"Bipartisan legislation that promises the largest federal investment ever to clean up the Great Lakes -- $650 million annually for the next five years -- has been introduced in the Senate and in the House to applause from environmental groups."
 

"Proposals to block Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes have largely focused on the costs and inconvenience of closing off Chicago-area waterways into Lake Michigan. But now business and environmental groups are exploring a possible upside: a broadly based infrastructure investment that would benefit much of northern Illinois."

"In the early 1980s, the cancer deaths of four little girls — whose bodies were so tiny they could fit in shoe boxes — forced Hazel Johnson to shift the focus of an organization she'd recently founded."

"The U.S. arm of chemical giant LyondellBasell is in negotiations to settle its environmental cleanup liabilities — which include the Kalamazoo River Superfund site — with the U.S. government, according to a company spokesman."

"The Obama administration has developed a five-year blueprint for rescuing the Great Lakes, a sprawling ecosystem plagued by toxic contamination, shrinking wildlife habitat and invasive species."

"While lawmakers and the White House ratchet up efforts to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan, boating and fishing communities along the Illinois River are under siege."

"Federal authorities on Monday presented a $78.5 million plan intended to block Asian carp, a hungry, huge, nonnative fish, from invading the Great Lakes."

"Downtown Chicago has the highest peak levels of nitrogen dioxide in the country, and is the only site in violation of new stricter guidelines against the irritant, which inflames asthma and other lung conditions."

"Chemicals used in Scotchgard and Teflon are regulated, but metal plating companies got a pass by Bush's EPA."

"Opponents of planned wood-burning power plants in southern Indiana are watching closely as state officials finish work on an air permit that would dictate what types of wood products the first of the plants can burn."

"General Motors and Delphi Corp. spent 60 years making door and trunk latches, seat-belt fasteners and other metal parts for cars and trucks before shutting the Franklin Township [OH[ factory in 2007."

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request by the state of Michigan for an injunction to force the closing of two Chicago-area waterway locks to keep Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes."

"Joliet is pushing the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to more than double the concentration of cancer-causing radium it's allowed to dump onto farmland in the south suburbs, expanding the potential for deadly radon gas in these increasingly urban communities."

"Since 2004, [Ohio] has allowed 42 treatment facilities, power plants and factories to ignore federal limits on dumping mercury into lakes, rivers and streams."

"Toxic chemicals have crept into the drinking water in a corner of rural Grundy County [Illinois], stoking fears and raising suspicions about who is to blame."