[dailynews] October 29, 2012

Great Lakes Daily News: October 29, 2012
For links to these stories and more, visit http://www.great-lakes.net/news/


The Great Lakes have some of world's most concentrated plastic pollution
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Plastic pollutants circulate in pockets of the Great Lakes at concentrations 
higher than any other body of water on Earth, according to a recent State 
University of New York study. Source: Great Lakes Echo (10/29)


Barge traffic at Minneapolis port could end
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Minneapolis, Minn., officials met last week to discuss a plan that would 
cease all barging operations at the city's 50-year-old terminal on the 
Mississippi River by April 2013, reducing lock and dam activity downstream 
that provides a path for Asian carp into greater Minnesota. Source: Duluth 
News Tribune (10/29)


Major flooding strikes another Lake Superior community
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For the third time this year, floodwaters have wreaked havoc on a Lake 
Superior community. Torrential rains last week washed out roads, swept away 
cars and forced some evacuations in the Wawa, Ont., area, on the eastern 
shore of Lake Superior north of Sault Ste. Marie. Source: Duluth News 
Tribune (10/29)


COMMENTARY: Ottawa blind to dangers of firing environmental scientists
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What was once a trickling loss of environmental science capacity in Canada 
is now a flood. At the Canada Centre for Inland Waters, there were about 80 
research scientists on staff in 2004. Now, there are about 20. Source: The 
Hamilton Spectator (10/29)


Lakes not so great for wind projects, according to new energy blueprint
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Questions are arising about whether wind farms in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario 
will ever be tried, at least by the current administration in Albany, N.Y., 
as a source for renewable energy generation. Source: The Buffalo News 
(10/27)


Investing in ecology
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Contractors have constructed an earthen dike in Sterling State Park, which 
is located on the shore of Lake Erie northeast of Monroe, Mich. The dike, 
made possible by Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding, will help 
regulate water levels within the marshy areas. Source: The Monroe Evening 
News (10/27)


Lake Superior has certainly smelt better
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Smelt, a fish species introduced to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean, 
have declined in numbers partially due to increased consumption by humans, 
birds, and fish. Source: The Daily Mining Gazette (10/26)


Beneath the surface: What's involved in tapping into Lake Huron for $300 
million pipeline
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The commissioners of Genesee County, Mich., agreed Wednesday to stand behind 
up to $35 million in borrowing to build the first section of a water 
pipeline to Lake Huron with the end goal of firing the city of Detroit as 
the area's water supplier. Source: MLive (10/25)

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