Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for oil and gas in Michigan is the subject of scrutiny in the recent Integrated Assessment report series from the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute. The report confirms that the future development of tight shale formations appears to be massive and intensive in size and scope and will require unprecedented quantities… Read more »
As FLOW’s Communications Designer, I have been working in our Traverse City office since January, creating print and web content that gets the word out about FLOW’s policy programs that help protect the integrity of Great Lakes water with the vision of the commons. I have been given the great opportunity to work with our… Read more »
Read the full article in the Allegan County News here By Kayla Deneau, Staff Writer The Gun Plain Township board and the planning commission had a joint informational meeting Wednesday, July 17, to discuss horizontal hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, with residents. For the Love Of Water representatives were at the meeting to give… Read more »
Click here to view the press release as a PDF Fracking suspected cause of residential water well failure in Kalkaska County As Encana’s fracking operation continued in Rapid River Township, local residents losing water pressure. Water coming out of the tap looks like milk. For Immediate Release June 11, 2013 Kalkaska, Michigan Last week, fracking operations… Read more »
Click here to view and download the full press release PDF PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 23, 2013 FLOW Local Ordinance Program Brings Fracking Protection to Two Michigan Townships Michigan Communities Seek Regulation of Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Two Michigan Townships—Cannon Township and Gun Plain Charter Township—signed up… Read more »
Preface from Jim Olson Water in Michigan is recognized as a public resource or the “waters of the state.” Landowners or those leasing from them have a right to use water, but not unreasonably and it generally not by removing it permanently from watersheds. FLOW board member Ted Curran rightly calls on the state to… Read more »
Today the threats facing the Great Lakes and its tributary waters, communities, businesses, governments loom large. If we can understand these threats as a whole, that is holistically, through science, data, values, and new frameworks, we may find a unifying principle that integrates the science, policy, law and economics into a comprehensive way of thinking and making decisions that will assure solutions, adaptation, and resilience that protect and pass on the integrity of these Great Lakes and their people from one generation to the next, thereby also assuring our quality of life and prosperity and communities.
by Jim Nies, FLOW’s Wisconsin Coordinator Of all the problems facing the Great Lakes, loss of water is perhaps the most serious. The water is not, as many believe, a renewable resource; rather it is a gift of the glaciers, with only one percent replaced annually. The water levels on Lakes Ontario and Erie, while… Read more »
To understand how the Public Trust works and how it can solve the threats and abuses to the waters of the Great Lakes Basin, citizens and leaders will need to see and understand water as a shared public resource or “commons.” Public Trust Principles are as important as other constitutional rights including free speech, assembly,… Read more »
What Is the Public Trust? Think of public parks, beaches, the waters and submerged lands beneath them, the fish, and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Who owns these public spaces and resources? The short answer is that you do, meaning you, the public. This concept of public spaces and resources like water being owned and shared… Read more »
