By Jeff Gillies, Kimberly Hirai and Shawntina Phillips
Jan. 19, 2010
Editors note: This is part one of a three-day series on the environmental implications of GM’s bankruptcy.
The money set aside to clean up pollution at 120 sites a bankrupt General Motors left across the country may be enough to address the sites in only two states, according to court records.

When an industrial giant like General Motors goes bankrupt, who pays to clean up its toxic legacy?

Jan. 19, 2010
GM bankruptcy could shortchange pollution cleanups: The money set aside to clean up pollution at 120 sites a bankrupt General Motors left across the country may be enough to address the sites in only two states, according to court records.

Jan. 20, 2010
Sites GM helped pollute no longer get cleanup dollars from the bankrupt automaker: The bankrupt shell of General Motors could dodge environmental cleanup costs for dozens of properties that the …

(OH) Columbus Dispatch - Since 2004, the state has allowed 42 treatment facilities, power plants and factories to ignore federal limits on dumping mercury into lakes, rivers and streams.

(MI) Detroit Free Press - The amount of trash in Michigan landfills is shrinking. While that might sound like good news, the numbers are so low that state officials warned today it means there’s not enough revenue to cover landfill inspections to make sure they meet requirements.

(MI) Grand Rapids Press – State fisheries officials analyzing 2009 Lake Michigan salmon reports are encouraged by what seems to be an improved balance between fish and prey.

(MI) The Detroit News - While I welcome comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed health standards for smog, the arguments in a Detroit News editorial are dangerously misleading (“Policies and priorities: If Obama is to fulfill his job creation pledge, he must consider the impact of every action on employment,” Jan. 12).

By Rachael Gleason
The Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the largest Great Lakes ships in its time, met the bottom of Lake Superior more than 30 years ago. What if the famous freighter had kept sinking?
A mashup called Earth Sandwich shows the ship would have surfaced on the other side of the world — more than a 1,000 miles off the coast of the Western Australia. Click the image and you can see exactly where.

Public pools are recreational havens. But hey can also be health hazards. The most common safety risk associated with swimming is usually drowning. Few people think of water quality. Join the Great Lakes Echo in a series to answer: What’s in the pool?
Day 1 — What’s in the water: How the quality of the water in your pool affects your health.

Day 2: — The people running your pool: Michigan is one of 21 states not requiring certification for pool operators

Vote: Should pool operator certification be required?

(IN) The Post-Tribune - Mud in the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is so contaminated with a cancer-causing industrial pollutant that it could rank among the most contaminated sites in the nation, researchers say.

(OH) The Toledo Blade - A joint proposal to end the federal government’s controversial practice of dumping dredged material into Lake Erie is to be unveiled in downtown Toledo at 6 p.m. Thursday.