Michigan Environmental Issues

Great Lakes' Environmental & Conservation News

Dan Staudacher | Times Photo fileBaySail hopes to erect a new Saginaw Bay Environmental Education Center on this site near the Coast Guard station in Hampton Township.

A third of money now raised for construction of education center near Saginaw Bay

BaySail is a third of the way to its goal of raising $1.65 million for a new Saginaw Bay Environmental Education Center, and plans to begin construction on a Hampton Township site in the spring.

The nonprofit, which delivers environmental education and youth sail training programs aboard two Appledore schooners docked in downtown Bay City, recently received $50,000 from the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation of Midland.

LANSING - An environmental group in Marquette is looking to an upcoming meeting to give the Upper Peninsula a bigger role in protecting the Great Lakes.

"Oftentimes it seems policy is happening down in Lansing - a long way from our communities up here," said Carl Lindquist, executive director of the Marquette-based Superior Watershed Partnership. "This is our opportunity to have some input in this process."

LANSING - The Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan has a bone to pick with giant factory farms in the region.

The group says area farms have failed to contain the pollution they produce.

Lynn Henning, vice president of the Hudson-based grassroots organization, has been monitoring water quality around concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in southeast Michigan for eight years.

Henning has identified more than 60 lagoons containing over 400 million gallons of waste within a 10 mile radius of her home.

LANSING - Families, communities and businesses have a new way to measure the impact of their water use on the environment, as a test version of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) water withdrawal assessment tool went online early this month.

The tool, a Web site, enables home and business owners to assess the impact of drilling wells and other water-consuming activities on the state's water supply.

People can assess whether their own withdrawal would cause damage to water quality and availability.

The Legislature approved the assessment tool in July, said Joe Lovato, chief of the Groundwater Contamination Investigation Unit at DEQ.

"We're working on phasing the tool in, and we want to get feedback from the people who've used it," Lovato said.

Bay County Drain Commissioner Joseph L. Rivet has come under fire by state officials for permit violations on a $1.5 million drain project.

The state Department of Environmental Quality's Saginaw Bay District Office issued Rivet a violation notice on Sept. 24 after inspecting the Dell Creek Detention Pond construction site in Auburn.

Staff from the DEQ's Water Bureau said they had concerns regarding storm water discharge. DEQ Analyst Matthew Siler laid out seven violations in a four-page letter.

"During the inspection, it was observed that soil erosion and sedimentation control measures are not being properly implemented or adequately maintained," the notice reads. "These measures are designed to prevent or reduce the amount of sediment that is discharged to lakes, streams or other surface waters."

Bay City commissioners on Monday voted 9-0 to endorse a resolution urging state and federal agencies to provide the necessary permits, on a timely basis, to allow for clean-up of local beaches.

"As community leaders, we have a responsibility to be environmental leaders and set an example in the manner in which we manage our water resources," reads the resolution aimed at ridding the Bay City State Recreation Area of "beach muck."

Bay City is throwing its voice behind an identical resolution brought forward by Bay County commissioners last week, calling for cooperation from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality.

Bay City commissioners on Monday voted 9-0 to authorize a purchase power transaction for up to 5 megawatts of base load power for one to three years at a cost of up to $7.88 million.

Total energy delivered from that purchase would not be more than 43,800 megawatt-hours each year, with a price not to exceed $60 per megawatt-hour, said Phil Newton, acting director of Bay City Electric Light & Power.

Newton said the purchase is required to replace a 5 megawatt block of power that ends after 2008, but the size and timing of the purchase could vary depending on multiple factors, including market prices and the city's recent decision to start getting energy from Granger landfill gas projects. Newton said alternative energy is not expected to be available from the Granger Project until after Jan. 1, 2010.

The city has set aside $13.4 million for power purchases this year.

The Saginaw Bay has been called a lot of things, many of them negative, but it turns out it's an excellent spot for offshore wind turbines.

In Michigan's portion of the Great Lakes alone, there's the potential to generate an eye-popping 321,936 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind, according to a new study by the Land Policy Institute at Michigan State University.

Onshore or land-based wind, which has been the recent buzz in the Thumb area, has a mere 16,500 megawatts of potential by comparison, according to the report, compiled with 2008 data from AWS Truewind, a renewable energy consulting firm.

There may be an excess amount of lead in your drinking water.

The staff of Bay City's Water Treatment Plant recently collected samples from 69 residential sites throughout the city's connected water distribution system.

The tests found 14 of the samples - 20 percent - exceeded recommended levels of lead allowed under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper Rule.

John A. DeKam, water plant superintendent, says lead plumbing in homes, including faucets, are the main culprit, not the city's treated drinking water.

"There is not measurable lead in the drinking water, but the lead gets picked up in some customers' taps either from lead service lines or the lead that may be in their brass fixtures or their faucets," DeKam said.

Dan Staudacher | Times PhotoKim Muehlenbeck, an employee at Waste Management's Recycle America, 1957 Findley St. in Saginaw, displays a selection of old TVs the company will recycle.

On Feb. 17, 2009, your old TV may cease to work due to a government-mandated switch to digital broadcasting.

But you can give it a new life at Recycle America, an eCycling facility in Saginaw.

Sooner than that, on Oct. 18, you also can properly dispose of hazardous materials in your home, like those faded old bottles of chemicals in your shed or basement.

Local officials hope the two events will go a long way toward keeping old electronics and dangerous trash out of area landfills.

"It would be better for the Earth if you took it to us," said John Wolverton, site manager for Recycle America, a Waste Management facility located at 1951 Findley St. in Saginaw.

Waste Management has struck a deal with major electronics manufacturers and is now accepting old TVs and other electronics for recycling, regardless of if you're from Saginaw, Bay City or elsewhere.

Jeffrey LaMonde | Times PhotoPumford Construction, Inc. worker Carl Wroblewski installs some cabinet bracings in the new Department of Environmental Quality office at 1515 N. Johnson in Bay City.

$6 million building meets green standards with windmill, rain gardens and automatic faucets

A green building has risen quickly from a brownfield site in Bay City, and the state Department of Environmental Quality plans to start using the office in February.

The 25,000-square-foot brick building was built in about 10 weeks at 1515 N. Johnson St. by general contractor Pumford Construction of Saginaw.

While Wall Street is looking for a bailout, small harbors in Michigan are looking for a dig out.

Members of the Michigan Small Harbors Coalition met this week at the Doubletree hotel and conference center in downtown Bay City to discuss their own financial crisis: A lack of designated federal funding to improve decades-old infrastructure and clear silt from shallow harbors in the Great Lakes.

About 70 people attended, most from Michigan, adding a couple of signatures to a resolution now signed by 38 communities and four statewide organizations. The list includes Harrisville, East Tawas, Au Gres, Sebewaing, Caseville and Port Austin.

Cathy Layman | Times PhotoGarber High School biology student Melanie Rathjen holds the net as classmate Alexis Schatzer squeamishly approaches Rathjen's collection of slimy scrapings from the bottom of Tobico Lagoon.

Garber biology students head to state park for water ecology lesson

Tromping around the Great Lakes watershed and netting macroinvertebrates out of the Tobico Lagoon is not just for little kids.

The outdoor classroom - maybe one of the largest biology labs in the world - also caters to high school students.

Bay City commissioners on Monday voted 9-0 to enter into professional service agreements with AKT Peerless Environmental Services of Saginaw and Horizon Environmental Corp. of Detroit for environmental consulting services for a period of five years each.

The city recently was awarded a $200,000 cleanup grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to aid in the remediation of the Uptown at RiversEdge site. The money is to be used to prepare a cleanup plan for a designated area of the Uptown site, prepare cleanup specifications, organize contractor bids, fund actual cleanup, and document the remediation activities for the EPA and state Department of Environmental Quality.

Funding for environmental consultant services is included in the 2008-09 city budget, with a balance of $80,000 for riverfront redevelopment (environmental and engineering services) and $13,461 for Brownfield Redevelopment Authority environmental consulting services.

Jeffrey LaMonde | Times PhotoPumford Construction, Inc. worker Carl Wroblewski installs some cabinet bracings in the new Department of Environmental Quality office at 1515 N. Johnson in Bay City.

$6 million building meets green standards with windmill, rain gardens and automatic faucets

A green building has risen quickly from a brownfield site in Bay City, and the state Department of Environmental Quality plans to start using the office in February.

The 25,000-square-foot brick building was built in about 10 weeks at 1515 N. Johnson St. by general contractor Pumford Construction of Saginaw.