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by Ken Kolker | Source: Grand Rapids Press

[Michigan] Governor Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday will sign new Great Lakes protection legislation on a beach in the hometown of Republican Sen. Patricia Birkholz.

Birkholz, who played a key role in the legislation, will appear with Granholm at the signing at Saugatuck’s Oval Beach, along with state Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, who pushed the compact in the House. The signing was scheduled at 10:15 a.m.

Read the full story at the Grand Rapids Press >>

Source: Chesterton Tribune

The Indiana Port Commission now has a new name: The Ports of Indiana.

While “Ports of Indiana” has been the marketing identity of the organization for years, legislation making it the legal name of the entity has only just taken effect, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

“This name change is very important to our organization for many reasons,” the statement said. “First, the name ‘Ports of Indiana’ identifies us as one organization operating multiple ports. Second, it is much more consistent with industry standards…”

Read the specifics at the Chesterton Tribune >>

Source: Toledo Blade

COLUMBUS - After three years of rough seas, a landmark agreement binding eight states in their protection of Great Lakes waters sailed through the Ohio Senate and House yesterday on its way to Gov. Ted Strickland’s signature.

“This has been a long road, but well worth the effort,” said Mike Eckhardt, policy director of the Ohio League of Conservation. “Ohio has finally joined with the other Great Lakes States and is committed to protecting Lake Erie.”

Ohio is the seventh state whose legislatures have voted to ratify the landmark agreement designed, in cooperation with the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, to dramatically reduce the chances that the lakes’ water could be diverted in the future to thirstier regions of the nation or globe.

“If people want our water, they are more than welcome to bring their jobs and families here to Ohio. Only then will we be happy to share our water,” said Sen. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills).

Read the full story at the Toledo Blade >>

John Myers | Source: Duluth News Tribune

Legislation in the U.S. House would sell 6,700 acres in the Superior National Forest to the Polymet copper company without an environmental assessment or public input.

The federal land is precisely where the company hopes to mine for copper, nickel, platinum and palladium as early as next year.

… Jim Sanders, supervisor of the Superior National Forest, said the Forest Service purchased the land from U.S. Steel in the 1930s but has never owned the mineral rights below the surface. Polymet controls those mineral rights.

Polymet officials say they had been moving ahead with mining plans, assuming their mineral rights “superseded” surface ownership, Latisha Gietzen, Polymet vice president of public, environmental and government affairs, said.

… Because the 6,700 acres is surrounded by mining-related activities — a railroad to the south and an active taconite mine to the north — Sanders said it makes sense to sell the land and use the proceeds to buy other, more environmentally sensitive land closer to the heart of the forest.

… Polymet would be Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine. But Polymet is only one of several companies eyeing rich deposits of copper, nickel, platinum and palladium under northern Minnesota forests and lakes. The interest is being sparked by record-breaking prices for those minerals and new technology that make it easier to separate copper from other rock.

Polymet is the farthest along toward developing those minerals and has purchased land, processing equipment and buildings from the former LTV Mining site near Hoyt Lakes. The company’s proposed open pit mine on federal property is several miles away toward Babbitt and would be connected by railroad to the processing plant.

GLSW Ed. Note: The rail line at the south of the LTV site is an active line to Two Harbors, where docks load and take delivery of dry bulk goods by freighter.

Read the full story at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Northeast Ohio members of the Ohio House, all Democrats, voted against putting a constitutional amendment regarding property rights on the November election ballot. The vote derailed a deal in which the Senate would have approved the Great Lakes Compact.

Read the full story at the Plain Dealer >>

Source: Superior Daily Telegram

Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to sign legislation Tuesday to strengthen protection for the Great Lakes.

Doyle plans to act on the bill during a ceremony on the Green Bay waterfront, according to a news release issued by his office this morning. A coalition of lawmakers, environmental groups and local officials join him as he signs legislation designed to protect and preserve the Great Lakes.

Full story at the Daily Telegram >>

By TODD RICHMOND | Source: Superior Daily Telegram

MADISON — Wisconsin lawmakers finally ratified an interstate treaty Wednesday that is designed to block arid states from getting access to Great Lakes water.

The Great Lakes Compact now goes to Gov. Jim Doyle, who is expected to sign it, making Wisconsin the fifth Great Lakes state to approve the treaty.

Read the full story, including concessions and concerns, at the Superior Daily Telegram >>

Source: Senator Levin

“Mr. President, today my colleagues from the Great Lakes and I are introducing the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2008 in order to reauthorize the Great Lakes Legacy Act. The Legacy program has been a program that has delivered real results in the Great Lakes and has broad support.

The purposes of the Legacy program are to cleanup and restore Areas of Concern. For those of you who live outside the Great Lakes region, Areas of Concern are sites in the Great Lakes that do not meet the water quality goals established by the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The primary reason that these areas fail to meet water quality goals is the result of contaminated sediments–a result of the industrialization of the mid-west.

The existing Legacy program has funded several projects throughout the region to remove contaminated sediments. In fact, almost 800,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments have been removed since the program was created in 2002. Let me stress that this program has very real, on-the-ground results. This is material that has been safely removed from riverbeds so that it no longer poses a threat to human health or the wildlife. Read the rest of this entry »

By Tom Elko | Source: Twin Cities Daily Planet

Ballast water — the water that large ships take on to stabilize themselves when they’re running without cargo aboard — is a hot topic in Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., these days.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy recently won a court ruling forcing the Minnesota Pollution Control Authority (MPCA) to take immediate action to prevent the spread of VHS. The MPCA was already in the process of developing a ballast water control policy but encountered resistance from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which advocates for federally standardized regulations.

More to the story, interesting quotes at the Twin Cities Daily Planet >>

Shelley Nelson | Source: Superior Daily Telegram

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle plans to make what his office called a “major announcement” regarding the Great Lakes Compact that has stalled in the Legislature under Republican opposition.

Doyle scheduled a news conference this afternoon in New Berlin along with several mayors from the area, state lawmakers and others to address the compact, which would regulate the transit of Great Lakes water to cities inside and outside of this region, along with industrial users.

Doyle has urged the Legislature to approve the compact, but Assembly Republicans have blocked it. They are concerned about a provision that allows any Great Lakes governor to block any request to pull water from any of the lakes.

There also has been concern locally, where a larger Murphy Oil refinery may need considerably more water than the existing plant. That concern was addressed in the final bill passed by the Wisconsin Senate. Dave Podratz, refinery manager for Murphy Oil, praised the senate’s final bill.

The governor is expected to call a special session of the Legislature to consider the compact, said Shauna Cook, communications creative director with Clean Wisconsin.

Much more to the story at the Superior Daily Telegram >>

Michael Scott | Source: Plain Dealer

The future of the Great Lakes may be decided in Ohio and Wisconsin.

As lawmakers in those two states debate details of an interstate compact aimed at protecting their waters from being drained away by diversion or wasted away by misuse, the measure is moving swiftly through six other Great Lakes states.

And some supporters of the document — officially titled “The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact” — are worried that Ohio and Wisconsin are treading water too long.

Much more to the story at the Cleveland Plain Dealer >>

By TOM MEERSMAN | Source: Star Tribune

Fearful of a deadly fish disease and other invasive pests, Minnesota lawmakers and state pollution officials are trying to force ships to stop dumping untreated ballast water in Lake Superior. Although a bill in the Legislature has come under heavy opposition, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is moving forward with its plans to begin to regulate shipowners.

Full story, diagram at the Minneapolis Star Tribune >>