Search Results for: Line 5

Liz Kirkwood Reflects on the Importance of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement After 50 Years

April 14, 2022

Friday, April 15, marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement–a deep and lasting commitment between the two nations to restore and protect the greatest collection of fresh surface water on the planet. A key institution in the execution of the Agreement is the Great Lakes Water Quality Board, which advises the International Joint Commission. Liz Kirkwood, FLOW’s executive director, is a U.S. appointee to the 28-member binational board. Here are her thoughts on the Board’s role under the Agreement in protecting the lakes.

December Marks 50th Anniversary of Drinking Water Tunnel Disaster

December 28, 2021

Fifty years ago, on December 11, 1971, 22 workers died in a tragic explosion while completing a tunnel designed to bring Lake Huron drinking water to the Detroit metropolitan area. The anniversary of the disaster was marked by a ceremony earlier this month. “We are honoring the 22 men who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our clean drinking water and they need to be remembered,” said Joel Archibald, business manager for a labor union that organized the ceremony.

FLOW to Host Webinar on Managing High Water & High Tension along the Great Lakes Shoreline

June 10, 2021

The public is invited to join FLOW on Tuesday, June 29, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Eastern for a webinar—Managing High Water & High Tension along the Great Lakes Shoreline—that will provide frontline, scientific, regulatory, and legal insights into efforts at the state and local level to manage high waters and high tensions along Michigan’s Great Lakes shoreline.

My Memories on the 50th Anniversary of Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore

March 31, 2021

My first experience with Sleeping Bear Dunes was in the mid-1950s, when I was a teenager, accompanying my family on the Dunesmobile ride. I recall the ride in those convertible Oldsmobile 88s with the big, balloon tires so they didn’t get stuck in the soft sand. That sticks in my mind all these years later because a 1954 Oldsmobile 88 was the first car I ever owned, and I used primarily for my commute from home in Detroit to attend Wayne State University (WSU).

From Earth Day 1970 to Today: 50 Years of Lessons Learned and the Path Forward

December 28, 2020

Throughout 2020, FLOW has been remembering and reflecting on one of the most consequential years for the environment in America’s history. The 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day — the year in which the U.S. EPA was created, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was authorized, the Michigan Environmental Protection Act became law, and much more — made 1970 a year to remember.

Swine CAFO Threatens Environment, Public Health along Lake Michigan Shoreline

August 22, 2019

Public notice in a local newspaper in October 2017 announced a permit application for a mammoth swine factory near the Oceana/Muskegon County line along Lake Michigan. Called a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), this proposed pollution factory activated our resistance. Reviving Our American Democracy (ROAD) is a White Lake Area public interest group that has worked hard to stop this outrage ever since.

Déjà Vu: PFAS are Latest in Long Line of Failed Chemical Policies

August 14, 2019

The discovery of toxic per or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in many Michigan locations, the fear and concern these chemicals have stirred, and the difficulty posed to government officials and the public on how to respond feel familiar to those residents 50 and over. PFAS are just the latest symbols of failed chemical policy in a chain reaching back to World War II. That policy has caused disease and death, ruined landscapes and waters, and cost taxpayers scores of billions of dollars. And still politicians haven’t learned.

Walking the Water Line — a Legal Right, But Difficult as Great Lakes Levels Rise

June 3, 2019

Pack away those dreams of walking miles from bay to bay along the shores of Lake Michigan this summer—unless you want to get wet, that is—reports Linda Dewey for the Glen Arbor Sun. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the public’s right to walk the Great Lakes shoreline in February when it declined to hear an… line-a-legal-right-but-difficult-as-great-lakes-levels-rise/" title="ReadWalking the Water Line — a Legal Right, But Difficult as Great Lakes Levels Rise”>Read more »