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Source: Sandusky Register

… new research on the effects of global warming on Lake Erie, to be discussed in a paper being prepared for submission to the Journal of Great Lakes Research, suggests that Lake Erie’s water level could fall as much as 1.2 feet by 2050.

That has important implications on the area’s economy, because it would hurt Great Lakes shipping, Wuebbles said.

“One inch could cause a very huge impact,” he said.

Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers Association in Cleveland, said he is not an expert on global warming, but his organization has calculated the effect of shallower water, whether it’s caused by global warming, lack of dredging or another reason.

When one of the 1,000-foot vessels with U.S. flags in the Lake Carriers Association lose one inch of water, it means the ship can carry 8,000 tons less cargo, Weakley said. That’s enough coal to provide three hours of electricity for Greater Detroit. That one-inch loss means the U.S.-flagged Great Lakes fleet — 63 ships total, including the 13 1,000-footers — would carry 400,000 fewer tons a year.

One “laker,” as the freighters are called, can carry as much cargo as 2,800 trucks, Weakley’s group says.

Full story on many levels of impact, lively comments at the Sandusky Register >>

Web: Great Lakes Cruise Co. website

Susan Glaser | Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Two small, high-end cruise ships - one new, the other newly refurbished - will make their debut next summer on the fresh-water waves of lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior.

“It’ll be a great summer,” said Chris Conlin, owner of the Great Lakes Cruise Co., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based travel agency that specializes in Great Lakes cruises. “We have lots of choices that we haven’t had before.”

The Clelia II, an all-suite ship with room for 100 passengers, will sail seven-day itineraries between Toronto and Duluth, Minn., starting in late June. Ports of call include Niagara Falls, Ontario (via the Welland Canal); Mackinac Island, Mich.; Houghton, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. All sailings will offer educational themes,

Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Dredging News Online

The Lake Carriers’ Association in the US says shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 4.2 million net tons in July, a decrease of 4.8 per cent compared to a year ago, and a drop of nearly 9 per cent compared to the month’s five-year average.

“Although water levels are rising, not all ports are benefiting to the same degree,” said the Association. Read the rest of this entry »

Sharon Hill | Source: The Windsor Star

Lakes St. Clair, Huron and Superior are at their highest levels in the last four years.

“They’re all up,” Ralph Moulton, manager of the water level information office at Environment Canada, said Tuesday.

Lake Superior, which affects the levels of the other Great Lakes and had dropped to record lows a year ago, is 41 cm higher than it was last year at this time, Moulton said.

Lake Huron is 23 cm higher and Lake Ontario is 31 cm higher than a year ago.

… David Cree, president of the Windsor Port Authority, said he’s hoping lake levels will keep rising.

“The higher water levels this year are good news for everybody in the industry,” Cree said. “If the trend of the last four to five years had continued … it would have been a real issue this year and next year. We’re hoping now that’s bottomed out and we’re on an upward trend in lake levels.”

The same amount of cargo goes through the Windsor port but during times of low lake levels it takes more ships to move goods on the lakes because the ships have to carry less.

Read the full story, with more stats & quotes at the Windsor Star >>

by Bill Bradley | Source: NorthernLife.ca

Climate change and water levels in Lake Huron are being discussed at a number of public meetings around Georgian Bay, starting next Saturday in Little Current.

The meetings are being held by the International Upper Great Lakes Study (IUGLS) in communities all around the Georgian Bay region of Lake Huron from August 9 to 12.

Closest to Greater Sudbury is the meeting being held at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall on Vankoughnet Street East in Little Current on Saturday, August 9 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

On the same day will be a meeting at the Stockey Centre, 2 Bay Street in Parry Sound from 3 to 5 p.m.

Read the full story at NorthernLife.ca >>

Source: Lake Carriers’ Association

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes from US and Canadian ports totalled 4.4 million net tons in June, a small increase - of just 11,558 tons, which represents one load of cargo in a 600ft long vessel.

The Lake Carriers’ Association said the dredging crisis in the Great Lakes continued to have an impact on the trade.

A large tug/barge unit that has carried more than 35,000 tons of limestone in a trip twice saw its load fall below 30,000 tons in June. The vessel’s top load in June was only 34,036 tons.

For the year, the Lakes limestone trade stands at 11.8 million net tons, a decrease of 4.2 per cent compared to the same point in 2007.

Shipments are more than 10 per cent behind the five-year average for the first half of the year.

Source: Duluth News Tribune

Shipments of taconite rose as limestone shipments fell on the Great Lakes in May, according to reports issued by the Lake Carriers Association today.

U.S. vessels delivered 7.3 million tons of taconite pellets in May — 15.4 percent more than they did during the same month last year and 16.4 percent more than the five-year average.

Higher water levels helped, with some lakers able to carry about 1,200 tons more per trip than last year.

Yet the Lake Carriers Association continues its call for increased dredging, saying that if shipping channels were restored to their prescribed depths, some of the larger lakers could carry another 5,000 to 6,000 tons of taconite each trip. Read the rest of this entry »

By John Torinus | Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Not only do many business people believe that climate change will increasingly damage the environment and economy, they are acting more quickly on solutions than their counterparts in the public sector.

… temperatures have risen 1 degree centigrade over the last 100 years, and that they will rise another 2 to 4 degrees by 2100, depending on our behaviors. That would give Wisconsin a climate akin to what Missouri has today. The state would lose its northern boreal forests. It would lose its trout and pike that like cold water. Our lake levels would drop by 1½ to 4 feet by the end of the century.

Trustee Bob Taylor, retired CEO of Erie Manufacturing Co. in Milwaukee, observed that business executives see no downside to taking action to slow emissions that create greenhouse gases. If the scientists are right, reduction efforts will keep the increase to 2 degrees instead of 4. If the scientists are wrong, no harm is done by cutting emissions.

The combination of climate change and the range of challenges facing the Great Lakes has drawn the Nature Conservancy to a dramatic shift in its strategy. For most of its history since it was founded in 1951, the organization concentrated on land and water protection. It has used science-based methods and non-confrontational tactics to become the biggest conservation organization in the world.

But now its leaders have decided that saving habitat for a diverse range of species can’t be done without addressing climate change and large system planning. So it is mounting a 10-year campaign to make a difference on a global scale.

Fortunately, one of its target projects is the Great Lakes basin. The Nature Conservancy already is working on pilot projects for Green Bay and Lake Ontario, where it plays the role of catalyst, pulling together all the organizations doing work to analyze, understand and take action on issues such as lake levels, water quality, invasive species and even the patterns of migratory birds that use the basin.

The deep concern about the future of the Great Lakes, exaggerated by the effects of climate change, will have more ramifications for the Milwaukee region than many others. The Milwaukee 7 region has laid out some ambitious goals to become the center of freshwater sciences, including a new college and doctorate program in that arena at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Read the full story at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel >>

by Jeff Alexander | Source: Kalamazoo Gazette

MUSKEGON — Tread lightly when tinkering with Great Lakes water levels.

That was the overriding message delivered to government officials who visited Muskegon Saturday to gather public input on a massive Great Lakes water levels study.

“I’ve lived on Lake Michigan for a long time, and I’ve seen lake levels go up and go down,” said Bob Wygant of North Muskegon. “If you want my advice, leave things alone and let nature take care of it.”

Many more quotes, statistics at the Kalamazoo Gazette >>

By Nick Freimuth | Source: Door County Daily News

In particular, Wisconsin Congressman Steve Kagen looks forward to working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address the adverse economic impact caused by declining water levels in the federal channel on which Washington Island depends. Lake Michigan water levels are declining, and the current channel depths surrounding Washington Island have become nearly impassable.

The people living on this island are now engaged in dredging areas outside the federal channel in order to import all of their food and medical supplies.

Water levels and the Washington Island channel were also discussed at length when Congressman Kagen invited the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment to Green Bay for a field hearing on April 18, 2008.

More to the story, audio at the Door County Daily News >>

Source: Tar Sands Watch

“The problem is there are new threats coming down the line and we have all these ongoing issues that we haven’t dealt with,” said Tim Morris, national water campaigner for the Sierra Club of Canada, an environmental organization.

In Quebec, blue-green algae plagues lakes. St. Lawrence water levels were so low this fall that water had to be pumped in from Lake Ontario.

… Upstream, the Great Lakes Basin, the planet’s largest continuous body of fresh water, is surrounded by a huge population: 40 million people — one in three Canadians, one in 10 Americans. The lakes face growing demand from industry, power plants, farms and urban sprawl. Water levels are at historic lows in some Great Lakes.

… “Some experts say a temperature increase of two to four per cent could lower the average flow from Lake Ontario by 24 per cent,” because of higher rates of evaporation and drier soils reducing runoff, Environment Canada says. A decrease of that magnitude in Lake Ontario, the major source for the St. Lawrence, “could result in a one-metre drop in water levels in some areas of the” river.

Unusually low water levels — which can impair navigation, stimulate growth of noxious weeds and kill fish — would require more dredging of waterways, in turn harming organisms and spread contaminants.

In total, fresh water is estimated to contribute up to $23 billion annually to the Canadian economy, Environment Canada says.

Much, much, much more to this outstanding article at Tar Sands Watch >>

By LEE BERGQUIST | Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

In addition to Lakes Michigan and Huron, Lake Superior is predicted to be 8 to 11 inches below its long-term average though September, said John Allis, chief of watershed hydrology for the Corps of Engineers office in Detroit.

Even though Milwaukee had heavy snowfall, as did the Detroit area, Allis said other regions in the watershed received only average snowfall.

“We have had dry conditions over many years,” Allis said. “We still have a long way to go.”

From an economic perspective, low lake levels hurt Great Lakes shipping because ships must carry less cargo in order to dock in harbors.

Full story, stats at Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel >>

Jim Lynch | Source: The Detroit News

A wet and snowy winter has Lake Superior’s water levels up over last year, and the spring melt should bring it even higher, scientists say.

All of the Great Lakes remain below their historical averages. But despite a higher-than-average drop in March, Lake Superior averaged a depth of more than 600 feet, which is up from last year’s 599.7. And it’s still gaining.

The news isn’t quite as bright in the other Great Lakes. Lakes Erie and Ontario are at last year’s levels, and Michigan and Huron are slightly down from last year. The Lake Michigan/Huron system reached an average depth of 576.7 feet in March, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That’s down slightly from the same time last year, when the level was 577.1. Allis said under the best conditions, Michigan and Huron would recover to last year’s levels by June or July.

Read the full story, quotes at The Detroit News >>

See Also:

• IJC requesting public comment on new Plan 2007 - Great Lakes Maritime Industry Issues
• International Joint Commission (IJC) Website (plans, fact sheets, charts, etc.)

by Jennifer Pritchett | Source: The Kingston Whig-Standard

“Winter navigation of ships in the seaway, invasive species, water quality and inappropriate water levels are issues that threaten the health, sustaining St. Lawrence ecosystem,” [R.A. (Bud) Andress of Save the River in Lansdowne] wrote.

[Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper] said that it was a lobby to protect shipping and hydro interests that influenced the outcome of the study to bring forward the option presented yesterday.

“It’s not going to restore or win back any of the damage that was done,” he said. “It’s a lost opportunity and many feel that hydro and shipping - the two interests that have been responsible and continue to be responsible for most of the environmental damage on our Great Lakes - once again were somehow able to trump the decision-making process and get their way.”

Much more to the story, quotes at the Kingston Whig-Standard >>

Source: newsli.com

Senator Darrel J. Aubertine (D – Cape Vincent) is calling on the International Joint Commission (IJC), which is reviewing solutions to the water level problems in the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes, to approve a previously agreed upon plan to return the waterways to even and consistent levels.

“To approve Plan B+ would turn the St. Lawrence River back to a more natural state and would be much more predictable as far as water levels,” said Senator Aubertine.

The recent IJC report calling for more input and study was met with harsh criticism by some. Aubertine says continuing to study the issue means the Commission “wants the issue more than the solution.”

“The IJC has chosen to essentially maintain the status quo after having spent $20 million and five years trying to come up with an alternative plan,” Aubertine said. “It’s just disheartening that after this much time and effort we come up with this Plan 2007, which again, claims to need more input and study.”

More quotes, story at newsli.com >>

BY MARK BROOKY | Source: Grand Haven Tribune

The schedule for dredging Grand Haven’s harbor for the 2008 shipping season is still unclear.

The King Co. of Holland was awarded the contracts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in February for dredging both the Grand Haven and Holland harbors this spring. The tentative schedule then was for the Grand Haven harbor to be done between April 15 and May 15, and the Holland harbor to be done in May.

The Corps is now recommending that the Holland harbor be done first because there are already freighter loads that need to be delivered and shipped out of there, said Tom O’Bryan, the acting chief of the Corps’ Grand Haven Area office. In addition, the Holland harbor has a depth as low as 17 feet.

“They can’t get any product in or out of there right now,” O’Bryan said.

The preliminary survey of the Holland harbor was done Monday and dredging was expected to begin this week, but rough weather may delay the work, according to O’Bryan.

Dredging of the Grand Haven harbor is currently scheduled to begin the week of April 7, as long as the Holland harbor work is done by then.

However, O’Bryan said the bids for dredging the Muskegon harbor were opened Tuesday…

More to the story at the Grand Haven Tribune >>