Environment & Science

If you are looking for an unusual summer vacation, think about applying to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources as a temporary lighthouse keeper.

The Tawas Point Lighthouse off the shores of Lake Huron is accepting applications for spring and summer through February 1, 2019. 

Environmental groups are hoping legislation to address emerging contaminants in Michigan will move during the lame duck session. But lawmakers say there isn’t enough time to pass the bills – and any action will likely wait until next session.

PFAS chemicals are a family of contaminants that are polluting water across the state.

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters says it wants the Legislature to address the issue.

Katie Parrish is with the League. She says some bills have been waiting for a year.

Mayors from Great Lakes cities have united with leaders from First Nations communities to criticize proposed new rules for approving Great Lakes water withdrawals.

The Anishinabek Nation, a political advocacy group representing 40 First Nations communities in Ontario, has joined forces with the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, made up of mayors from the Great Lakes region. The groups are concerned about proposed new procedures for approving water withdrawal requests under the Great Lakes Compact, the agreement governing the removal of water from the Great Lakes basin.

Environmentalists are cautioning state lawmakers against legislation about tree and foliage removal. Bills making their way through the state Legislature would prevent local governments from passing ordinances prohibiting their removal in certain areas.

Environmental groups say cities and townships should be allowed to prevent people from cutting down some trees and vegetation in order to protect wildlife, water and the environment.

Several former members of the Mackinac Bridge Authority joined with environmental groups Tuesday to oppose legislation that would give the Bridge Authority control of a utility tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

The bill is part of an agreement announced in October between Enbridge Energy and Governor Rick Snyder to give the Mackinac Bridge Authority control of a tunnel that would house the Line 5 pipeline.

Divers are planning to collect zebra and quagga mussels this week in Muskegon. It’s part of a national effort to study chemical pollution, called Mussel Watch.

The mussels are invasive species, but they’re also good study subjects.

Michigan and the Midwest are already feeling the effects of climate change, which will grow and worsen as temperatures climb throughout this century, according to a new report.

The second part of the fourth National Climate Assessment looks at impacts, risks, and mitigation efforts across the U.S. It’s the work of scientists and experts from across a variety of federal agencies. While officially released by the White House, its conclusions are sharply different from the Trump administration’s position on climate change

More homes in Benton Harbor have tested positive for elevated levels of lead in the water.

The city was put under an advisory for its drinking water results in October.

Since then, another 27 homes out of 159 tested have shown levels of lead that are above the federal action level of 15 parts per billion.

Ten of those homes had levels more than double the action level.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is offering communities grants to help start recycling programs. The total amount approved for the grants is $500,000.

Bryan Weinert of Recycle Ann Arbor says the money won't go far, but it's at least a start to improving the state's "embarrassingly" low recycling rate.  

The national average for recycling is about 30%.  Michigan is at about 15%.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a costly final draft of its plan to keep invasive Asian carp out of Lake Michigan.

But environmentalists say it will be worth every penny.

The plan at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, about 60 miles south of Chicago, would cost about $775 million.   

Drew YoungeDyke is with the National Wildlife Federal.  He says the cost, although dramatically higher than the Corps' first draft plan, would be a small fraction of the cost to the fishing industry, if Asian carp got into the lakes.

The U.S. House has passed a bill to drop legal protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states, reopening a lengthy battle over the predator species.

Long despised by farmers and ranchers, wolves were shot, trapped and poisoned out of existence in most of the U.S. by the mid-20th century.

A scientist at the state Department of Environmental Quality says he felt like he was “at the edge of the abyss” when he first realized the possible effects of widespread PFAS contamination in Michigan.

Robert Delaney made the comments at a public hearing in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, hosted by Senator Gary Peters.

Delaney wrote a report on the potential harm from PFAS chemicals in 2012.

Renewable Energy Systems hopes to build a 130 megawatt wind farm on privately owned timberlands in the Upper Peninsual of Michigan.  The Summit Lake Wind Project would be able to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 45,000 homes.

A coalition of environmental groups is petitioning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to drop a practice the groups say is responsible for converting grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, pastures and other non-crop acreage to corn and soybean fields.

The petition says the EPA's own data from 2008-2012 shows that up to 7.8 million acres of non-cropland has been converted to corn and soybeans, the feedstock for biofuels, in violation of a provision of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Benton Harbor is offering to test the water at any home in the city, after initial tests showed elevated levels of lead in eight homes.

State agencies in Michigan have issued a ‘Do Not Eat’ advisory for deer in Oscoda Township near the closed Wurtsmith Air Force Base.

The state tested deer tissue from areas across the state known to have PFAS chemical contamination, including places such as Grayling, Rockford, and Oscoda Township.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says a fatal neurological disease in deer has turned up for the first time in the Upper Peninsula.

The 4-year old doe was discovered about four miles from the Wisconsin border in Dickinson County.

Governor Snyder’s office says a new rule from the United States Coast Guard will better protect the Great Lakes from oil spills.

The Coast Guard named the Straits of Mackinac a "no anchor" zone. This prohibits boats from dropping anchor in the area.

In May, the state temporarily blocked boats from anchoring there.

This was after the state said the pipeline was reportedly dented by an anchor.