Legacy cleanup

Dec. 31, 2009
Here’s Echo’s pick of 2009′s top Great Lakes environmental stories. How’d we do? Click the headline above to see the entire list of stories or to leave a comment.

#1  Climate change
Perhaps it’s no surprise to see a global issue top a list of regional environmental stories of the year.  It’s Echo’s top choice not for its worldwide breadth but for its particular impact on the Great Lakes region.  The stakes are high for a region with nearly 20 percent of world’s fresh surface water. While many worry about …

(IL) Chicago Sun Times - Twenty years after the pervasive zebra mussel was first detected in the Great Lakes, the U.S. Coast Guard is preparing rules to prevent new invasive species from infiltrating the nation’s freshwater systems.

(MI) Detroit Free Press - Michigan’s attorney general plans to file a lawsuit to protect the Great Lakes and Michigan workers from the threat posed by the invasive Asian carp.

(MI) The Detroit News - After close to 20 years of separating lawn clippings from trash, bills under consideration in Lansing would roll back Michigan’s 1990 yard waste ban in an effort to convert grass to gas.

(MI) The Detroit News - Five years ago, when Gov. Jennifer Granholm first asked me to lead the Cherry Commission on Higher Education, we could not have foreseen the global financial crisis that continues to unfold, or the toll it would take on our state’s economy.

By EMILY LAWLER
Dec. 21, 2009
LANSING, Mich. – One way to “go green” may be to chop down a real Christmas tree this year.
There is debate nationally over whether artificial or natural trees are better for the environment, but some experts say that real trees are always the answer in Michigan.
“In terms of carbon balance, using real trees would be more environmentally friendly,” said Alan Rebertus, a biology professor at Northern Michigan University.
He said in terms of carbon dioxide, real Christmas trees have a small but positive effect on the environment …

(MI) Traverse City Record-Eagle - An area fruit processor may solve a growing, expensive problem: how the industry treats its water waste.

The Great Lakes states are home to 155 coal-fired power plants that discharge wastewater into local lakes and streams.  That wastewater can carry heavy metals and other dangerous contaminants, and has gone largely unregulated for the past 27 years.  Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to step in with new rules to fend off environmental concerns.
Join the Great Lakes Echo for a four-day series unpacking the problems with power plant wastewater in the Great Lakes.
Day 1. Great Lakes states spotty on coal limits; some water contaminants ignored. …

By Yang Zhang and Rachael Gleason
Dec. 18, 2009
Burning coal is dirty business. The fuel is laden with heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic and chemicals that cause acid rain. When power plants burn coal, they release the contaminants into the air. Over the past couple of decades, increasingly stringent air pollution standards have forced power plants to clean up their dirty air.
The universal solution? Scrubbers that use a spray of water to trap air pollutants.
But scrubbers don’t really solve the pollution problem. They just move it …