As it weighs the fate of Line 5, the US Army Corps of Engineers is quietly pitching a major alternative: Rather than moving the pipeline into a concrete tunnel, Enbridge could use ‘horizontal directional drilling’ to place it into a much narrower borehole.
Michigan Environment Watch
Michigan Environment Watch examines how public policy, industry, and other factors interact with the state’s trove of natural resources.
Great Lakes News Collaborative
Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, The Narwhal and Michigan Public work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
You can find all of the collaborative’s stories here.
Refresh
Fifty years after the Clean Water Act put an end to flagrant pollution of America’s waterways, the Great Lakes News Collaborative explores the act’s successes and shortcomings. Read the series here.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan: We can’t afford to look for all PFAS. Homeowners on their own
State PFAS officials say it’d cost too much money to test enough to determine the culprit behind some contamination sites. When that happens, the state struggles to find how widespread the contamination is and can’t force anyone to pay for cleanup.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Watch: Saving Great Lakes whitefish is a race against time
After months spent writing about the looming collapse of whitefish in the lower Great Lakes, Bridge Michigan teamed up with Detroit PBS to tell the story in documentary form. Here’s how to watch.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Data centers eyed in at least 10 Michigan towns. How they might change state
A host of Michigan communities are weighing proposals for the hulking computing facilities? How many of those will come to fruition? And why is Michigan suddenly seeing a data center surge?
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Anti-nuclear groups file suit against Palisades restart in southwest Michigan
The groups have accused the plant’s owners of a “bait-and-switch” that has cleared regulatory shortcuts to approving the plant’s reopening. They fear the aging plant can’t be reopened safely — an assertion that proponents of the restart contest.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Climate change is shrinking fish in Michigan lakes
A new study digitized decades’ worth of written observations about Michigan’s fish to show a connection between warmer waters and smaller fish. Prized species like northern pike are among the affected species.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan lawmakers seek $500M to stop mussels, save Great Lakes whitefish
US Reps. Debbie Dingell and Tim Walberg are planning legislation to boost research to control invasive mussels, following Bridge Michigan reporting about the impending collapse of whitefish.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
How a dam removal is helping revive Michigan’s sacred wild rice
Follow a manoomin harvest on the Au Sable River, where new rice beds now grow. The wild rice was once abundant across the Great Lakes region. Efforts are underway to bring it back.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Tensions mount as data centers eye ‘sleepy’ Michigan farm towns
In a scenario likely to repeat statewide, a $7 billion data center planned for a rural Saline Township is prompting debate about jobs versus environmental impacts and noise.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan OKs landmark regulations that push up-front costs to data centers
New rules require big data centers in Consumers Energy’s territory to sign long-term power contracts and pay all costs to build transmission lines, substations and other infrastructure needed to serve the energy-hungry facilities.