The stop-work order lifted following a phone call between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and President Donald Trump. The unplanned call was yet another example of the Democratic governor’s unique relationship with the Republican president.
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.
Water’s True Cost
As the nation prepares to pour hundreds of billions of federal dollars into rescuing water systems, the Great Lakes News Collaborative investigates the true cost of water in Michigan. Read the series.
Ready or Not
The Great Lakes region is frequently touted as one of the most climate-resilient places in the U.S., in part because of its enviable water resources. But climate change also threatens our water. The Great Lakes News Collaborative explores what it will take to prepare. Read the series.
Posted inMichigan Government
Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ in US
The lake’s name comes from the Huron Indigenous people’s word ‘oniatarí:io,’ which means ‘lake of shining waters’ and it predates European settlement in the region. The Ontario province took its name from the lake.
Posted inMichigan Government
Line 5: Where Jocelyn Benson, John James, Abdul El-Sayed, Mike Rogers stand
Gretchen Whitmer and Dana Nessel are trying to shut down Enbridge Energy’s petroleum pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. What would their potential successors and Michigan’s candidates for US senator do on Line 5?
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Where things stand in Michigan’s Line 5 saga
More than a decade after concerns first emerged about the risk of an oil spill from Line 5, the pipeline’s fate remains unclear. Here’s what to know.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Feds issue Line 5 tunnel permit, call it ‘not contrary to the public interest’
The US Army Corps of Engineers approved construction of Enbridge Energy’s proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac despite expected adverse effects on endangered species and archaeological sites. The project remains tied up in court, with opponents promising new lawsuits.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Think you’re getting old? New study says Michigan sturgeon may live to 400
Some lake sturgeon swimming in the Great Lakes today may have been alive for centuries, according to new research that suggests scientists have significantly underestimated the fish’s lifespan.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan Supreme Court vacates key Line 5 permit
The court ruled 6-1 that the Michigan Public Service Commission’s review of a key permit for the petroleum pipeline tunnel was overly narrow, failing to consider whether the tunnel will harm public trust resources.
Posted inMichigan Government
Where Michigan governor candidates stand on data centers, the environment
How would Jocelyn Benson and John James protect the Great Lakes? How would they approach data centers, climate change and energy policy?
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
State issues Line 5 permits despite conceding its ‘significant impacts’
State agencies said the pipeline tunnel construction would affect Native American burial sites, wetlands and threatened and endangered species but concluded the benefits of the tunnel outweigh the damages. The project remains tied up in court.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
In Michigan, 100K live downstream of old, decrepit dams. ‘We’re at their mercy’
Michigan’s aging dams pose growing risks to thousands of downstream residents. Weak standards, slow enforcement and scarce funding mean problem dams fester as climate change brings ever-bigger floods.