I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Western Michigan University professor Michael Barcelona is looking for Kalamazoo River area property owners that want to participate in a study of how last summer’s Enbridge oil spill may be affecting groundwater.
Though most of the visible oil from the more than 800,000 gallon spill has been removed, heavy crude oil has sunk to the bottom of the river, which remains closed to the public for safety reasons.
Barcelona told the Battle Creek Enquirer there is no proven way to thoroughly clean up a large spill into a river.
[Barcelona] wants to conduct what he believes is the first serious, published research on the impact of an oil spill on local ground water and find out how oil degrades over time — whether it must be removed or whether it disappears over time and with nature’s help. Barcelona applied for a grant in December from the National Science Foundation but has yet to hear back. He also is hoping local community foundations might provide “some seed money.”
Barcelona, who is also working with Isabelle Cozzarelli, of the U.S. Geological Survey, and R.V. Krishnamurty of the WMU Geosciences Department on the project, said the only research on oil spill impacts were from two small rivers in California and a swamp in the United Kingdom. He said those studies dealt exclusively with the oil’s impact on the ecosystem and the amount of oil was far less than the Kalamazoo River spill.
Homeowners that want to help with this research can reach Barcelona at OilSpillResearchTeam@gmail.com. He has promised to share the results of analysis within 30 days of sampling.
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