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A federal class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Flint residents and businesses can move forward but Gov. Rick Snyder and the state of Michigan are among those dismissed as defendants. Read the full story by MLive. View the full article

The inaugural fest will be held at Pere Marquette Beach Park in Muskegon on Aug. 18, and it includes one aspect that the event’s founder says is the backbone of the event: beach camping for two days that’s just steps away from Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press. View the full article

One of the nation’s largest sources of industrial lead pollution is just 20 miles down the Lake Michigan shore from Chicago, churning more than twice as much of the brain-damaging metal into the air each year as all other factories in the region combined. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune. View the full article

Efforts are underway to weaken the Endangered Species Act, commonly referred to as the most important wildlife conservation law in American history. Environmentalists say if the proposed changes are made, the interests of mining, gas, logging, and ranching will outweigh wild creatures that live throughout the U.S. Proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act include reducing the role of scientists in identifying endangered and threatened species, and letting politicians weigh financial interests against survival of certain plants and animals. Read the full story by the Detroit Public TV. View the full article

The Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance has been granted standing in its challenge of a manmade marina near Saugatuck Dunes State Park. In an opinion filed on July 27, Administrative Law Judge Daniel Pulter denied the marina landowners’ summary disposition in part, because the judge found certain members of the coastal alliance could be aggrieved by the proposed project. The coastal alliance challenged a permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality shortly after it was granted in January, and will now have the chance to make its arguments in court . Read the full story by the Holland Sentinel. View the full article

The Great Lakes Civilian Conservation Corps has partnered with the Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network to collect data to establish a baseline for water quality in four major tributaries of the Pike River near Somers, Wisconsin and the future Foxconn facility. Read the full story by the Kenosha News. View the full article

Despite some concerns, workers are burying cable under Lake Ontario for the first time during a project to connect Buffalo and Toronto through high-capacity fiber optics. Some 35 miles of the 76-mile long cable will be buried under the lake. Read the full story by the Buffalo News. View the full article

The Ontario shores of Lake Huron stretch more than 300 kilometres from Sarnia to Tobermory. More than 25 beach communities and towns dot the coast, each with their own personality. Read the full story by The Globe and Mail. View the full article

In Wisconsin, the Superior Public Works Department thanked Volunteer Storm Drain Adopters and taught them how to sample the water of Faxson Creek as a new stream monitoring system kicked off. Read the full story by KQDS – TV – Duluth, MN. View the full article

Two more shipwrecks in the waters of Lake Superior near Thunder Bay, Ontario, now have heritage buoys to help divers find them, and to provide a spot to moor dive vessels. Read the full story by CBC News. View the full article

August is a big month to surf on Lake Michigan as more active weather rolls in, creating the summer’s best waves. To celebrate, some 500 to 700 people are planning to camp along a spacious, 1,500-foot beach in Muskegon, Michigan, for the inaugural Great Lakes Surf Festival. Read the full story by The South Bend Tribune. View the full article

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says there are now 35 confirmed sites in the state that are contaminated with PFAS and more than 11,000 sites have the potential to be contaminated with PFAS-containing materials or waste. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now. View the full article

Timothy Davis, an associate professor at Bowling Green State University and national expert on harmful algal blooms, discussed the issue in a lecture on Friday at Lakeside, the home of the Lake Erie Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy organization with the goal of protecting the lake. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News-Herald. View the full article

The construction of a six-turbine wind project planned for 8-to-10 miles northwest of downtown Cleveland will likely not impair the Lake Erie water, the Ohio EPA ruled Monday. Read the full story by the Plain Dealer. View the full article

A large agriculture group is fighting Ohio Governor John Kasich’s proposals that are meant to clean Lake Erie through farming regulations. Kasich wants to set rules on fertilizer and manure on farmland. Read the full story by WKSU-Kent, OH. View the full article

Wisconsin’s Great Lakes are also home to great lighthouses. Some are open for tours, while others serve as a picturesque photo backdrop and a reminder of the lakes’ legacy as a major transportation avenue. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. View the full article

The 94th Coast Guard Festival, currently occurring in Grand Haven, Michigan, is also serving as a special homecoming for the USCGC Cutter Escanaba which was commissioned in Grand Haven on August 29, 1987. Read the full story by WZZM-TV-Grand Rapids, MI. View the full article

In partnership with the Great Lakes Commission, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and Congressman Brian Higgins celebrated the completion of the Buffalo River Habitat Restoration Project. Eight sites along the Buffalo River are now inhabitable by wildlife and ready to be explored. Read the full story by Spectrum News. View the full article

Michigan regulators are accepting proposals for financial help with protecting places where aquatic species live and repairing those that have been damaged. Read the full story by the Associated Press. View the full article

International shipments through the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes are down 2 percent so far this year after a sluggish start to the shipping season. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times. View the full article

Most of the Great Lakes have water levels that fell in July, in part due to June precipitation within the Great Lakes basin being about 15% below average. Read the full story by MLive. View the full article

The public is invited to the fifth annual Lake Michigan Day event on August 10 at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, 75 Maritime Drive in Manitowoc. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter. View the full article

The public is invited to the fifth annual Lake Michigan Day event on August 10 at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, 75 Maritime Drive in Manitowoc. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter. View the full article

In New York, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper — flanked by officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state Department of Environmental Conservation, and Great Lakes Commission — on Monday declared complete its five-year mission to rehabilitate habitat at eight sites along a 6.2-mile stretch of the river from Canalside to Old Bailey Woods. Read the full story by the Buffalo News. View the full article

News Buffalo, NY – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC), U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (NY-26), Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, and others celebrated the completion of the Buffalo River Habitat Restoration Project at an event today. Eight project sites have been restored since 2013, enhancing nearly two miles of shoreline and 20 acres of fish and wildlife habitat along the lower Buffalo River. Work was led by the GLC in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), implemented by Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, and funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). “The Buffalo River, which was once declared ‘biologically dead,’ is now thriving, thanks to this critical restoration work,” said Rep. Higgins, who serves on the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force. “Congratulations to all the federal, state and local partners involved in this effort. In Buffalo, we’ve seen firsthand that Great Lakes restoration leads to economic revitalization. We must continue funding the GLRI to support communities like Buffalo across like Great Lakes basin.” “We are grateful to all our partners for their work on this project,” said John Stine, chair of the GLC and commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “Together we’ve created more natural and stable shorelines and helped treat stormwater, control invasive species and reduce erosion and sediment into the river. This work is supporting the city of Buffalo’s incredible turnaround and we’re excited to see what’s next.” “This work has been successful because of the strong partnership between NOAA, the Great Lakes Commission, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and our other partners,” said John Catena, regional supervisor for NOAA’s Restoration Center in the Northeast and Great Lakes. “NOAA is proud to continue supporting the environmental and economic revitalization of our Great Lakes.” Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper stated: “For nearly 30 years, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper has carried the community vision for the restoration and protection of the Buffalo River. Our organization was founded as a guardian of the Buffalo River, and from the beginning our mission has been dedicated to seeking out partners, projects and tens of millions of dollars to make the restoration vision a reality. The cooperative partnerships formed over the last decade with entities like the Great Lakes Commission, NOAA, EPA, NYSDEC, the Army Corps, Honeywell, and numerous private sector consultants, have allowed our community to begin to reclaim our impaired waterways. The international success story of our beloved Buffalo River continues to be written, and through the many years of dedicated service of the Waterkeeper team and these partners, together we mark another milestone in the restoration of this once dead river.” In 1987, following decades of heavy industrialization, the Buffalo River was declared a Great Lakes Area of Concern (AOC). Work to restore habitat along the river began in 1997. The eight restoration projects led by the GLC (Buffalo Motor and Generator Corp., NYSDEC Ohio St. Boat Launch, Toe of Katherine St. Peninsula, Blue Tower Turning Basin, Buffalo Color Peninsula, RiverBend Phase I and II, and Old Bailey Woods) are expected to address the fish and wildlife habitat related river impairments and contribute to the formal removal of the Buffalo River from the list of AOCs. All eight projects have been completed; monitoring and post-restoration management will continue throughout the summer with all project work anticipated to be completed by fall 2018. ← Previous news release The Great Lakes Commission, led by chairman 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 offices are 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 Great Lakes Commission, partners celebrate completion of Buffalo River habitat restoration projects Great Lakes Commission releases ErieStat to support Lake Erie phosphorus reduction efforts The Advisor e-newsletter: May 2018 Great Lakes Commission applauds inclusion of Great Lakes provisions in water infrastructure legislation Upcoming GLC Events 2018 Great Lakes Commission Annual Meeting October 2 - October 3 View GLC Calendar > View the full article