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More than 7,800 acres of Lake Superior shoreline will be protected along the Canadian border. Read the full story by the Soo Evening News. View the full article

The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force presented Congressman Jack Bergman (R-MI) with the 2018 Great Lakes Legislator of the Year award, which goes to a legislator each year who has helped advance commerce on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI. View the full article

Ohio became the third state in the nation to build a streamside sturgeon rearing facility. Earlier efforts by Wisconsin and Michigan populated the tributaries of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior with sturgeon, but The Toledo Zoo’s efforts are the first to focus on the Maumee River and Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo. View the full article

News Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) announced that concerned citizens and organizations can now directly invest in improving and protecting water quality in western Lake Erie through the Erie P Market project. For each credit purchased through the Erie P Market, one pound of phosphorus will be prevented from entering the lake. Following GLC’s soft launch earlier this summer, investors have prevented 1,200 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Western Lake Erie Basin. Phosphorus runoff into the Great Lakes contributes to the formation of harmful algal blooms and dead zones and can threaten drinking water for millions of residents. “Landowners and farmers are implementing changes to improve water quality in Lake Erie,” said John Linc Stine, chair of the GLC and commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Now with Erie P Market, citizens can directly contribute to reducing harmful algal blooms and other problems in Lake Erie. I encourage service clubs, students, civic organizations, anyone and everyone, to pitch in as they are able.” The purchase of an Erie P Market credit helps to install conservation practices like cover crops or grassed waterways on area farms. These practices keep valuable fertilizer on the land and out of nearby waterways. While relatively new in the Great Lakes, the use of environmental markets to sell and purchase water quality credits follows the model of carbon offsets, which has earned significant public support. The GLC’s Erie P Market project is exploring the potential market for water quality trading and stewardship crediting across state and provincial lines within the Western Lake Erie Basin. Earlier this year, the GLC announced that the states of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana agreed to use a framework developed by the Erie P Market to guide the creation and sale of phosphorus credits. Ontario also participated in the development of the framework, sharing lessons learned from similar efforts in Canada. The project is now ready to test whether concerned citizens and organizations are willing to invest in protecting water quality in western Lake Erie. We hope the answer is “yes.” For more information or to purchase credits, please visit www.eriepmarket.org, or contact GLC’s Daniel Gold. ← Previous news release The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair John Linc Stine, commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, is an interstate compact agency established under state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and its residents. The Commission consists of governors’ appointees, state legislators, and agency officials from its eight member states. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a “Declaration of Partnership.” The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission office is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Learn more at www.glc.org. Contact For questions or media inquiries, please contact Beth Wanamaker, [email protected]. Recent GLC News Concerned Citizens Can Now Directly Invest in Improving Lake Erie Water Quality Position available: Help Desk Specialist (Part-Time) Great Lakes Commission releases green infrastructure policy recommendations in advance of Congressional briefing Great Lakes Commission awards nearly $900,000 under Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program Upcoming GLC Events 2018 Great Lakes Commission Annual Meeting October 2 - October 3 View GLC Calendar > View the full article

Governors from all eight Great Lakes states had to sign off before Waukesha, Wis., could siphon water out of Lake Michigan. But it turns out Wisconsin gave another city permission nearly a decade ago to send significantly more Lake Michigan water beyond the subcontinental divide that separates the Great Lakes basin from other parts of the Midwest where water flows toward the Mississippi River. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune. View the full article

Transport Canada has awarded a contract to assess the cumulative impacts of marine shipping on coastal marine ecosystems. The $95,000 initiative will involve collecting data from six pilot sites around the country, including the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by Maritime Executive. View the full article

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, will host an informational outreach event September 25 at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore featuring discussions about coastal processes, erosion, water levels and Corps’ programs. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Detroit, MI. View the full article

Mercury levels remain high in the lakes, rivers and fish of the western part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula despite a substantial decline in airborne mercury emissions over the past 30 years, according to scientists from Michigan Technological University and the Environmental Protection Agency. Read the full story by Bridge Magazine. View the full article

Four United States representatives from Michigan introduced a bipartisan bill that would facilitate testing, monitoring, removal and remediation when PFAS chemicals are detected in the water or soil. It would also require federal agencies to come up with a plan of action with affected states. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI. View the full article

Harmful levels of the microcystin toxin were detected at Ford Lake and Belleville Lake where a visible scum of blue -green algae is present. Read the full story by MLive. View the full article

Early data gathered by wildlife agencies in the western basin of Lake Erie indicate that the 2018 walleye hatch appears to be the second highest in the history of the Ohio survey, and the yellow perch hatch is strong, well above its long-term average. Read the full story by the Morrow County Sentinel. View the full article

Mining waste in western Lake Superior’s Grand Traverse Bay is damming stream outlets, covering wetlands and jeopardizing one the lake’s most productive spawning grounds for lake trout and whitefish: Buffalo Reef. Read the full story by Bridge Magazine. View the full article

There are spicy beers and even peanut butter beers, made to stand out on crowded shelves. Then there’s a murky, green brew made by the Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in Toledo that looks a lot like algae. It’s making a statement on the one ingredient brewers can’t do without — clean water. Read the full story by the Associated Press. View the full article

Reversing a policy statement from 24 years ago, the Coast Guard has told representatives of Great Lakes ports, ship operators, and labor unions it will no longer allow pilots who provide navigational guidance for foreign ships to refuse to work during labor disputes. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade. View the full article

Chemical treatments, traps and barriers have greatly reduced the number of sea lampreys in the Great Lakes over the past few decades. But a Michigan State University’ professor has found what could be a new weapon in the arsenal: a chemical found in the lampreys’ offspring. Read the full story by Lansing State Journal. View the full article

An estimated 40 million to 50 million goldfish inhabit the waters of Lake Ontario, threatening native species. Read the full story by CTV – Ottawa, ON. View the full article

A Michigan response team believes the military’s heavy use of a firefighting foam that has been linked to a group of chemicals known to be harmful to infants, toddlers and pregnant women contributed to elevated levels of the chemicals in a lake adjacent to Camp Grayling. About a dozen similar sites are also affected. Read the full story by Capital News Service. View the full article

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources seeks public input on where environmental officials should focus efforts to protect surface water quality in Wisconsin over the next three years. Read the full story by The Dunn County News. View the full article

Months after reports predicted possible toxic algae bloom forming in western Lake Erie this summer, researchers now say, “we’re in the clear.” Read the full story by The Detroit News. View the full article

For decades Lake Michigan’s open lake forecast has been handled by the National Weather Service office in Chicago. But starting this week, it will be done by the Milwaukee office, which is actually based in the Waukesha County community of Sullivan. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. View the full article

Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources says data show this year’s hatches for walleye and yellow perch in Lake Erie are above average and portend a bright future for the popular game fish. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Bowling Green, OH. View the full article

Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper want to build Waterways Center, which they envision as an anchor facility uniting environmental stewardship, education, water access and commerce on a campus-like setting somewhere along the “quiet water” of the river’s corridor between Old Bailey Woods and Canalside. Read the full story at The Buffalo News. View the full article

In commenting on her goals for becoming a member of the International Joint Commission as appointed by President Trump, Jane L. Corwin demonstrated how little she understands about the organization’s work. Read the full story at Watertown Daily Times. View the full article

A Minnesota man is aiming to paddle all 34 water trails in Minnesota to raise awareness for the serious water-quality issues he believes the Minnesota state government needs to address. Read the full story by The Daily Journal. View the full article

The water-infrastructure bill, which passed on a voice vote, next heads to the U.S. Senate, where its passage and the president’s signature would be the first concrete step in decades toward building the new lock. Read the full story by the Detroit News. View the full article