Environment & Science

In yet another sign that invasive Asian carp could be inching closer to Lake Michigan, researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have found environmental DNA of two species of carp in a lake that's just a few miles from Lake Michigan.

Environmental DNA comes from things like fish scales. It's an indicator that the fish could be present.

High water levels in Lake Erie have been flooding streets and houses in Ohio, and people who live near the lake are bracing for problems as water levels continue to rise.

Erie's water levels are expected to approach or break records this spring, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The EPA has ordered a West Michigan shoe manufacturer to excavate part of the Rogue River.

Wolverine Worldwide used products containing chemicals, including PFAS, at its former tannery in Rockford, about 15 miles north of Grand Rapids.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named the former McLouth Steel site in Trenton to its Superfund National Priorities List.

That list is reserved for sites with the most serious or uncontrolled legacy contamination. The contamination on the southern end of the property is from steel-making processes and an acid pickling line operation, according to the EPA.

The city of Ann Arbor will ask its co-plaintiffs in a groundwater contamination lawsuit against Pall-Gelman if they should ask the U.S. EPA to add the site to the Superfund program.

The resolution was approved unanimously by Ann Arbor's city council.

Pall-Gelman is the company responsible for contaminating Ann Arbor's groundwater with a chemical called 1,4 dioxane. 

A company that runs electric lines beneath the Straits of Mackinac says a proposed tunnel could be dangerous.  

The proposed tunnel would house a replacement section of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline.

But it could also be used to hold other utility lines, including electrical cables.

Tim Finco is with the American Transmission Company.

The Petoskey News-Review reported Finco wrote in a letter the company doesn't believe it's a good idea to install its high-voltage electric lines in close proximity to high pressure oil or gas lines.

Federal agencies are asking for the public’s input on a new action plan for the Great Lakes.

The third phase of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan sets new five year priorities and goals starting in 2020.

The Michigan Public Service Commission says DTE Energy can raise residential electricity rates by nearly 9%, starting in May. That's roughly a $6 per month increase for most customers.

The rate increase will pay for infrastructure, including a new billion dollar natural gas plant, plus an increase in the utility's tree-trimming activities. DTE says tree limbs falling onto lines during storms are responsible for a majority of power outages.

But the commission has rejected DTE Energy's proposal to raise fees and slash credits for customers with solar panels.

State officials are warning Michiganders to completely avoid touching PFAS foam. Previously, they emphasized not ingesting it.

PFAS (poly and perfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of chemicals used in firefighting foam, water-proofing substances, and more. The chemicals have been found in 119 municipal water systems.

Detroit’s Marathon refinery says it’s environmentally responsible, and a good neighbor to its surrounding community.

But some of those neighbors aren’t buying it.

Plastic pollution is choking landfills, the oceans - even the air we breathe.

Current recycling programs for plastics are inadequate to deal with the growing problem, according to researchers who testified Tuesday before a U.S. House subcommittee, convened by Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens.

Moose populations are still going wild on Isle Royale, but wildlife managers hope moving some additional wolves in will help restore some balance.

Michigan Technological University’s latest annual winter study of the animals’ Isle Royale populations found there are now more than 2,000 moose there, in comparison to just 15 wolves, most of them recent transplants via human intervention.

Plans for an enhanced barrier to try to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes might have just taken a crucial step forward.

The plan would fortify the existing Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Ill. to attempt to block carp from getting to Lake Michigan.

The project just got a signoff from the Illinois governor to go into a pre-construction and design phase.

Molly Flanagan is with the Alliance for the Great Lakes. She says it’s a big project, but it’s an essential one to keep invasive Asian carp out of the lakes.

A new report by an energy watchdog group says companies are betting over a trillion dollars in risky gas pipeline projects.

Global Energy Monitor says these projects are hugely expensive - so the payback is over decades. Climate scientists say we need to stop burning fossil fuels completely by 2050.

After the Flint water crisis, the state’s environment department closed a bunch of loopholes in the sampling for lead in drinking water. That means cities are taking better samples, more frequently, and at the highest risk homes with lead service lines.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released draft recommendations for industrial chemicals known as PFAS.

The EPA says the guidance will inform final cleanup levels for groundwater used as drinking water.

Five years ago, the city of Flint switched its water to the Flint River. Citizens soon complained of dirty, foul-smelling water. Doctors found evidence of high lead levels in children. Outside researchers proved the city’s water (because of a lack of corrosion control) was corroding pipes, bacteria levels skyrocketed, and thousands of people were without clean water.

That began five years ago. Now, many people still say that Flint, Michigan doesn’t have clean water.  

The problem is, those claims are misleading. 

A Michigan lawmaker is urging swift action to combat climate change.

U.S. Senator Gary Peters hosted an Earth Day field summit in Lansing Monday.

Peters says the impacts of climate change are not a problem for future generations to tackle.

“They are significant, they are costly and they are already being felt here in Michigan,” Peters said.

Peters says the Midwest is particularly vulnerable to the challenges posed by climate change.

Across the state Michiganders are taking part in projects to mark Earth Day, and not all of them are taking place far away from the state’s urban centers.

In Saginaw, dozens of volunteers are spending the day cleaning up vacant lots. It’s part of a larger program to put in plants that attract pollinating insects and wildlife across the city.  

Zachary Branigan is the executive director of the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy.

He says there’s a wildlife corridor that goes right through the city of Saginaw and Bay City, up and down the Saginaw Valley. 

Oscoda residents will meet with high ranking U.S. Air Force officials this week to discuss the cleanup of PFAS contamination at the former Wurtsmith Air Force base.

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy, John Henderson, will hold a public forum in Oscoda next Wednesday, April 24 at 4 p.m. at the Oscoda Township Community Center.

Environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity has sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Interior Secretary for not making protection decisions for wildlife.   

Three of the 24 species the lawsuit cites are native to Michigan. The yellow-banded bumblebee, purple lilliput, and round hickorynut are native to Michigan. The group says these species are not currently protected by the Endangered Species Act.