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Brian Sharp | Source: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Money is on the way for repairs to the pier adjacent Ontario Beach Park, and for dredging of the silt-filled river channel at the Port of Rochester.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, announced today that $1.6 million in federal funds had been secured for the U.S. Corps of Engineers to do the work. Most of the money will go toward dredging.

The Corps last dredged the channel in 2004. A recent survey found the water depths had decreased as much as 3 feet in the past year. Shallow waters caused the Stephen B. Roman, a cement boat and the only freighter still in operation on the river, to run aground in March.

Meanwhile, concrete spalling and broken cables along the pier had raised concern from Mayor Robert Duffy and others in recent months. Up to $75,000 will be directed toward repairs, according to a spokesman in Slaughter’s office.

By ANGELA MULLINS | Source: Times Herald

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock may miss Port Huron’s Coast Guard Days festival in August.

The ship, commissioned in 2004, is expected to go into emergency dry dock in the next few weeks to have a propeller hub replaced. The ship’s crew has been trying since March to determine what has been causing the propeller to periodically leak oil.

Several times in the past five months divers have examined the propeller and have thought each time the problem was fixed, said the ship’s Lt. Cmdr. Mike Davanzo.

Officials decided July 18 the propeller should be replaced and the Hollyhock would remain in port until the problem is resolved, which caused it to miss the Saturday start of the Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Dowagiac News

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), a member of the Great Lakes Caucus, applauded today’s House passage of legislation that condemns the recent state of Indiana decision to allow British Petroleum (BP) to increase the amount of contaminants dumped in Lake Michigan.

House Congressional Resolution 187 expresses the sense of Congress’ disapproval “of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s issuance of a permit allowing BP to increase their daily dumping of ammonia and total suspended solids into Lake Michigan” and states that “the United States Environmental Protection Agency should not allow increased dumping of chemicals and pollutants into the Great Lakes.”

The bipartisan measure overwhelmingly passed the House by a vote of 387 to 26. Read the rest of this entry »

By JOHN PEPIN | Source: The Mining Journal

MARQUETTE — The U.S. House’s recently approved 2008 Energy and Water appropriations bill includes funding for several projects in the region.

Among the allocations and projects included in the House bill are:

• $22 million for the continued maintenance and operation of the Soo Locks. Read the rest of this entry »

By Rick Forgione | Source: Niagara Gazette

About 50 people attended an informational meeting Wednesday to learn about the business practices of LaFarge quarry in The Town of Niagara.

However, at least one person in attendance left with the feeling she’s heard it all before.

“It was the same repetitive public relations ‘BS,’ ” said Sharon Ruth, a resident of Tuscarora Village located next to the quarry. “I think LaFarge is under pressure and are doing damage control.”

For the past several months, Ruth and her neighbors have complained effects from the blasts have damaged their manufactured homes and presented health hazards. After a series of discussions and environmental testing, the quarry was ordered by the town in June to cease and desist the rock blastings. Read the rest of this entry »

John Flesher | Source: Lansing State Journal

MARQUETTE - As the research boat bobs up and down on Lake Superior, Michigan Tech University chemist Noel Urban and two students drop a metal cylinder over the side to retrieve a water sample from the bottom.

They are measuring carbon dioxide content, an important piece of a complex puzzle.

“It helps us develop a model that can say what’s going to happen as the lake warms up,” Urban says.

Something seems amiss with mighty Superior, the deepest and coldest of the Great Lakes. Read the rest of this entry »

In 1974, then-judge Miles Lord issued an environmental ruling that reverberated through the Iron Range taconite industry. Thirty-three years later, he’s still fighting to protect its workers — and the health of all Minnesotans.

BY DENNIS LIEN, Pioneer Press | Source: TwinCities.com

His hair, combed straight back, is whiter and sparser now, and the creases in his face are more pronounced.

But Miles Lord hasn’t lost any of his old fire.

At 87, he’s still going after Minnesota’s steel and taconite industry, just as he did 33 years ago when, as a federal judge, he issued a landmark environmental ruling against the old Reserve Mining Co.

For the better part of a decade, he has pressed authorities about taconite-related health problems and cancer deaths on the Mesabi Iron Range. In telephone calls to reporters, in testimony and talks with state agencies and officials and even in a letter to Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislators, he’s found plenty to fault. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Business Wire

CLEVELAND–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) today reported second-quarter and six-month results for the periods ended June 30, 2007.

Second-quarter revenues from iron ore product sales and services were a record $547.6 million, an increase of 13 percent, compared with $486.2 million in the same quarter last year. The increase was driven by higher sales volumes in both North America and Asia-Pacific, combined with higher sales price realizations in Asia-Pacific.

Operating income for the second quarter decreased to $115.9 million from $116.4 million in the 2006 second quarter. Operating income was lower compared with last year primarily as a result of additional expenses to support current and future growth, partially offset by a casualty recovery.

Second-quarter net income was $86.9 million, or $1.66 per diluted share, compared with $83.1 million, or $1.53 per diluted share, last year. The increase in net income primarily reflects lower income taxes due to a larger income contribution from North American operations, which benefit from lower tax rates when compared to Asia-Pacific operations.

Full article, data and charts at Business Wire >>

Source: Grand Haven Tribune

The U.S. Coast Guard cutters Mackinaw and Neah Bay will make their official entrance for the 2007 Coast Guard Festival on Monday at 1 p.m., Coast Guard officials said.

The ships are expected to be docked along Escanaba Park near Coast Guard Station Grand Haven for one week. Public tours will begin Monday evening. Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Hawthorne | Source: Chicago Tribune

Full story and video at Chicago Tribune >>

Although the federal government ordered states more than a decade ago to dramatically limit mercury discharges into the Great Lakes, the BP refinery in northwest Indiana will be allowed to continue pouring small amounts of the toxic metal into Lake Michigan for at least another five years.

A little-noticed exemption in BP’s controversial new state water permit gives the oil company until 2012 to meet strict federal limits on mercury discharges. In documents, Indiana regulators predict the refinery won’t be able to comply and will ask to continue polluting after that date.

Federal records analyzed by the Tribune show BP puts 2 pounds of mercury into the lake every year from its sprawling plant 3 miles southeast of Chicago in Whiting, Ind. That amount is small compared with the mercury that falls into the water from air pollution, but mercury builds up in the environment and is so toxic that even tiny drops can threaten fish and people.

Full story and video at Chicago Tribune >>

Source: Indiana Law Blog

Features links and quotes from various articles covering different aspects of the BP-Lake Michigan story.  Visit here.

By ALI SEITZ | Source: Toledo Blade

The U.S. Brig Niagara, also known as the Tall Ship Niagara, will sail up the Maumee River this afternoon.

The Niagara honors the ship that won control of Lake Erie for the United States, eventually enabling Gen. William Henry Harrison to invade Canada and end the War of 1812 in the northwest.

Upon her entry into the city of Toledo, the ship will exchange gun salutes with a cannon from Fort Meigs, and then moor at International Park for the weekend.

The Niagara’s current square-rigged, two-masted incarnation closely mimics the 1813 warship. Read the rest of this entry »

By TOM JACKSON | Source: Sandusky Register

State and federal officials say they are declaring war on alien species invading the Great Lakes.

Invasive species such as the mussels that clog up the water intake lines for Sandusky and other Lake Erie cities are “terrorists from abroad that have entered our lake,” declared U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. Voinovich was one of the officials who spoke at a Monday morning press conference about a new two-front effort to deal with creatures that don’t belong in Lake Erie, but arrive here in ballast water.

Ohio’s federal lawmakers, such as Voinovich and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have authored federal legislation to regulate ballast water in ocean-going ships on the Great Lakes, preventing them from dumping unpleasant creatures such as zebra mussels into U.S. waters. Read the rest of this entry »

By Paul Wilson | Source: Columbus Dispatch

Full story, photos and chart at The Columbus Dispatch >>

The Ohio steel industry received its most hopeful news in years last week when a Russian steel company said it might build a plant in the state.

But the news also revealed an underlying story that’s gone mostly unnoticed: The Ohio steel industry has left its worst days behind.

The industry — after years of being flat rolled by layoffs, closings and bankruptcies — has settled into a period of solid economic health and improved production, albeit with fewer workers, experts said.

“We got to 37,000 feet and we’re … cruising,” said Lee Keevican, managing director of Renaissance Partners, an investment-banking firm that works with steel companies. “Absent a real dramatic downturn, I think (things will) likely be steady.” Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — Some divers view shipwrecks merely as interesting attractions, something to see and — sometimes — plunder.

The interests of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society divers go deeper. Since 1996, the society has worked quietly to discover, document, protect and restore the region’s shipwrecks.

“Everything I can say about them is good,” said Scott Anfinson, Minnesota state archaeologist and co-author of “Beneath Minnesota Waters: Minnesota’s Submerged Cultural Resources Preservation Plan,” of the society’s members.

“In some ways, they have done a better job than the historians and archaeologists and agencies in preserving shipwrecks in Lake Superior. They should get a lot of credit for that.”

In a way, they are. The society is awaiting the final signatures on a $12,895 grant to help it document two wrecks near Duluth — the Mayflower and the recently discovered Robert Wallace. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Business First of Columbus (OH)

Weaker demand and higher costs reduced steel production and shipments in Ohio in the first quarter, but 2006 proved to be a better year than 2005 for the industry.

The Ohio Steel Industry Advisory Council released the state’s first quarter and year-end results Tuesday.

Production totaled 3.4 million tons for first quarter of 2007, a 10.9 percent drop compared with 3.8 million tons produced in first quarter of 2006. Shipments in the same period declined 11.6 percent to 3.7 million tons from 4.1 million tons. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: CNNMoney.com

 United States Steel Corporation reported second quarter 2007 net income of $302 million, or $2.54 per diluted share, compared to first quarter 2007 net income of $273 million, or $2.30 per diluted share, and second quarter 2006 net income of $404 million, or $3.22 per diluted share.

Commenting on results, U. S. Steel Chairman and CEO John P. Surma said, “We had another good quarter with record results for U. S. Steel Europe (USSE). During the quarter, we completed the $2 billion acquisition of Lone Star Technologies (Lone Star) and we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made to date in integrating our new facilities and employees into U. S. Steel. Also during the quarter, we issued $1.1 billion of senior notes, expanded our credit facilities and retired $378 million of 9.75% senior notes that were due in 2010.”

Read full story at CNNMoney.com >>

Source: The Mining Journal

The Michigan Iron Industry Museum will present the living history event “Discoverers and Surveyors” from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in observance of the role played by pioneer surveyors in opening the state’s three iron districts. Activities will include a mid-19th century surveyors’ encampment, costumed interpreters and demonstrations of original surveying equipment and camp life.

In 1844, a party of U.S. government land surveyors led by William Austin Burt discovered iron ore deposits near present-day Negaunee on the Marquette Iron Range after observing the magnetic needle of their compass fluctuating wildly.

Surveyors like Burt and his companions also helped open the Menominee and Gogebic Iron Ranges. Today, Michigan’s iron industry still produces more than 20 percent of America’s iron ore supply. Read the rest of this entry »

Editorial, Daily Southtown (IN)

The issue: Indiana officials have given the BP oil refinery in Whiting permission to increase the amount of ammonia and sludge it dumps into Lake Michigan.

WE SAY: The quality of Lake Michigan water is crucial to the region and should not be allowed to decline in favor of a larger oil refinery. If BP officials won’t withdraw the plan, Congressmen from Illinois and neighboring states need to move to block it.

An Indiana agency’s decision to let BP, the oil company, increase the levels of waste it dumps into Lake Michigan has environmentalists protesting, Mayor Richard Daley making impassioned anti-pollution speeches and congressmen from Illinois and Michigan calling for congressional rejection of the plan.

And rightly so. Lake Michigan is the main source of drinking water for more than 30 million people in Chicago and surrounding communities. The request for permission to dump more pollutants into the lake comes in a summer when Chicago beaches have been ordered closed repeatedly because of pollution and health concerns. Read the rest of this entry »

Ajoy K Das | Source: DNAINDIA.com

KOLKATA: Brakes have been put on rate of growth in global steel production as producers led by ArcelorMittal streamlines production aiming to strengthen the priceline.

At the same time, weakening of demand in North America and rising exports by China are dampening sentiment, but in India demand is outstripping production offering domestic steel companies a window to hike prices, before end of second quarter of 2007-08.

June figures of world steel production show that steel production grew by 5.7%, though this is higher on a year-on-year basis, it has fallen sharply from the 7% rate of growth  in January-February this year.

Analysts said that Arcelor Mittal has lowered production at several of its European mills to ease flow of metal in EU and add muscle to the priceline.

It is believed that other companies to may soon lend a helping hand, like Nippon Steel, the second largest producer with whom, ArcelorMittal has struck up an alliance for specific markets.

But against the backdrop of a 11% fall in demand in North America, production cuts have just been able to slowdown growth rates and not reverse it completely.

Read full article at DNAINDIA.com >>