Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
Image courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Editor’s note: During SepticSmart Week, which runs through Friday, FLOW is sharing updates on efforts to protect fresh water and public health from uncontrolled septic system waste, as part of an annual educational campaign that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a decade ago, with the State of… Read more »
Photo of the Au Sable River by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. In the Great Lakes State, we sometimes take water for granted. We turn on the tap and expect our drinking water to be safe. We wade or swim in a lake and assume it is clean. And we flush a toilet believing… Read more »
Feb. 2, 2023 Update: DNR will accept public comment on proposed Camp Grayling expansion through Feb. 8 The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced today it will continue to accept public comment through 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 8, on the National Guard’s proposed expansion of its Camp Grayling training facility to include 162,000 acres of DNR-managed… Read more »
Above: Hundreds of people attend a public comment session held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the oil pipeline tunnel proposed by Enbridge under the Straits of Mackinac, on Sept. 8, 2022, at Little Bear East Arena in St. Ignace, Michigan. Photos by Kelly Thayer. By Kelly Thayer, FLOW Deputy Director Five-and-half hours… Read more »
Editor’s note: The following are comments made by FLOW Deputy Director Kelly Thayer on September 8, 2022, in St. Ignace, Michigan, at a public meeting of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps). The Army Corps, Detroit District, held the session to help set the scope of its environmental impact statement (EIS) study of a… Read more »
The proposal last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to list two “forever chemicals” as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law could help spur cleanup actions in Michigan. The two chemicals, known as PFOS and PFOA, were two of the most widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and were used in firefighting… Read more »
Photo: Sea lamprey have a large oral disk filled with sharp, horn-shaped teeth that surround a toothed tongue. Many Great Lakes invasions of non-native species begin unnoticed—but not so with one of the most destructive invasions of all, the attack of the sea lamprey. The scourge of the Great Lakes fishery, the lamprey is believed to have appeared… Read more »
Editor’s note: The following is a press statement from Zach Welcker, Legal Director of FLOW (For Love of Water), the Great Lakes law and policy center based, in response to U.S. District Judge Janet Neff’s 13-page decision today to deny the motion to remand the case to state court in Nessel v. Enbridge, filed by Michigan… Read more »
When Michiganders want to point out where a specific location lies in the state, we often raise our hands and point at a spot somewhere on our palms. Indeed, our identity is tied up in nicknames like The Mitten State. But the legal boundaries of Michigan look nothing like a mitten or a hand. They… Read more »
Ten years to save the planet from climate change. PFAS, microplastics, and invasive species. Wetland destruction and failing, polluting septic systems. Sometimes it seems as though the only environmental news is bad news. Here’s an antidote, borne in a glass half-full. Great Lakes Piping Plover An endearing, small shorebird that nests on Great Lakes beaches,… Read more »
