News

Completed 165 years ago today, the Erie Extension Canal greatly improved travel and opened new markets for local products. Its brief existence also helped grow industrial centers like Erie and Meadville, and it played a major role in the development of Girard, Albion, Conneautville, and Conneaut Lake. More...

If you understand how much damage invasive species have inflicted on the Great Lakes, then a ballast water rule can't take effect soon enough. More...

Join the EPA on December 9, 2009 and December 16, 2009 in a public webinar about the Great Lakes Request for Proposals (RFP). Register for a session now by following one of the links on the dates listed above. More...

Representatives from the U.S. and Canadian federal governments, New York state, Ontario, Quebec and the International Joint Commission met Friday in Ottawa for the first time to discuss new water regulations for the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system, according to a press release. More...

For decades now, invasive species have been one of the biggest threats to the health and economy of the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes regions.But scientists and shippers are cautiously optimistic they're on the right track to keeping new invaders out of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes. More...

More than 20 percent of the nation's water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data. More...

As representatives from 192 countries began the world's most historic climate talks in Copenhagen yesterday, Lisa Jackson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, stole the show on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean when she declared greenhouse gases a threat to "the public health and welfare of the American people" at a news conference in Washington. More...

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox plans to file a federal lawsuit, possibly in the U.S. Supreme Court, as soon as the paperwork is done to try to shut down canal locks leading to Lake Michigan, through which Asian carp could escape into the Great Lakes. More...

Doug McCrae, former head naturalist at Presqu'ile Provincial Park, supports reducing deer numbers in the park but he doesn't believe cormorants are a problem. More...

Soil scientists say deca-BDE and two related fire retardants are considered toxic, persistent and bioaccumulative. Although the state Legislature has banned two other fire retardants, deca-BDE is still widely used and could degrade into toxic forms, under certain circumstances, studies show. More...

Wisconsin's quaking aspens are growing much faster than in the past, andscientists think that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphereprovide the explanation. More...

The federal government is speeding up plans to produce more renewable fuels,announcing Friday it will spend nearly $600 million to help build plantsthat turn wood chips, cornstalks and algae into fuel. More...

The latest edition of The Compass, the newsletter of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, is now available online. More...

Access photos, videos and updates on the rapid efforts against Asian carp in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. More...

The owner of 171 acres of Lake Michigan duneland dropped his asking price by $1 million Thursday, leaving a $1.1 million gap for those looking to buy the land for public preservation. More...

Top Michigan officials said Wednesday they may take legal action to try to close the Chicago shipping canal if other efforts to block the migration of Asian carp into Lake Michigan don't work. More...

A multi-million 15-acre expansion at New York's Port of Oswego on Lake Ontario could allow the facility to enhance its ability to engage in container shipment. More...

Bighead and silver carp in a Chicago canal are knocking on the back door of the Great Lakes, where it's feared they could cause massive environmental damage. Do we need more reasons to close that canal immediately? How about two other Asian carp species? More...

During its service on the Great Lakes, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mesquite regularly tended to the buoys that help watercraft avoid navigational hazards.But 20 years ago today, the 180-foot-vessel fell victim to one of those underwater hazards itself. More...

The city is a small step closer to establishing a fund to help in the public acquisition of wetlands, woodlots and other natural areas. More...

Support for wind power is widespread today, almost a patriotic imperative. Everyone says they're for it -- unless, of course, the wind turbine is in their neighborhood. The concerns are often legitimate, but we fear that letting a NIMBY ("not in my backyard") attitude determine our policies on siting wind turbines could strangle a clean, renewable energy source before it has a chance to develop. More...

The Board of Public Works agreed on Wednesday to apply for a $212,000 state grant to acquire the woodland located between Wisconsin Street and Pavese Park south of the Norfolk Southern Railroad track. More...

The city is a small step closer to establishing a fund to help in the public acquisition of wetlands, woodlots and other natural areas. More...

The U. S. Department of Energy plans to release a report in March as part of its inquiry into potential radiological contamination in Lewiston and Porter left over from the country's first nuclear weapons program, an agency representative said Wednesday night. More...

In the largest study of its kind, Dr. Roland Kays of the New York State Museum and two colleagues recently analyzed the genetic history of 686 coyotes in the Northeast, including several animals collected by hunters and trappers in Vermont. More...