echo
Michigan oil, natural gas production plummets; alternatives on rise
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Crude oil, once nearly 30 percent of energy produced in state, is now only 4 percent. Production dropped 85 percent between 1980 and 2007. Alternative energy production in Michigan is increasing, but lags other Great Lakes states.
Echo
Michigan Conservation Voters grade lawmakers’ environmental votes
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Today the Michigan League of Conservation Voters slapped a big fat zero on 12 Michigan legislators for lousy environmental voting records. The scores are in the non-profit group’s 2009-2010 Environmental Scorecard, a report that rates the state’s elected officials based on their voting record on bills that would affect the state’s natural resources and its citizens’ environmental health. You can read the 20-page report here (PDF) or search for your Senator or Representative here. Those earning the zero-percent “Dis-Honorable Mention” include Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) and Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom (R-Muskegon). Van Woerkom is chair of the Senate Agriculture and Bioeconomy Committee and vice chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.
Echo
VIDEO: Big farms tend to cluster
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Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are farm operations where large numbers of animals are raised in confined facilities. The farms themselves also tend to concentrate.
Land
Michigan renews brownfield redevelopment efforts
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A legacy of Michigan’s manufacturing might is seen in abandoned, contaminated and deteriorating buildings.
State officials are gearing up efforts to turn such sites into restaurants, condominiums, golf courses, new manufacturers.
Echo
VIDEO: Metal-poisoned water plagues rural Michigan town
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When John Dekker of Fennville, Mich., fills his hot tub, it’s so brown he can’t even see the top nozzle. When Kari Craton waters her garden, everything turns orange – before dying. Find out why residents of this rural Michigan town are outraged.
Echo
MONDAY MASHUP: Michigan offers online hunting information
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A new Michigan online service helps hunters streamline information-gathering. The state’s Mi-Hunt program provides information such as the location of public land open to hunting.
Echo
Mass transit plans confront financial realities
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Southeast Michigan officials plan to encourage residents to use mass transit. A significant hurdle is a $1.8 billion shortfall to match reality with plans. A study ranks the region among the lowest for having money for transit projects.
Echo
Tapped out: Sour year for maple syrupers
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In 2009, Michigan produced the most maple syrup in more than 60 years, but this spring farmers are tapping out sooner than they had hoped. An early warm spell made it a poor season, syrupers say.
Ideal conditions require below-freezing temperatures at night and above-freezing temperatures during the day.
Last year the state produced 115,000 gallons of syrup ranking it fifth in the nation. A typical year is 60,000 to 70,000 gallons.
Echo
Michigan nears deer management decision
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LANSING, Mich. — Hunting may soon have new guidance if the state Department of Natural Reseources and Environment approves its draft deer management plan.
The plan to manage 1.8 million deer goes to the agency director, Rebecca Humphries, on April 8.
Final approval would come on May 6; the agency would begin implementing parts of the plan immediately.