Great Lakes Law

Detroit must consider the cost of greenhouse gas regulation in continuing to operate the country's largest garbage incinerator

The City of Detroit’s garbage incinerator - the largest trash incinerator in the world - has long been a scourge of local residents and environmental justice groups. It burns nearly 800,000 tons of trash per year, emitting hazardous air pollutants including mercury, lead, and dioxins. Asthma hospitalization rates in Detroit are over three times the average rate of the state of Michigan. In part due to the incinerator, Detroit is the only city of the... Read more →

Cars and climate change

Making the drastic reduction in greenhouse gas pollution that scientists have determined is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change will require major changes in how we generate and use electricity, design and build homes and offices, and manufacture and move products. It will also require fundamental changes in how we get around every day. Quite simply, we need less polluting cars and we need to drive them less. This means that advocates for solving climate... Read more →

Great Lakes Senators Key to Future of Clean Water Act

Since the Supreme Court’s infamously muddled and split decision in Rapanos v. United States created uncertainty for protecting non-navigable streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act, political efforts have been building to restore protections through the legislation called the Clean Water Restoration Act. After several years of legislative and outreach work, 2009 could be the year of success for the Clean Water Restoration Act. I asked my good friend and former colleague Chris Grubb... Read more →

International Joint Commission draft report blames climate change, not dredging, for falling Great Lakes water levels

Falling lake levels in the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, have generated considerable controversy and scientific debate. In 2004, a study by the internationally respected coastal consulting engineering firm Baird & Associates found that decades of dredging in the St. Clair River, shoreline alterations, and sand and gravel mining have led to an increased conveyance that draws more water from Lakes Michigan and Huron into the lower lakes (Erie and Ontario) and... Read more →

Congressional talk about water and the Great Lakes, now ranked

Talk may be cheap, but a great new website gives the public quantified data on what Congress is talking about. Capitol Words (“Taking Congress at its Word”) is another innovative project of the Sunlight Foundation, which uses new technologies to make the federal government more open and transparent to the public. Capitol Words aggregates information from the Congressional Record to provide a simple indicator of what words (and issues) Congress is focusing on at any... Read more →