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Slaughter announces stimulus funds for clean water planning projects

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(NY) MPNnow.com – Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Perinton, today announced that almost $366,000 in federal stimulus funds will go towards the planning of clean water projects for Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes. “The freshwater from the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes is one of our greatest local resources,” said Slaughter. “I’m pleased that federal stimulus dollars are going towards grants used to help us keep local waters clean.” More

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Michigan waterways enriched with 600,000 pounds of toxic chemicals

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(MI) The Bay City Times – This just in: A report from Environment Michigan says industrial facilities dumped 575,930 pounds of toxic chemicals into Michigan’s waterways in 2007. The “Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act,” also details chemical discharges across the United States. “While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” Shelley Vinyard, environmental associate with Environment Michigan, said a statement.  More

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Environmental report gives NWI another bad mark

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – Northwest Indiana and the Hoosier state received more dubious environmental distinctions Wednesday in a new report about toxic water pollution. Indiana industries led the nation in toxic chemical discharges in 2007 at 27.3 million pounds, according to the report. More

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Low oxygen, mercury pollution interaction may pose even greater threat to Great Lakes

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By Haley Walker
Walkerh4@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 12, 2009

Researchers are studying whether Great Lakes fish contaminated by mercury are threatened more by low oxygen in the water than healthy fish. The International Joint Commission recently recognized runaway plant growth, a cause of low oxygen, as a major Great Lakes problem. The U.S./Canadian commission advises those governments on Great Lakes issues. Low oxygen is called hypoxia, a condition the U.S. Geological Survey says is caused by an increase in nutrients.

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Studies of fish sharing male and female characteristics raise concerns about Great Lakes contaminants

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By Elisabeth Pernicone
pernico1@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 9, 2009

Fish with characteristics of both genders are more prevalent than previously thought in U.S. rivers, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study. While this study did not analyze fish in the Great Lakes, it may raise new concerns as to whether previously noted hermaphrodite fish in this region are becoming more prevalent as well. “Until we take current sampling it is hard to know,” said Chris Metcalf, director of the Institute for Watershed Science at Trent University in Ontario. “However, all studies are symptomatic of more estrogens being discharged into streams.”

Fish with reproductive characteristics of both sexes are known as intersex, a condition linked to exposure to estrogenic compounds.

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Three lakes are targeted for cleanup to reduce pollution

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(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – Storm water carries so much phosphorus into a chain of lakes in Maple Grove and Plymouth that it may take 20 years to get the three lakes off the state’s impaired waters list. That’s the finding of a new report to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency which describes the extent of the pollution in each lake and what can be done to reverse it. The report begins the process of cleaning up the lakes as required by the federal Clean Water Act. More

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International Joint Commission examines Great Lakes water quality

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A binational group of Great Lakes scientists and policy experts advising the U.S. and Canadian governments about the Great Lakes met in Windsor in early October. This special report encompasses some of the issues they discussed

Oct. 8, 2009
The U.S. Coast Guard considers new rules to regulate ballast to slow the spread of invasive species in the Great Lakes. Oct. 7, 2009
Global warming could spur algae growth in Lake Superior.

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Global warming could spur algae growth, oxygen loss in Lake Superior

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By Emma Ogutu
ogutu@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 7, 2009
Editors note: This is part of a series relevant to the International Joint commission’s biennial meeting in Windsor today and Thursday. One of the reports a U.S. and Canadian advisory commission will consider today in Windsor will look at runaway plant growth in the Great Lakes. Members of the International Joint Commission, which advises the governments on environmental issues, will likely hear that there is no cause for alarm about excessive growth of algae in Lake Superior. But global warming is catching up with the Great Lakes, Superior included, and it may soon undergo changes that could turn it into the perfect host for algal blooms.

The effects of global warming could actually be more complicated than just that.  An important question is how prepared the commission and other government agencies are to handle emerging global environmental issues.

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International Joint Commission flags inconsistent U.S./Canadian regulation of fire retardant linked to health concerns

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By Alice Rossignol
rossign1@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 5, 2009
Editors note: This is part of a series relevant to the International Joint commission’s biennial meeting in Windsor on Wednesday and Thursday. An international commission that advises policymakers on Great Lakes environmental issues is questioning why the U.S. is making a fire retardant that Canada has banned. The use of the substance is part of a report that will be discussed at the International Joint Commission’s biennial meeting in Windsor, Ontario on Wednesday. The commission is responsible for upholding the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the U.S. and Canada.

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What should be the International Joint Commission’s top priority?

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Vote

The U.S./Canadian International Joint Commission meets Wednesday and Thursday in Windsor to discuss advice on Great Lakes environmental issues that it will give to those governments. That happens only once every two years. Six reports are on the commission’s agenda. Details are here. Which of these issues should be the top priority for Great Lakes policymakers and scientists?