(MI) Bay City Times – Wednesday is the last day for public comment on a draft air permit for a new coal-fired power plant in Bay County.
So far, more than 1,000 comments have been received about the proposed Consumers Energy project, said Mary Ann Dolehanty, with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in Lansing.

(OH) The Cleveland Plain Dealer – The Environmental Protection Agency should not wait for Congress before taking steps to control the gases blamed for global warming, supporters of U.S. greenhouse-gas regulation said Monday.

(OH) Toledo Blade – As last-minute preparations were made at the University of Toledo Monday for one of the largest biennial gatherings of Great Lakes scientists, two federal research agencies tried to get a better handle on what the public expects now that the nation’s president is from the Great Lakes region.

(NY) The New York Times – A floating dredge lowered a clamshell bucket to the bottom of the Hudson River on Friday and pulled up a load of muck contaminated with PCBs — oily industrial lubricants that General Electric spent decades dumping into the river, and decades more fighting to keep there.

(WI) Manitowoc Herald Times – According to the Department of Natural Resources, commercial fishermen were able to pull more than 650,000 pounds of smelt from Lake Michigan in 2006. By 2008, that number was cut in third to just more than 208,000 pounds. So far this year, the smelt harvest has been a paltry 19,000 pounds.

(MI) The Detroit News – Legions of lobbyists in Washington are doing battle over energy and climate change plans that will have profound impacts on Michigan families.

(MI) Ann Arbor News – Ann Arbor will ask for federal Farm and Ranch Land Protection grants to help purchase development rights for five properties in the city’s greenbelt area.

(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – Boaters beware: Beginning this weekend, officials will be out in force trying to prevent the spread of invasive zebra mussels from Lake Mille Lacs, Prior Lake in Scott County and Rice Lake near Brainerd.

(NY) The New York Times – The Obama administration will issue new national requirements for the emissions and mileage of cars and light trucks in an effort to end a long-running conflict among the states, the federal government and auto manufacturers, industry officials said Monday.

By Gabriel Goodwin,
Capital News Service

The Natural Resources Commission has changed bear hunting regulations for the 2009 season due to requests made by bait and dog hunters.
Most of the modifications were made to help reduce conflicts between dog hunters and bait hunters, said Richard Smith, of Marquette and editor of the Michigan Bear Hunters Association’s publication “Bear Facts.”
The changes include a five-day ban on training hunting dogs and a limit on bait sites available to individuals.