Great Lakes Proud

Minnesota natives biking around the Great Lakes

Great Lakes Proud wants to give a much deserved shout-out to Kris McNeal and Zach Chase — University of Minnesota Duluth graduates who started a 5,300-mile bike trip around the Great Lakes.

Being called the Big Water Bike trip, McNeal and Chase will travel clockwise around the Great Lakes and bike as far east as Quebec City. They’re expected to finish their trip in August.

So why are they doing it? The same reason why Great Lakes Proud sells stickers. They want to promote how great of a resource the Great Lakes truly are. They plan to shoot video footage and create a documentary — which should be better than a Pure Michigan commercial.

Follow the duo’s story at BigWaterBike.com.

Great Lakes at Risk From Oil Spills, Study Says

A new study says a lack of federal regulations for oil pipelines puts the Great Lakes Watershed at risk from potential oil spills.

The National Wildlife Federation and the University of Michigan released the report in wake of a 2010 oil spill that contaminated 30 miles of the Kalamazoo River. While that spill was well short of Lake Michigan, there are several pipelines close enough to Michigan’s borders that oil could potentially reach the Great Lakes.

The report argues that there is no long-term planning in terms of dealing with oil spills and regulating oil pipelines.

Cleanup costs for the 2010 oil spill in Kalamazoo are estimated to be more than $700 million.

“Federal laws are inadequate and states have not passed their own laws to fill in the gaps,” Sara Gosman, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation, said in a statement. She estimates that more than 50 percent of pipeline miles don’t have to be continually assessed for leaks or repairs.

The federal government has policy to regulate and assess natural gas pipelines, but not oil.

Cleanup costs for the 2010 Kalamazoo oil spill were estimated to be more than $700 million.