Great Lakes

Rivers and lakes are becoming saltier while law and practice limit effective responses.

Bridge Michigan environment reporter Kelly House moderated a Zoom discussion with four experts about the priorities for water policy in the 2023 Michigan Legislature.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must lay out a bold vision to protect our waters, clean up toxic groundwater, keep water services from being privatized and put the onus on chemical companies to show they can operate safely.

Climate change is already affecting the Great Lakes. One group is urging Michigan, other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces to coordinate efforts to make the Great Lakes basin more resilient to those changes.

State regulators this week warned anglers to limit their meals of rainbow smelt taken from the two lakes, along with three inland lakes. High PFAS levels had already prompted a smelt consumption advisory in Lake Superior.

Blame the Great Lakes and climate change for Michigan’s dreary winters. And it appears to be getting worse as rising temperatures diminish ice cover on the lakes, allowing more moisture to rise in the atmosphere.

Holtec International announced Monday that it will make a second attempt to win a federal bailout to reopen the shuttered nuclear plant on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

On Jan. 25, Bridge Michigan environment reporter Kelly House will moderate a Zoom discussion about the priorities for water in the 2023 Michigan Legislature.

Under the deal, which is awaiting consideration by a federal judge, tribal fishers could use gillnets in more places to cope with declining whitefish populations. Recreational fishing interests argue that could leave fewer fish for them.

The proposal would allow big increases in military aircraft presence over some areas, including training maneuvers as low as 300-500 feet above the ground, drawing the ire of homeowners and environmental groups.

As millions of pounds of microplastics enter the Great Lakes each year, microplastics are turning up in human bodies. Researchers are scrambling to understand the health effects while efforts to curb waste fall short.

Democrats and Republicans, hunters, fishers and birding groups want Michigan to invest $30 million in federal funds for wetlands to help reduce algal blooms in Lake Erie and Saginaw Bay.

Too much waste spread on too little land causes worst of Michigan’s water pollution.

Run-off promotes toxic algae blooms, but farmers and other phosphorus producers are reluctant to alter practices.

Water sampling finds no reduction in bloom-producing nutrients.

The company that owns the Palisades facility, Holtec International, applied for a federal grant to keep the plant operational on July 5. Whitmer submitted a letter in support of the plan Friday.

Billions spent on strategies to limit nutrient pollution that don’t work.

The blooms are a threat to drinking water, beaches and our way of life. Join a Zoom discussion Sept. 14 to learn what is being done.

As Michigan winters warm, more geese are becoming full-time residents, rather than migrating further south. That’s convenient for the geese, but a plague on the park, golf course and beach visitors trying to evade their droppings. Solutions are limited.

Information used to map the Great Lakes lakebottom is so sparse in some areas, you could hide entire cities in the space between data points. By methodically “mowing the lawn” with sonar-equipped boats, researchers are filling in the gaps.