Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI)

"Michigan will pay $600 million to compensate Flint residents whose health was damaged by lead-tainted drinking water after the city heeded state regulators’ advice not to treat it properly, an attorney involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday."

"Chicago’s water commissioner Randy Conner said the city will soon release a plan to remove and replace all of Chicago’s lead water lines."

"Community leaders on the southeast side of Chicago have filed a civil rights complaint accusing the city of pushing heavy industry into Black and Latino communities while enabling luxury developments in wealthy parts of the city.

The Fair Housing Act complaint with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development centers on the Chicago City Council and Mayor Lori Lightfoot's recent approval of moving a recycling facility from the city's wealthy Lincoln Park neighborhood to southeastern Chicago.

"Monday’s derecho across the Corn Belt and Midwest laid siege to more than 10 million acres of Iowa’s corn and soybean crop, devastating farmers and capping off what has already been a difficult few years of farming for many."

"Harmful algal blooms are a health hazard in all 50 states. But Lake Erie, the shallowest, and therefore the warmest, of the five Great Lakes, is uniquely vulnerable to algal blooms. Like most other water bodies suffering from blooms, the lake is overloaded with nutrients, forming the perfect breeding ground for a bacteria known to poison pets, contaminate drinking water and create oxygen-deprived "dead zones" that kill aquatic life."

"The companies in charge of Midland-area dams that failed in May have filed for bankruptcy in a Michigan federal court."

"Residents of Flint, Mich., can bring a class action against the state and their former governor for personal injury and property damage caused by the city switching to untreated river water that corroded pipes in 2014, which exposed thousands to lead-contaminated drinking water."

"Both Republican and Democratic Ohio lawmakers are pushing to repeal the state’s nuclear bailout bill after this week’s release of a federal criminal complaint against House Speaker Larry Householder and others. Clean energy advocates say that would be a start, but more is needed to address eight years of lawmakers’ actions to slow the growth of renewables in the state."

"New standards limiting how much toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS can be in Michigan’s public drinking water will take effect after a legislative committee adjourned without taking action to block or change them."