Echo

Column: Tell me what sucks about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

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By David Poulson
poulsondavid@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 7, 2009

I attended a Great Lakes public hearing this week that really wasn’t. The event at Michigan State University was one of the EPA-sponsored meetings held to solicit feedback for the Obama Administration’s proposed $475 million investment in environmental restoration. And while the meeting was open to the public, not much of the public was represented. Instead, this was mostly a Great Lakes love-in.

Echo

VIDEO: Sewage plant uses natural systems

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By Mary Hansen
mehansen4@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 6, 2009

Muskegon County’s Wastewater Treatment Plant in Michigan was established more than 35 years ago because of an overburdened system that polluted waterways. Sandy soil filters and treats wastewater.  The system encompasses 11,000 acres and a natural bird sanctuary – one of the largest inland nesting areas for seagulls. The operation produces hydropower and is considering windpower.

Echo

Great Lakes toxic hot spots could get restoration boost from GLRI

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Editors note: Congress is considering a $475 million appropriation for Great Lakes cleanup. This story is part of an occasional look at proposals for spending it. Weigh in on this and other ideas on Echo’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative forum. Other stories. By Andrew McGlashen
amcglashen@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
July 31, 2009
A plan to spend $147 million to restore Great Lakes toxic hotspots is inspiring cautious optimism among those involved in a long and often frustrating cleanup process.

Echo

Environmental group release beachwater report

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – An environmental group says data from the Environmental Protection Agency show water at many beaches in the United States is polluted, causing beach closings and advisory days. The Chicago-based Natural Resources Defense Council issued its annual beach water quality report on Wednesday. The report found that ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches nationwide can have contaminated water. The group says conditions are worse along the Great Lakes. More

Echo

Rainwater in sewage system caused overflow

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(MI) Holland Sentinel – Rainwater infiltrating the separate sanitary sewer system in Holland, combined with power outages, led to the overflow of more than a million gallons of untreated sewage into Lake Macatawa on Saturday. Holland’s stormwater sewer lines are designed for rain, while sanitary sewers capture material from drains in homes and businesses. More

Echo

Rubber ducks race for clean water initiative

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(MI) The Detroit News – Thousands of yellow rubber ducks raced down an Oakland County river to raise money for the Oakland Plus for Clean Water initiative. The first Duck Regatta, on Sunday afternoon outside the Cranbrook Institute of Science along the Kingswood shoreline, aided the nonprofit’s initiative in Oakland County and surrounding areas. The event also helps support the Oakland Plus environmental education programs in schools. More

Echo

S.S. Badger must stop dumping ash by 2012

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(MI) Ludington Daily News – Ludington’s S.S. Badger is lauded, revered and adored for its uniqueness as the last operating coal-fired passenger ship in the United States. On the other, it faces environmental regulation for that very reason – coal, or, in this case, a coal-burning waste product, ash. With coal burning comes waste, emissions through the stack – specifically exempt from regulation by Wisconsin and Michigan state law – but also an ash slurry that is dumped daily into Lake Michigan. That ash discharge used to be considered normal operating procedure for coal-fired vessels. A 1973 portion of the U.S. Clean Water Act – when there were still more than 50 coal-fired vessels operating – stated discharges like the Badger’s, which are “incidental to normal operations,” were allowed.

Echo

Shoreview experiment may eliminate storm drains

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(MN) Minnesota Star-Tribune – Shoreview is betting on a new “green” concrete paving method that lets rainwater pass right through the street surface to prevent damaging runoff. Pervious concrete — made of gravel and cement minus the sand that gives regular concrete its impenetrable density — has the porous quality of a Rice Krispies bar. Because it will allow water to drain straight to the ground below, Shoreview will install about a mile of pervious concrete streets without storm sewers in the Woodbridge neighborhood on Lake Owasso. More

Water

Spawning sturgeon typifies good karma

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(OH) The Toledo Blade – Spawning by lake sturgeon in Canadian waters of the Detroit River has been confirmed for the first time in 30 years, boosting hopes for continued recovery of this rare, ancient species in the river and adjoining waters of western Lake Erie. The spawning is occurring on a reef built last fall at the head of Fighting Island, across from Wyandotte, Mich., under an American-Canadian partnership. Sturgeon, considered an indicator of ecosystem health, are estimated at just one percent of their former numbers in the Detroit River. More

Echo

Water watchers call for new rules to ensure protection in coming century

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(ON) The Hamilton Spectator – As Canada and the United States prepare to mark the centennial of the Boundary Waters Treaty, key thinkers and organization leaders from both countries are calling for a new, 21st-century vision to protect and prevent further degradation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system over the next 100 years. They’re frustrated that neither Canada nor the U.S. has responded to the International Joint Commission’s call to rewrite the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972. More