Quagga mussels attach themselves to a number of surfaces including boat hulls, engine intakes, livewells, bilges, anchor lines, water intake valves, canals, pipes, aqueducts and dams. This causes increased maintenance costs. In the United States, Congressional researchers estimated that invasive mussels alone cost the power industry $3.1 billion from 1993-1999, while their impact on industries, businesses and communities totals more than 5 billion.

So how can us boaters help? Easy. Inspect and clean you water vessel (powerboat, sailboat, bassboat, jetski, zodiac, yes, all of ‘em) after removing it from every waterway. It is really very easy and takes little time and we’ve also recently discovered that some of our favorite boat cleaning products make this job even easier.

We were told recently the bio-kleen boat and trailer passed the mussel inspection at Lake Powell in Utah with flying colors. Not a single quagga mussel was found in spite of the fact that the boat originates from Michigan, a state that has a high population of the mussel in the waterways. Bio-Kleen credits the easy inspection to cleaning the bilge with the bilge cleaner after boating in every waterway. A quaternary sanitizer included in the product keeps the bilge and livewells free of invasive species eggs. Also cleaning the hull, props, exhaust pipes, trailers, anchor and dock lines with hull cleaner will kill the mussels and eggs due to the phosphoric blend in the cleaner. Not to mention it dissolves unsightly calcification and scum lines at the same time. Dual action – that’s what I’m talking about… Be sure to take a few minutes after pulling you boat from each waterway to protect your boat and the environment from these nasty invaders. Think of the alternative – mussel infestations will close your local waterway. Yeah, that’s what we thought.

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The report gives a lot of attention to a 58-year-old oil pipeline that travels under the Au Sable and two of its tributaries. The pipe is owned by Enbridge Energy, which also owns the pipeline that ruptured in July 2010 and spilled 800,000 gallons of oil into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River.

The report also covered the concern over a potential boom in northern Michigan of a controversial method of natural gas extraction called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking; a process that uses toxic materials and requires an immense amount of water

Read the entire article via Great Lakes Echo

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Read the “Belle Isle: Fighting the silent siege” Detroit Free Press article

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LANSING, MI—A lawsuit filed this week challenging the state’s denial of a Clean Air Act permit for a proposed costly and unneeded coal-fired power plant for Rogers City seeks to revisit a decision that ended the threat of a nearly 60-percent electric rate hike for Michigan consumers.

Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative on Wednesday appealed the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s (“MDNRE”) rejection of the company’s application for an air permit for its proposed coal-fired power plant in Rogers City. The appeal was filed in the 28th Circuit Court of Missaukee County.

“Wolverine’s stubborn quest for an unnecessary coal plant in Rogers City is an outrage,” said Jean Veselenak, a Rogers City resident. “We need clean energy jobs and the opportunity to transition to better ways to produce energy, not more rate hikes to support dirty coal. Experts and regulators evaluated this proposed plant and said it was too costly and we don’t need it. Rogers City residents agree. Instead of now pursuing a better strategy for consumers, Wolverine officials want to spend their members’ money on a lawsuit to convince a judge that they are right and everyone else is wrong.”

In evaluating the Wolverine project, the Michigan Public Service Commission found that the proposed coal plant would increase electricity rates for consumers by 59.2% to 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, and would cost the average residential customer $76.95 more every month. Environmental, consumer and energy groups had all opposed the proposed plant.

MDNRE denied the permit in May, stating that there is no need for the proposed power plant and that alternative methods are available that would supply the customers of the four electric cooperatives that make up Wolverine with electricity at a much cheaper rate than the cost of building a new coal plant.

“Despite road bocks and warning signals by major credit ratings agencies across the nation that new coal plants are expensive and likely to be plagued by long-term regulatory and financial problems, Wolverine has continued to support the project,” said Anne Woiwode, State Director of Sierra Club of Michigan. “In the face of all these risks, it is unwise to spend Coop member money on developing a risky, expensive and unnecessary coal plant.”

Since 2001, 132 proposed coal plants around the country have been cancelled due to rising costs, financial riskiness and the existence of better alternatives. The few new coal plant projects that are moving forward are incurring huge cost overruns. The Peabody Energy Prairie State Plant in Illinois under construction now has doubled in cost, leaving ratepayers on the hook to pay for $2 billion in cost overruns so far, and similar cost escalations have been experienced in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and other states throughout the country.

“It is common sense that before authorizing a nearly $2 billion coal plant, MDNRE would evaluate whether there was a need for or better alternatives to that plant,” said Shannon Fisk, Senior Attorney for the Midwest Office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Wolverine’s continued pursuit of an unnecessary, costly and dirty coal plant is not good for ratepayers or Michigan’s economy.”

In June, Traverse City area ratepayers raised concerns and questions about the cost of the plant during the Cherryland Electric Cooperative’s annual meeting. The ratepayers asked the board to fully disclose the estimated costs for participation in the Wolverine coal plant proposal before final decisions were made to appeal the permit decision, but that request was not granted. Ratepayers ran a series of TV and radio ads encouraging Coop members to vote for candidates who oppose the coal plant and support clean energy options as better, more responsible business.

“We don’t need to waste millions on dirty, unnecessary coal plants,” said Faith Bugel, Senior Attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “The DNRE made the right decision for Michigan’s ratepayers, for Michigan’s workers and for Michigan’s environment.”

Others who challenged the proposed Rogers City coal plant also reacted strongly to news of Wolverine’s lawsuit.

“Wolverine Coops were told that there was no need to spend billions of dollars to build this plant,” said Tom Karas of Michigan Energy Alternatives Project, “but management of these utilities won’t pull the plug on the Rogers City coal plant. They want to gamble with their members’ money. Appealing the state’s decision would only make a bad economic story worse for coop members”

“Wolverine should invest in energy efficiency and energy sources that will serve their member cooperatives better by developing cleaner electricity generation and keeping costs lower,” said Susan Harley, Policy Director for Clean Water Action.

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Aquinas College has developed a new Master of Sustainable Business (MSB) degree – the first program of its kind to be offered in the upper Midwest that will build upon the undergraduate sustainable business program already offered by the liberal arts college.

“With the launch of this new program, prospective students and employers will become natural-system thinkers who can respond and influence change in local and global conditions, positively affecting people, profit and the planet,” said Matthew Tueth, Ph.D., Steelcase Professor of Sustainable Business and chairman of the Sustainable Business Department. “We recognize the strategic benefit that sustainable business delivers to commerce inside our communities and we’re pleased to offer an even deeper educational opportunity in the sustainable business movement.”

Aquinas College, already a leader in sustainable business (SB) education, has built the new graduate program upon the regional and national success of its undergraduate program in sustainable business. The MSB degree will be comprised of six conventional business courses, currently offered in the College’s Master of Management program, along with six sustainable business courses. Graduate students in the MSB program will complete 12 courses (36 credit hours) over a typical 18-24 month period. Courses in the MSB program will be offered in eight-week segments, beginning this fall.

For graduates of the Master of Management (MM) program, the College is currently reviewing which credits will be applicable to meeting requirements for the Master of Sustainable Business degree.

“A Master of Sustainable Business degree will allow students and employers to benefit by obtaining skills, knowledge and the understanding needed to not only restore environmental integrity and build healthy communities, but also maximize profitability within the work sector,” said Deborah M. Steketee, Ph.D., associate professor of sustainable business and executive director for the Center for Sustainability at Aquinas.

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Apparently Mission uses the best lithium-ion batteries the market and has with a proprietary cooling and management technology. Mission is currently raising funding and working on agreements with a Chinese OEM manufacturer in hopes of merging its battery technology with low-cost bikes. We’d like to see the whole deal be American made, but the Chinese do continue to dominated the electric bike and scooter market. As long as a peppy machine such as this gets more people interested in cleaner, greener vehicles… it should be good thing.

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