Environment & Science

Under strong pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the immediate focus would be on two of the most common chemicals in the group, both of which have been phased out by manufacturers but remain in the environment and have suspected links to health threats ranging from cancer to decreased fertility.

New data shows elevated levels of PFAS in sewers passing through the old Buick City site in Flint.

PFAS are a family of chemicals that have been linked to serious health concerns.   

The term PFAS refers specifically to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, (the term “PFCs,” or perfluorinated chemicals is also sometimes used).

Experts are predicting higher-than-normal water levels on the Great Lakes this summer, some of which may set records.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Detroit recently issued its latest six-month forecast for the lakes.

The Detroit News reports that Lake Superior is unusually high and by May could reach a record set in the mid-1980s. Lake Erie also could hit record highs in late spring.

A University of Michigan researcher says people have more negative views of wind turbines if communities fail to be open and transparent when considering wind energy projects.

Sarah Mills is a senior project manager at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at UM's Ford School of Public Policy. She and her colleagues quizzed people in Michigan communities considering wind energy projects.

Environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit pushing for more action to prevent the toxic bacterial blooms that plague Lake Erie's western basin each summer.

The University of Michigan has established a commission on achieving carbon neutrality, to help fight climate change. 

But student activists say the process is already deeply flawed.  

Carbon neutrality means reducing carbon emissions as much as possible, and balancing what's left with actions like planting forests, which absorb carbon, or buying credits with renewable energy companies.

A new report says the State of Michigan did not thoroughly review Enbridge’s ability to cover costs in the case of a spill from its twin Line 5 oil pipelines before it signed an agreement with the company. The pipelines run underneath the Straits of Mackinac.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration has given western Upper Peninsula counties a grant to rebuild flood-damaged roads.

Circuit West, an experimental green energy development in Grand Rapids, now has an energy storage component.  

Circuit West is described by developers as "a 13-block hub of innovative electricity generation, distribution and storage and energy efficient building construction."

The storage is in the form of large cabinet-sized batteries that can store more than an hour's worth of the energy being produced by existing solar panels.

Roger Lin is with NEC Energy Solutions, which is providing the batteries for the pilot project with Consumers Energy.

Environmentalists are giving a road map to Michigan’s elected leaders for dealing with threats to the state’s land, lakes and drinking water.  

Twenty conservation and environmental groups delivered their recommendations last week.

Lisa Wozniak is the executive director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. 

Citizen environmental groups are planning to sue Detroit’s incinerator over alleged repeated emissions violations if the facility doesn’t clean up its act.

The groups are Environment Michigan and the Ecology Center. They plan to file an allowed citizen-initiated lawsuit under the federal Clean Air Act.

The Michigan Environmental Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club are speaking out against DTE Energy's most recent rate case before the Michigan Public Service Commission.

"DTE's proposal is unprecedented in the sheer amount of money they're requesting - over $2.8 billion," said Ariana Gonzalez, senior energy policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "And we don't feel they've made the case for that amount of money."

Largemouth bass virus has been found in two more northern Michigan lakes. Samples from Beaver Lake in Alpena County and Avalon Lake in Montmorency County have tested positive. This follows a recent discovery of the disease in Cedar Lake in Iosco County. Both Beaver Lake and Cedar Lake have now seen fish kills related to LMBV.

The rupture of an Enbridge gas pipeline outside of Summerfield, Ohio sent flames into the air at 10:40 a.m. Monday and caused the evacuation of nearby residents.

The Noble County Sheriff's Office said first responders extinguished the fire Monday.

Those willing to risk a chilly evening and a late bedtime Sunday night will be met with a stunning reward - the only total lunar eclipse of 2019. And this one will be a super blood moon.

What's a super blood moon? According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the moon will simultaneously be in the full moon phase of its orbit and reaching the perigee, the moon's closest position to Earth (about 363,300 kilometers, to be exact). This is why it appears much larger than a regular full moon, or "super." When the moon passes through Earth's shadow, it will turn a reddish color, hence the "blood" aspect of the name.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has settled a lawsuit against Bay City’s Michigan Sugar Company.

The MDEQ filed a lawsuit against Michigan Sugar Company in August of 2017. The lawsuit claimed the company’s sugar beet processing plant violated air and water quality regulations.

Human error.

That’s what Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller says caused the massive sinkhole in Fraser in December 2016.

Michigan's former drinking water regulator has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in the Flint water investigation.

It's a break for Liane Shekter-Smith, who was facing felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, in an investigation of Flint's lead-tainted water and a Legionnaires' disease outbreak.

Smith pleaded no contest Monday to disturbance of a lawful meeting and agreed to testify against others, if necessary. Special prosecutor Todd Flood praised her "candor and truthfulness." A message seeking comment was left for Smith's attorney.

New Year, new data. Climate change continues to affect the mitten state. Here are four places you should keep watching for it.

Southern lower Michigan didn’t get a white Christmas in 2018. In fact, it hardly got any snow at all in December, with snow totals falling way below average across the region.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a big change to a rule that requires coal burning power plants to slash mercury, arsenic and other emissions. Mercury and arsenic are neurotoxins.

The EPA under the Obama administration required coal burning power plants to control emissions of mercury and arsenic for the first time. 

The holidays are here, and for a lot of people that means there are suddenly many, many cardboard boxes piled up around the house.

I called up someone who is way overqualified to talk about the problem. Amy Butler is head of sustainability at Michigan State University

“I use boxes a ton,” she laughs.

Butler says there are lots of creative ways to re-use the boxes in your home.

State officials have named eight navigable waterways as the first state-designated water trails in Michigan.

The water trails total about 540 miles and flow through more than a dozen counties in the Lower Peninsula, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. They are intended for paddleboarders and boaters on lakes, rivers, canals and bays.

From following the aftereffects of the Flint Water Crisis to the new discoveries of PFAS in the state, here is some of most important stories Michigan Radio covered on the environment.

Ripple Effects of the Flint Water Crisis