Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI)

"A controversy flared in January when environmentalists learned that Radio Disney had joined with the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program to tour elementary schools and science centers, teaching about the energy industry. They worried that the show sold children a positive image of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — the process of pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals underground to break rock to free oil and gas."

"ST. PIERRE-JOLYS, Manitoba — Several thousand people in southern Manitoba have been told that a pipeline explosion could mean they will be without natural gas service for up to several days as temperatures dip below zero."

"The Perry nuclear power plant is leaking tritium, a radioactive form of water with a half-life of more than 12 years. The radioactive water has been found in groundwater at concentrations more than twice the
federal drinking water limit outside of a building where the leak was discovered Monday. No other, more dangerous radioactive isotopes were found." John Funk reports for the Cleveland Plain Dealer January 21,
2014.
 

"Tensions between the Gogebic Taconite mining company and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources rose to new heights last week in a public dispute over how much regulatory authority remains in the agency’s hands under a 2013 law that rolled back environmental restrictions to make iron mining easier."

"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Negotiators between the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on Monday night released a $1.012 trillion compromise 2014 spending bill that would restore Great Lakes cleanup money to last year's levels and also repeal a newly enacted cut to cost of living adjustments, or COLAs, for disabled military retirees and their survivors."

"CHICAGO -- A proposal to prevent the infestation of the Great Lakes by Asian carp faced opposition Sunday when a group organized by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., gathered on the Chicago River to criticize the plan."

"Radio Disney made 26 stops across Ohio with a pro-fracking group to promote oil and gas to elementary school students."

"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a report years in the making about options for keeping Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes."

"MONROE, Mich. -- Honking geese soar overhead in a V formation, buffeted by bitter gusts off nearby Lake Erie, while flocks of mallards bob along the shore. Even blanketed in snow, the sprawling wetland in southeastern Michigan is a magnet for water birds — one reason a public-private project is underway to improve it."

"Bill Williams, the president of the company that wants to open a $1.5 billion iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin, is being charged with contaminating an emergency water supply at a mine in Spain."