Latest news with #U.S.ArmyCorps
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lake Lanier closures: Number of parks closing will be cut down to 11, US Rep. says
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will scale back on the number of recreational sites at Lake Lanier that will be temporarily closed. Channel 2 Action News first told you on Tuesday about the plans to close more than 20 lakeside parks due to the USACE's current staffing levels. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Rep. Rich McCormick represents the Georgia 7th Congressional District, which includes Lake Lanier. In a statement released late Wednesday night, McCormick said the U.S. Army Corps will now only close 11 sites. 'I spoke with the U.S. Army Corps today about the planned closures at Lake Lanier. I pushed hard for a better solution, and they listened. All boat ramps will remain open, and only 11 recreation sites will close temporarily, not the 21 originally planned. I am grateful for the partnership of local leaders like Senator Greg Dolezal in advocating for our community,' McCormick said. Lake Lanier has 76 recreational areas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates 37 parks and campgrounds, 10 marinas and Lake Lanier Islands. It leases out 40 parks and campgrounds to local governments and other organizations. It's unclear which 11 sites will be closed. RELATED STORIES: 20 parks to close on Lake Lanier These spots on GA rivers and lakes could be closed this summer GA U.S. senator demands Trump administration reopen parks along Lake Lanier over 'reckless' cuts The USACE launched a new website on Thursday where you can see the current status for a recreational area, campground, boat ramp or beaches operated by the agency. You can click here to access it. 'Public safety and service quality continue to be our highest priorities. As we manage available resources, some sites may experience reduced operations or temporary closures. These difficult decisions are based on our ability to ensure visitors have a safe and consistent experience,' Stephen L. Hill, USACE director of Operations and Regulatory Programs, said. 'These decisions are not made lightly because we understand the importance of USACE recreation areas to the public and their vacation plans, especially during the summer season,' he added. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bad River Band argues against federal permit for Line 5 reroute
A billboard promoting Enbridge Inc. (Susan Demas | Michigan Advance) Over two days of hearings this week, members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, environmental advocates and experts testified against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granting a permit to reroute Enbridge's Line 5 oil and natural gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin. The tribe's testimony was one of its last chances to prevent the new pipeline from being installed upstream of its reservation — which the tribe says will harm water quality in the watershed, encourage the growth of invasive species and damage wetlands, diminishing the ability to filter pollutants out of runoff before reaching surface waters. Enbridge insists the reroute plans do everything possible to minimize the environmental effect of pipeline construction and operation while industry groups and labor unions say the project has been vetted to ensure it isn't harmful and that the arguments against the environmental effects of construction could be used to slow down any project in the state, not just those the tribe disagrees with politically. Last year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued its own permits for the company to build the pipeline with more than 200 added conditions to ensure compliance with state standards. Months after the DNR's permit decision, a separate pipeline operated by Enbridge in Wisconsin spilled 69,000 gallons of crude oil in Jefferson County. The tribe is also challenging the DNR's permit determination in a series of hearings later this summer. For decades, Line 5 ran through the tribe's reservation and in 2023 a federal judge ordered that it be shut down. Since 2020, Enbridge has been working on a plan to reroute the pipeline, which runs from far northwest Wisconsin 645 miles into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, under the Straits of Mackinac and across the U.S. border into Canada near Detroit. It transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily. At the hearings this week, the tribe argued that under the Clean Water Act, the Corps shouldn't grant the permits because the tribe has determined the new pipeline will negatively affect its water quality. 'Our people have resided in the Bad River watershed for hundreds of years,' Robert Blanchard, the tribe's chairman, said Tuesday. 'It's our homeland. If the U.S. Army Corps grants these permits, Enbridge is undoubtedly going to destroy and pollute our watershed by trenching, blasting and horizontal drilling across hundreds of upstream wetlands and streams. I'm asking the U.S. Army Corps to think of the people and all the living things this will affect, and to deny the permit for this project.' During Tuesday's testimony, Blanchard added, 'When I look at my homelands, I see it through the eyes of my grandfather, who saw it through the eyes of his grandfather.' Blanchard said he wants his grandchildren to be able to see their homelands through his eyes, too. He recounted boating up the Bad River toward Lake Superior as a boy, catching fish with his elders to eat or to sell at the market. His grandfather taught him to hunt and gather and to this day Blanchard gathers medicinal herbs which are used by his community, he said. He remembers the lumber companies that clear cut the forests, and, he said, some of his loved ones have died of cancer after living near an industrial dump site. 'That was all in the Bad River watershed,' said Blanchard. He stressed that in tribal tradition, all things in nature have spirit, including the water. To the Bad River Band, nature is not only critical to human survival, it is a sacred thing to be protected. In their testimony Tuesday, Enbridge consultants and researchers downplayed concerns about how the pipeline reroute could harm local ecosystems. Just over 118 acres of forest will need to be cleared during construction and turned into a managed grassland. Experts testifying for the company said that the underground pipeline will not act as an underwater dam and disrupt groundwater flow, nor will the explosives used to blast trenches for the pipeline present a danger. Other concerns such as radioactive contamination, PFAS pollution (often called forever chemicals) and arsenic are not used by the project, and have not been detected in the area. Although Enbridge's consultants and experts argued that the project would not violate the Bad River Band's water quality standards, the Band itself disagreed, citing concerns about pollutants, water quantity and quality, hydrology, mineral content and water temperature. Connie Sue Martin, and environmental attorney who testified against the project said the Bad River Band 'is the expert' on water quality in the area, not U.S. government agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Esteban Chiriboga, a geologist with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, testified that the rerouted pipeline's distance from the reservation is irrelevant because contaminants can travel. Using imagery from Laser Imaging, Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology, Chiriboga demonstrated that waterways and flow channels between rivers, creeks and wetlands are interconnected. Others who spoke against the project on Tuesday expressed concerns about the potential for increased runoff, soil erosion, and the spread of invasive species as consequences of the project. On Wednesday, much of the tribe's testimony centered around the ways in which the tribe's members rely on the Bad River and its tributaries. 'You will not find another community so dependent upon subsistence harvesting and dependent upon the health of our environment,' said Dylan Jennings, a member of the tribe and former appointee of Gov. Tony Evers to the state Natural Resources Board. 'Simply put, our community maintains a relationship with the entire ecosystem and not a segmented area, we continue to utilize an entire system approach which naturally extends beyond our reservation boundaries.' During the public comment period of the hearing Wednesday, a number of labor union representatives defended the project as a source of local jobs and environmentally safe. Chad Ward, a representative of the Teamsters Local 346, said members of his union will work on the project and live locally, so they take 'very seriously our commitment to the community and the environment around the construction site.' But, he said, the tribe's complaints could be made about any construction project in the area. 'I and others have grave concerns that the assertions made by the tribe could have impacts well beyond the Line 5 project itself,' Ward said. 'Construction practices considered industry and regulatory best practices for environmental protection are cited as reasons by the tribe for why this project should not proceed, practices that are standard use all over the country' 'They are practices the Band has been fine with for dozens of projects in the same area,' he continued. 'This leaves the impression that these concerns are more based on the political views of the project than the construction method themselves. And while they're entitled to their political views, it is the job of the permitting process to determine if the laws and regulations are being followed, not weigh the political arguments.' After Wednesday, the Army Corps will accept written comments on the permit approval for 30 days and then can make a decision any time after that. The hearings on the legal challenge to the DNR permits begin Aug. 12 in Ashland. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Chicago Tribune
10-03-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Daywatch: DuPage County, sheriff agree to $11M payout for jail death
Good morning, Chicago. DuPage County and county Sheriff James Mendrick have reached an $11 million settlement with the estate of Reneyda Aguilar-Hurtado, a 50-year-old mother who died in June 2023 after being held in the county jail for 85 days while awaiting transfer to a state-run mental health center. The settlement caps a federal lawsuit brought by Aguilar-Hurtado's daughter, Cristal Moreno Aguilar, accusing the county, Mendrick and 11 jail medical staff members or corrections officers of repeatedly failing to act as her mother's health rapidly deteriorated. A county pathologist determined her death was due, in part, to 'medical neglect.' Mendrick, who recently announced his intent to forgo a third term as sheriff and instead seek the Republican nomination for Illinois governor in 2026, declined to comment through his spokesperson. So, too, did County Board Chair Deborah Conroy. 'Reneyda's tragic death never should have happened,' said Michael Mead, an attorney for the family, in a statement. 'It was preventable and the loss that her family experienced cannot be made whole. We hope that the settlement provides justice and some closure for her family.' Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day. DOGE cuts impact U.S. Army Corps Griffith location; lease being terminated As the Department of Government Efficiency continues to make cuts, one Northwest Indiana agency is affected. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Griffith lease will be terminated, according to DOGE's website. The Griffith location's annual lease is $85,467, according to the agency, and the cancellation will lead to $370,357 in total savings. Five years ago, COVID gripped the world in fear. Now local scientists, doctors warn Trump's policies are weakening public health. As the five-year anniversary of the pandemic approaches, the threat of the virus has been drastically reduced, with low rates of transmission and hospitalization across much of the nation. Yet local medical experts and scientists caution against letting down the nation's guard against the ever-evolving virus as well as other health epidemics — and even another potential pandemic — that might emerge in the future. Illinois Democratic lawmakers hear from public frustrated about President Donald Trump's initiatives Across the Chicago area — and, indeed, the country — thousands of people are ramping up their political activity in response to the whirlwind early days of the second Trump administration. Some members of Congress are feeling the public outrage in the sheer volume of people calling their offices, attending virtual gatherings and appearing at rallies and public events. Data from hundreds of thousands of CPS students exposed in recent breach Information from hundreds of thousands of current and former Chicago Public School students has been exposed following a data breach, according to district officials. In a letter to parents Friday, they said there was no evidence suggesting any information had been misused. Some groups want federal protection for Great Lakes gray wolves dropped as role of Endangered Species Act examined Gray wolves represent a success story for conservationists after the species almost went extinct in the lower 48 states by the mid-20th century due to rampant hunting and trapping. They are also an example of how the Endangered Species Act of 1973 has become a political football. Last week, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Committee on Natural Resources argued at an oversight meeting that the Endangered Species Act was an overreach of federal authority and an ambiguous statute, as part of a broader reexamination of conservation laws. Angel Reese is dominating in Unrivaled. Has the league prepared her to take the next step with the Chicago Sky? Unrivaled offers WNBA players plenty of perks — warm weather, shiny new facilities, a lucrative contract without the need to play abroad. But for Angel Reese, the league's most important benefit is the opportunity to develop her game ahead of her second season with the Sky. Reese is dominating in her comfort zone in Unrivaled, averaging 13.3 points and a league-high 12.1 rebounds. But with only one week left in the Unrivaled season, Reese faces a new question: Can that success translate to the WNBA? Column: Chicago Cubs — back as NL Central favorites again — will only go as far as their bullpen takes them The Chicago Cubs enter 2025 as the consensus favorites to win the National League Central, thanks to the addition of Kyle Tucker and a general lack of offseason spending by their division counterparts. While it should be a given considering the team's many resources and big-market status, this is a new feeling for some in the organization, writes Paul Sullivan. Premier League coming to Chicago for Summer Series at Soldier Field Grab your banners and get ready for some English football, Chicago. The Premier League announced it is coming to Soldier Field in July for its Summer Series exhibition tournament, the first time its storied teams will meet head-to-head in Chicago, and the latest high-profile event to put the city on the international sports stage. A timeline of how actor Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa died at their New Mexico home Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, authorities revealed. Here's a timeline of events surrounding the couple's deaths. Chicago Woman's Club led the way on issues from juvenile justice reform to birth control Long before women could vote, the Chicago Woman's Club was a vocal champion of social reform. In 1904, its president offered a newspaper reporter an assessment of the organization that must have seemed candid, or self-serving, depending on the eye of the beholder. 'While men's clubs spend their time drinking, smoking, telling stories, and perhaps gambling, women are planning in their organizations for the establishment of kindergartens and for caring for their unfortunate sisters,' Ellen Martin Henrotin wrote in the Tribune under the headline, 'Superiority of Women's Clubs.' Chicago restaurants and bars with St. Patrick's Day specials With the annual St. Patrick's Day parade and Chicago River dyeing happening at 10 a.m. Saturday and the actual holiday falling Monday, the Windy City is going to be spending a long weekend celebrating its Irish heritage this year. Bars and restaurants are getting into the spirit by serving traditional food, hosting bashes with spectacular riverfront views and bottomless drinks and bringing in Irish musicians and dancers. Wear something green and celebrate St. Patrick's Day Chirish style at one of these 57 spots.
