"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."

"After a celebrated comeback from abysmal water conditions and high pollution levels in the 1970s, Lake Erie is regressing to the highest levels of phosphorous contamination in 40 years, a Great Lakes expert said on Thursday."

"MILWAUKEE — Just a month before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to release new rules to protect the Great Lakes from overseas ships carrying in invasive species, legislation is moving through Congress that conservation groups say might roll back those protections."

"DETROIT -- At a time when many government programs are fighting for survival, there's one place the money is still flowing for now: the Great Lakes."

"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- A one-two punch of excessive nutrients and ravenous mussels is causing a sharp drop-off in Great Lakes fish populations and the worst outbreak of algae blooms in decades, says a report released Tuesday."

"The North Woods is being targeted for lucrative, but dangerous, mineral mining."

"Nationwide, water is screened for lead by checking the first sample of water from homeowners' faucets. But results of recent federal testing in Chicago show that although all homes passed that first test, nearly 45 percent had lead levels spike when more water samples were taken directly afterward."

"DETROIT -- A fire at the Marathon Petroleum Corp. refinery here late last month caused little structural damage, but its timing could not have been worse for the plant's owner. The blaze, which was quickly extinguished by the refinery's emergency personnel, occurred on the morning that U.S. EPA and advocacy groups were touring the plant's industrial neighborhood as part of a national environmental justice conference at a downtown conference center."

"Unwilling to fix leaky water mains in Crestwood, a south suburb known for its penny-pinching ways, village leaders secretly supplemented their supplies for more than two decades with a community well they knew was contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals."

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

Dan Egan reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel August 13, 2011.

"Chicago's first round of testing for a toxic metal called hexavalent chromium found that levels in local drinking water are more than 11 times higher than a health standard California adopted last month.

Western Wisconsin is in the middle of a sand rush -- as companies mine the silica used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to produce natural gas. The mining operations have stirred concerns about effects on land and groundwater and health impacts on nearby residents.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Oluf Johnson and organic farmers like him can sue for damages from neighboring farmers who apply pesticides that drift beyond their fencelines.

"Despite decades of efforts to restore and protect the Great Lakes, dozens of old power plants still are allowed to kill hundreds of millions of fish each year by sucking in massive amounts of water to cool their equipment."

"An Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis study has found mercury contamination in soil downwind from a coal-fired power plant in Indianapolis, supporting the notion of localized mercury hot spots."