On April 16, 2024, FLOW released its report, A Watershed Moment: The Great Lakes Compact After 15 Years. The report offers a history of the agreement, analysis of its achievements and gaps, and recommendations to strengthen its protections. Download the Report (PDF) On December 8, 2008, after 10 years of talks and negotiations among the… Read more »
A resource invisible most of the time to Michigan residents may be coveted more and more by other regions of the U.S. It’s called groundwater. Found underground in cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock, groundwater is vital to human health and the environment. And while Michigan has an abundance of groundwater, significant regions… Read more »
Guest authors: Kim Ferraro and Kacey Cook, attorneys at the Conservation Law Center In the 2018 Gunderson case, the Indiana Supreme Court held that Indiana’s Lake Michigan beaches are, and always have been, held in trust by the State as public trust resources, with State ownership extending from the natural ordinary high water mark (where… shoreline/" title="ReadDefending Public Trust Rights to Enjoy Indiana’s Lake Michigan Shoreline“>Read more »
Feb. 2, 2023 Update: DNR will accept public comment on proposed Camp Grayling expansion through 5 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2023 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… Deadline for Public to Comment on Proposed Camp Grayling Expansion”>Read more »
Bass Lake in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Photo/Kelly Thayer) Editor’s note—See FLOW’s additional coverage of the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement here: Clean Water: It’s About Holding Officials Accountable — October 18, 2022 The State of Water Quality in Michigan — October 13, 2022 Where Do We Stand on the… Read more »
Fresh water and aquatic plant life shine on October 2, 2022, in southeastern Grand Traverse County, Mich. (Photo/Kelly Thayer) When Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969—the same year Michigan’s Rouge River blazed because of waste oil—America had had enough of worsening water pollution. Public opinion strongly favored tougher laws and enforcement to protect water…. 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… pipeline-tunnel-under-great-lakes/" title="ReadHundreds Attend Army Corps Hearing, Strong Majority Speaks Out against Proposed Oil Pipeline Tunnel under the Great Lakes”>Read more »
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.
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.
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.
