Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
Support the Great Lakes! By: Lynn FrazeFLOW supporter Growing up I never thought of water as a controversial issue. My grandparents (born in the 1890s) built a log cabin on Pickerel Lake in Northern Michigan a few years before I was born. My fondest memories were summers spent Up North swimming, fishing and exploring the… Read more »
Now that major party candidates for Vice President are designated, it’s an appropriate time to check their records on two environmental concerns vital to Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Climate Change Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, as Governor of Minnesota, has called for strong federal action to abate and prepare for the effects… Read more »
“I am used to farm smells. I am a farmer myself. Manure spread, and even the turkey CAFO a mile away, were unpleasant but familiar smells that our community has lived with. The digestate was nothing like these. I could only liken it to having my head in a full port-a-potty. I am over a… Read more »
In her job caring for hogs in a Missouri livestock confinement holding thousands of animals, Angela Smith spent her days walking grates above huge cesspits full of pig urine and feces. Her eyes watered. Her throat burned. There were no regulations to protect her, no agency to complain to. Within a year, she had a permanent cough that followed her home. “I was coughing so hard, I would throw up,” she told food and farm safety publication Civil Eats, which didn’t use her real name, to protect her from retaliation. After two years, Angela’s health gave out and she had to quit. Her former employer refused to comment.
Water pollution made international headlines this week when the swimming leg of the Paris Olympic men’s triathlon was postponed a day because of high E. Coli counts in the River Seine. Later in the week, Belgium withdrew its team from the mixed relay triathlon, and Switzerland had to change its roster after two athletes became… Read more »
With the Michigan Legislature’s summer break almost over, and less than 100 days until the election, the focus of legislators on both sides of the aisle will shift to their hometown districts. The outcome of the November polls – where Democrats will strive to maintain their majority in the House and Senate, and Republicans will… Read more »
In the summer of 2014, residents of Toledo, Ohio awoke to the news that they should avoid drinking the water that came out of their tap. On August 2, 2014, government officials warned against drinking, cooking, or brushing teeth with the algae-trainted water supplies. In total, the “do not drink” advisory was given to over… Read more »
July 31, 2024: Michigan Supreme Court affirms EGLE’s authority to issue General Permit with stronger conditions for factory farms Traverse City, Mich.— FLOW applauds the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision yesterday, rejecting the Court of Appeals’ dangerously flawed ruling in Michigan Farm Bureau v. Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Unsatisfied with permit terms… Read more »
More and more, communities outside of the Great Lakes watershed basin are looking for ways to tap into Great Lakes water, despite the Great Lakes Compact agreement ban on most out-of-basin water diversions. The latest example is the City of South Barrington, Illinois, which announced recently it is paying $154,000 to a consultant to prepare… Read more »
In an effort to promote government efficiency and cut red tape, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order on July 16, 2024, sunsetting two burdensome environmental commissions – the Environmental Permit Review Commission (EPRC) and the Environmental Rules Review Committee (ERRC) – established under the Republican Synder Administration. Legislative efforts already were in the works… Read more »
