Lake Michigan

Report downgrades Oak Creek bluff collapse damage

glbm — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:02:04 +0000

Thomas Content, The Journal Sentinel

Jan 11 2012

The bluff failure and landslide at the Oak Creek power plant sent less coal ash and dirt into Lake Michigan than was first projected, but what did end up in the lake cannot be recovered.

That's the assessment of the state Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Coast Guard and We Energies.

An investigation is continuing into the cause of a bluff failure that sent coal ash from an old disposal area near the Oak Creek power plant into Lake Michigan on Oct. 31. Eric Nitschke, Southeast region director for the state Department of Natural Resources, said Monday his agency's investigation into the collapse's cause is expected to be completed in February.

Recovery of vehicles and equipment from the lake wrapped up in December, but officials have concluded there is no way to recover the ash and soil mix that went into the lake.

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Odd trash from Chicago found in Muskegon State Park

glbm — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:58:00 +0000

Megan Hart, the Muskegon Chronicle

Jan 5 2012

Jim Plant has found some unusual things while cleaning up Lake Michigan beaches, and wondered how on earth they got there.
On rare occasions, though, trash comes with contact information.
Plant found two pieces of paper that apparently came from Chicago while picking up trash on his daily walks through Muskegon State Park in late December. He called The Chronicle because of the strangeness of the find, and to call attention to the efforts of other people he sees cleaning up the park.
One of the papers was a number given to a runner in the “Pumpkins in the Park 5K,” which was run in a Chicago park on Lake Michigan on Oct. 15, according to a registration website. The paper has the numeral one printed on it, as well as a whimsical picture of a “Spooky Sprints” ghost.

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Sunken ship in Lake Michigan is named to National Register of Historic Places

glbm — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:56:43 +0000

Associated Press, The Republic

Jan 4 2012

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — A Lake Michigan ship that sank in 1880 in southeastern Wisconsin has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The canaller Walter B. Allen sank in a storm in April 1880 about seven miles from Sheboygan. It's upright in about 170 feet of water.

"This ship is remarkably intact. It's one of the best preserved in Lake Michigan," said Jim Draeger, deputy state historic preservation officer at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison.

Putting the ship on the register will let the public know these kinds of ships exist in the Great Lakes and it also protects the property under state law, he told the Sheboygan Press (http://shebpr.es/vzKed4 ).

According to the society's Maritime Underwater Archaeology, the Walter B. Allen was called a canaller because it was built to fit through the Welland Canal locks that connect Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, bypassing Niagara Falls.

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Supposed site of Griffon shipwreck to be partially excavated

glbm — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:17:42 +0000

Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press

Dec 21 2011

Researchers didn't find conclusive proof that whatever is lying just under the bottom of Lake Michigan is the long-lost sailing ship the Griffon -- but they found enough evidence that whatever is there could be the Griffon to warrant excavating just enough of the site to finally figure it out.

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Repairs get icebreaker under way

glbm — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:01:19 +0000

Steve Kuchera, Duluth News Tribune

Dec 19 2011

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw left Superior’s Fraser Shipyards on Thursday after workers repaired an oil leak in its bow thruster.

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Milwaukee divers search for missing shipwrecks in Lake Michigan

glbm — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:47:20 +0000

Jenna Sachs, FOX6

Dec 5 2011

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE—
There are about 2,500 shipwrecks beneath the waves of Lake Michigan, and about 1,000 of them are still missing.

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Air pollution: Chicago-area coal plant to shut down earlier than expected

glbm — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:21:25 +0000

Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune

Nov 21 2011

After deciding it isn't worth cleaning up one of the nation's dirtiest power plants, the owners of an aging coal-burner along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan are shutting it down sooner than expected.

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GVSU wind buoy performing well on Lake Michigan after rough-water weekend

glbm — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:34:49 +0000

Dave Alexander, Muskegon Chronicle

Nov 10 2011

MUSKEGON — Lake Michigan waters provided Grand Valley State University's wind assessment buoy a challenging welcome.

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Bluff collapse at power plant sends dirt, coal ash into lake

glbm — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:18:37 +0000

Meg Jones and Don Behm, Journal Sentinel

Nov 2 2011

Oak Creek - A large section of bluff collapsed Monday next to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant, sending dirt, coal ash and mud cascading into the shoreline next to Lake Michigan and dumping a pickup truck, dredging equipment, soil and other debris into the lake.

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Facility along Kewaunee RIver aids sturgeon project

glbm — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:21:43 +0000

Kewaunee County Star-News

Oct 27 2011

As part of rehabilitating the lake sturgeon population in Lake Michigan, sturgeon have been hatched, reared and stocked from a streamside rearing facility at the C.D. "Buzz" Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility on the Kewaunee River.

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Schuette again files Asian carp appeal with Supreme Court

glbm — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:19:12 +0000

Tina Lam, Detroit Free Press

Oct 27 2011

In its ongoing legal battle over methods to stop Asian carp, Michigan will again ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its arguments on Asian carp.

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Playing on Chicago River could make you sick

glbm — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:00:18 +0000

Gabriel Spitzer, WBEZ

Oct 27 2011

The Chicago River is largely toilet water, so it would stand to reason that playing in it could make you sick. But according to a long-awaited health study published Wednesday, boating and fishing on the river is no riskier than doing so on other local waterways

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Michigan's tagging program for chinook salmon tops 2 million fish

glbm — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:13:33 +0000

Victor Skinner, The Grand Rapids Press

Sep 23 2011

LANSING — Fisheries officials bordering Lake Michigan and Lake Huron will soon have a clearer picture of how chinook salmon reproduce in the Great Lakes from a tagging program that went full-scale this year.

State Department of Natural Resources officials said the 2011 season marks the first year that 100 percent of chinook salmon stocked in the two lakes have been tagged with coded wires, which will provide officials with critical information, including a gauge on natural reproduction, once the fish are caught.

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You haven't lived here until ... You try stand-up paddleboarding in Lake Michigan

glbm — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:36:26 +0000

Zlati Meyer, Detroit Free Press

Sep 19 2011

IS THIS ANYTHING LIKE DOING STAND-UP COMEDY? Only in that you also run the risk of falling on your face.

SO WHAT IS IT EXACTLY? Basically, standing on an extra-wide surfboard and paddling with a long oar.

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As mussel numbers explode and fish vanish from Lake Michigan, the last in a long line of Milwaukee commercial fishermen sets course for Alaska

glbm — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:33:59 +0000

Dan Egan, Journal Sentinel

Aug 17 2011

It's mid-April and the gray-haired fisherman and his gray-haired son are not headed out for just another day of hoisting nets from the depths of Lake Michigan. For decades their workday has always started before dawn. But today the men don't climb aboard their battered commercial fishing boat until noon, because they aren't hustling to get to their normal fishing grounds three hours out in the middle of the lake - a place that, from the view out the little round windows of the wheel house, is still as wild and lonely as any on the globe.

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