News Story

Boat Tour Makes a Splash in Buffalo

The City of Buffalo could not have been a better location to kickoff the Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives Boat Tour. With the help of local elected officials like Congressman Higgins, and Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes Coalition members, we are really getting the message out about the urgent need to protect and restore the Great Lakes to benefit our economy and our way of life. What follows is a partial list of press from our stop in Buffalo. Don’t forget to sign the petition to the presidential candidates.   Read More » »

Wisconsin Joins Michigan In Ballast Battle

Wisconsin has taken steps to join Michigan as the second state to regulate ballast water in the Great Lakes sending a clear signal to Washington that absent Congressional leadership and legislation, the state is prepared take the initiative to create ad hoc ballast controls. As it turns out, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has the legal authority to regulate ballast water discharges under the state’s Pollutant Discharge Elimination System so international shippers may soon have to apply for permits for discharges into Lakes Michigan and Superior.

Wisconsin’s determination of its legal authority to regulate ballast water under existing state Read More » »

Great Lakes Mayors Issue Latest Challenge To Presidential Candidates: Great Lakes Support Key To Winning Midwest

Great Lakes Governor’s ring are you listening? A pledge like sugar on your lips sure would glisten. A beautiful sight, the Great Lakes Mayors unite asking for you to lend the Lakes a hand. First Wisconsin Governor Doyle lead the eight Great Lakes governors in asking the presidential hopefuls to outline their vision for the Great Lakes. Next, four Great Lakes Congressmen sent a letter to the candidates asking them to take a pledge to shepherd restoration into law and fully fund it while in office. Now, the Mayors of the Great Lakes have come forth and issued Read More » »

Great Lakes Lawmakers Vote to Override Bush Veto

Last night Great Lakes members of Congress from both parties rebuffed the Bush administration by voting to override his veto of a bill that authorizes funding for many Great Lakes restoration projects - the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).

A recent AP Article includes quotes from several Michigan Representatives including Candice Miller (R), Bart Stupak (D), Tim Wallberg (R), and Vern Ehlers (R).

Despite reservations about environmentally suspect projects in other parts of the country, WRDA authorizes funding for completing the Asian carp barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. This is one of Read More » »

Political Primer for Presidential Hopefuls

If you remember nothing else, please remember this – it will be on the test – in the words of political Great and former House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill - all politics is local. Even if your personal politics are of a different flavor than Tips, his words ring truer and truer as we move deeper into the 21st Century.

Since all politics are local then let’s talk jobs and the economy. National prosperity is the result of humming regional economies, and according to experts, many US regions aren’t doing so well. One of those regions happens to be the old Read More » »

They Asked For It

When the first public meeting in nearly two years of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration opens in Chicago today, conveners will get an earful from representatives of the Healing Our Waters Coalition. The litany of grievances is long, but it can be boiled down to an indictment of the Environmental Protection Agency’s miserable leadership.

Let’s start with the meeting – thanks for calling it, but why wait two years? Did a recent letter signed by over 30 members of Congress and directed Read More » »

$50 Billion in Economic Benefit Hinge on Restoration of Great Lakes

Cost to restore and protect the Great Lakes: $26 Billion.

Cost of creating sustainable economic growth and reviving the industrial heartland of America: Priceless.

It has been called the Rust Belt since the early ‘70s when the once thriving Great Lakes region – a producer of steel, metal and automobiles that attracted workers from around the world – fell victim to globalization and then the information economy. Factories and mills closed and crestfallen populations of workers migrated away in search of jobs. But leading economists are releasing a report today showing that investing in the Read More » »

BP Graciously Backs Off

Due to the torrent of public outcry over Indiana’s permit allowing British Petroleum to expand its Whiting facility on Lake Michigan, the foreign oil company graciously backed off its plans to increase ammonia and sludge production at the refinery. Instead, BP plans to move forward with the expansion but promises to keep discharges at the current, lower levels afforded by the company’s previous wastewater permit.
“We will not make use of the higher discharge limits in our new permit,” said BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone in a press release. “If we determine that post our Canadian Read More » »

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Michigan Ballast Law Declared Sound

Great Lakes States take heart, and action! There is now no excuse for not passing ballast laws to protect the region from invasive species. A federal court dismissed a lawsuit brought by shipping companies in an attempt to reverse a Michigan law requiring them to either not discharge ballast water or use approved methods to treat it before releasing it into Lake Michigan. The state is the first in the region to enact a ballast law.

“Michigan did take action because we could no longer wait,” said Robert McCann, spokesman for Michigan’s Department Read More » »

Indiana Gov Calls for Review of BP Decision

Sorry, Mitch, the BP permit issue is not going away, but then you know that don’t you? After a rather loud public outcry, including a spanking from the U.S. Congress, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has called for a review of the state environmental agency’s decision to allow British Petroleum to expand their Whiting Refinery on Lake Michigan. 

While calling for a “credible, independent evaluation of the permitting decision and outcome” might lead readers to think the Governor may reconsider the permit, it is more likely he is looking for a heavy rubber stamp to squelch protests. BP spokesman Tom Read More » »