Environment & Science

Lawyers sparred in court Tuesday over Attorney General Dana Nessel’s request for a preliminary injunction against Enbridge Energy. 

The state is requesting a 14-day freeze on operations along Line 5 in the straits of Mackinac in order to review pipeline safety. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel requested the injunction on June 22 after Enbridge announced it had resumed operating the western leg of the Line 5 pipeline following the announcement of “significant damage” to the eastern portion of the line. 

A Michigan regulatory agency has denied Enbridge's request for quick approval of its plan to put a replacement oil pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel. The state Public Service Commission on Tuesday voted to conduct a full review of Enbridge's proposal.

A Canadian company has officially ended efforts to place a low and intermediate-level nuclear waste storage facility near the shore of Lake Huron.

The decision comes after the Saugeen-Ojibway nation, on whose land the waste site was proposed, voted overwhelmingly against the project.

Enbridge had temporarily shut down Line 5 after discovering significant damage to an anchor support on one of the dual pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac. The company notified the state about the damage on Thursday, according to a statement from the governor's office. The source of the damage is currently unclear.

After months of pressure from lawmakers and residents, the Air Force has announced it will take steps to address pollution coming from the former Wurtsmith Air Force base in Oscoda. 

Earlier this year calls for a cleanup intensified after the Air Force said it would use a $13.5 million congressional appropriation for more studies at the base. But some federal lawmakers said those funds had been appropriated for a cleanup. 

Oscoda residents say they want more specifics about the U.S. Air Force’s latest plan to clean up PFAS contamination seeping from a former Air Force base.

Last week, the Air Force announced it plans to award a $13.5 million contract next month for capturing more of the industrial chemicals that have been linked to serious health problems. The Air Force says the contract will expand the capture fields already in place at the former fire training area and the Central Treatment System located on the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. 

The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld a law that allows Enbridge Energy to build a tunnel so it can continue to move oil and natural gas liquids through a controversial Great Lakes pipeline.

Line 5 runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Enbridge said Tuesday it has found four places where protective coating has worn away on its Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.

According to Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy, crews found the bare metal spots last week while preparing to install steel screw anchors. The spots are on the east segment of the dual pipeline.

If your building has been closed or only a few people have been using it, the water in the pipes should be flushed before you start up your business again.

“The chemicals that we put in the water to condition it and prevent bacteria growth or corrosion tend to dwindle and go to zero. And you pick up things like bacterial contamination and metals contamination from contact with the plumbing,” said Eric Oswald, Director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division.

Curious Gladwin County residents are being advised to stay out of the bed of the now-empty Wixom Lake.

County health and law enforcement officials held a press conference to update residents on clean up efforts underway after the collapse of the Edenville dam.

This drone video was shot Friday May 22, 2020  at 7 p.m.

It was three days after the Edenville Dam collapsed due to high water.

It’s the unofficial start of summer, and life on Michigan’s lakeshore will be different this year.

High water levels on the Great Lakes mean there’s less beachfront this year. At the same time, the pandemic means there’s more need for space.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) are in the Midland area to assess the damage from the flooding there.

Nick Assendelft is a spokesman for EGLE. He says one of the first priorities is helping people who are cleaning out their homes and businesses.

DTE Energy, the EPA, and the Sierra Club have an agreement that ends a ten year old dispute about some changes the power company made to its Monroe power plant. As part of the deal, DTE will give some Wayne County communities $7.5 million dollars.

The devastating flooding in Midland is causing concern about potential environmental contamination. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy indicates until the flood waters recede, it will be difficult to determine the extent of any contamination.

However, the long-standing problem along the Tittabawassee River has been dioxin contamination from the Dow chemical complex.

The World Health Organization indicates dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.

The Canadian pipeline company Enbridge was in court Friday fighting an attempt to shut down its Line 5 oil and liquid natural gas pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac.

In an online hearing before 30th Circuit Court Judge James S. Jamo, the Attorney General’s office argued the 1953 easement along the bottom of the Straits should not have been granted for the pipeline. It said that easement should be invalidated because it violates the Public Trust Doctrine.

A team of Michigan State University researchers hopes Detroit sewage will hold clues about the trajectory of COVID-19.

The group has been sampling raw sewage as it arrives at a Great Lakes Water Authority water treatment plant every week since mid-April.

The city of Toledo has withdrawn an appeal that challenged a ruling on the Lake Erie Bill of Rights’ constitutionality. Federal judge Jack Zouhary declared the bill of rights unconstitutional back in February, calling it “unconstitutionally vague” and said it “exceed[ed] the power of municipal government in Ohio.” 

The bill was approved by Toledo voters in a special election in 2019, where it passed with 61 percent of the vote. The bill states that Lake Erie, as well as the Lake Erie watershed, possesses the right to “exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.”

Human problems got you down?

Check out these baby peregrine falcons:

It’s hatching season for the falcons. Fluffy, white newborn chicks are in nests across the state. And you can check on them any time.

Here are some at the Detroit Zoo.

After a lengthy trial, Circuit Court Judge Hala Jarbou says the city of Madison Heights has the right to tear down most of the buildings on the site of Electro-Plating Services, owned by Gary Sayers.

Pollution on the site was responsible for a bright green spill of liquid onto I-696 in late December last year.

State environmental investigators found the "green ooze" contained high levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.  

One Michigan entomologist says the state won’t have to worry about “murder hornets” for many years, if ever.

So-called “murder hornets” - a giant Asian hornet so named because of its habit of massacring and even decapitating entire honey bee hives - have been spotted in Washington state.

Michigan regulators want more information from Enbridge about its plan to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy told the company in a letter this week its application is “incomplete.” Gongwer News Service reports EGLE “took issue with Enbridge currently not submitting finalized dimensions for the pipeline, such as an exact diameter.”

The Macomb County Public Works Commissioner is suing manufacturers of disposable wipes that claim they are flushable. Commissioner Candice Miller says if you flush disposable wipes down the toilet, they can damage sewer pumps and clog sewer pipes.

Macomb County had a problem with a "fatberg" which was caused by fat congealing with so-called flushable wipes and the combination clogged a major sewer pipe.

The Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan has delivered its petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s office. The group hopes its initiative is on the ballot in November. 

“Our initiative will ban horizontal fracking and the waste that comes from horizontal fracked wells as well as change the state’s policy about climate change and maximizing oil and gas production,” said LuAnne Kozma, the campaign director of the committee.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will have the final say on an increase in water withdrawals by a Nestlé water bottling plant.

An administrative law judge decided the state’s decision to grant a permit to Nestlé to withdraw more water was proper.