Environment & Science

How can cities reduce flooding caused by increasingly intense rain storms?

More often, it's flooding in areas not known for a lot of flooding in the past. That happened in Detroit in 2014. It caught everyone by surprise as interstates and neighborhoods were suddenly under water.

Today on Stateside, as more states (including Michigan) consider legalizing recreational marijuana, how will cops be able to tell who is too stoned to drive? Plus, there was no spitting, cussing, or mitts allowed in the "gentlemanly game" of early baseball.  

What happens if your dog likes to swim in the lake, but there might be toxins in the water?

It can happen in a local lake or somewhere like the western basin of Lake Erie. Toxin-producing cyanobacteria appear. Some people still call it blue-green algae.

Beaches along Lake Michigan are closed when E. coli bacteria gets too high. But a nasty critter found on the bottom of the lake might help keep the beaches open.

New laws signed by Governor Rick Snyder last Friday set up commissions to oversee the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Environmentalists say those commissions will be stacked with business and industry people and give them more influence in the environmental rulemaking process.

The North American Great Lakes region has some of the world’s leading experts on freshwater issues. A new nonprofit wants to share this expertise with researchers working with the Great Lakes across the Atlantic in Africa. 

Ted Lawrence is executive director of the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education. He joined Stateside to talk about the similiarities between the North American and African Great Lakes, and what they can learn from each other. 

Farmers are expressing frustration over the fedearl government’s unclear policies on ethanol. 

As a candidate, Donald Trump promised corn growers he would support increased use of corn ethanol in fuel.

But in recent days, EPA chief Scott Pruitt has been criticized for his handling of renewable fuel standards, which requires oil refineries mix renewable fuels such as ethanol with gasoline.

Michigan has used methods of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for decades. The national debate over the use of fracking began only ten to fifteen years ago when companies began drilling down and across. 

Now companies can drill deposits one to three miles wide.

Author and University of Michigan Professor Daniel Raimi discusses the nuances and misconceptions of fracking in his new book “The Fracking Debate: The Risks, Benefits, and Uncertainties of the Shale Revolution.”

Many residents were outraged when the state granted Nestlé a permit to significantly increase the amount of water it pumps out of a well near Evart, Michigan.

More than 80,000 people submitted public comments opposing the decision. The environmental group Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation has since challenged that permit.

Record rainfall devastated large parts of Houghton County earlier this month. Flash flooding killed a 12-year-old boy when the basement of his house collapsed. It damaged hundreds of homes and caused at least $100 million in damage to infrastructure.

President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan will be in Wisconsin this Thursday for the groundbreaking of the $10 billion Foxconn plant.

The Taiwanese electronics company has promised thousands of jobs in Racine County and in return has been offered $4.5 billion in tax incentives. 

The plant will also require 5.8 million gallons of water a day diverted from Lake Michigan for operations. 

The world knows her as the doctor who used science to force the state of Michigan to admit it had caused the Flint water crisis.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration made history. For the first time, the agency approved a hemp-derived product for use in treating epilepsy. 

The decision comes as more and more Michigan farmers and researchers have their eye on producing hemp for commercial and medical uses. 

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed tighter standards for lead in dust on floors and window sills. Lead dust can be a big source of lead exposure for kids when chips of old paint flake off, or when older homes are renovated. The proposed standards would affect most homes built before 1978 and places where kids spend a lot of time, like day care centers.

Bees might be small, but they play an outsize role in food production. In fact, one of every three bites of food we eat is made possible by bees.

While a lot of attention on the shrinking bee population focuses on honeybees, they aren't the only pollinators in our state. Michigan is also home to hundreds of native bee species that play an equally important role in our environment and economy. 

PFAS is a family of chemicals often used in the manufacturing of nonstick and waterproof products. In the past several years, the chemicals have been showing up in high levels in people's drinking water across the state.

News came out Wednesday that a report on the dangers of PFAS exposure had been blocked by officials at the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House. 

Alexis Temkin is a toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group in Washington D.C. She spoke with Stateside on the implications of this new development. 

If you’ve ever tried to keep a raccoon out of your trash can, you know they’re smart. At my house, it takes a brick on top of the trash can and a bungee cord on top of the lid to keep the raccoons out.

New research looks at how animals with complex cognitive abilities might do better in cities, but could end up in more conflicts with people.

The Environmental Protection Agency is starting to plan what’s next for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. We’re eight years into that huge cleanup and restoration effort.

We Michiganders love our craft beer. In recent years, small breweries have been popping up everywhere, from big cities to small towns.

But it turns out when you’re drinking that pint of local Great Lakes beer, a delicious malt beverage isn’t all you’re getting. A new study finds there’s a good chance you’re ingesting microplastic fibers.

There has been a lot of coverage of PFAS in the news. That's shorthand for per- and polyfluorinated substances, and it’s a class of chemicals commonly found in stain proof, water-resistant, and nonstick products.

A lot of the news coverage mentions that the chemicals can be harmful to humans. But what exactly does that mean? 

Courtney Carignan, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University, joined Stateside to help us answer that question. 

A Canadian company will turn in a report tomorrow outlining whether it thinks a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac is a feasible option for its pipeline. A tunnel was suggested by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

UPDATE: This story was updated on 6/14/18 at 1:38 pm

Last fall Anthony Spaniola discovered a white foam had washed up on the shore of his family’s cottage on Van Etten Lake in Oscoda.

“It’s unusual and it’s kind of sticky, and it piles up and it’s a little bit sudsy looking,” says Spaniola. “It’s something that would probably attract a child… but it’s not something you’d want your child playing in.”

Spaniola knew exactly what that funny looking foam was.

“Maybe it wasn’t quite panic, but it was a feeling of dread,” he says.