The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeks to approve a request from Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) to redesignate what qualifies as safe ozone levels in the Detroit region. 

The change would redesignate the region as meeting federal ozone standards after years of strict standards.

EPA Regional Administrator Anne Vogel says the change is partially due to reductions in air pollution. “Redesignations lead to faster and more predictable air permitting processes, while existing pollution controls continue to drive improvements in air quality,” Vogel says. 

Environmental advocates like Nick Leonard disagree. Leonard is executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center.

He says ozone air pollution in the region is still above the health-based standard set by the EPA. 

“It’s been consistently above the air quality standard for the past 10 years,” Leonard says. “The EPA is nonetheless justifying its decision to find that air quality is attaining the standard… because they’re pinning the blame for a few high ozone days on wildfire smoke from the last few years.”

Officials say the change will ease the permitting process for industrial projects, which could help the region’s economy. 

Public comment on the proposal is open until Aug. 27.

Officials in Oakland County and Pontiac are celebrating the completion of a $3 million renovation of Pontiac Oaks Park, turning a once-neglected city park into a cleaner, more welcoming place for families to enjoy. 

The park, previously called Hawthorne Park, had problems with illegal trash dumping and run down facilities. Oakland County Parks Planning Supervisor Simon Rivers explains that the county worked closely with local residents to find out what improvements the community really wanted. 

“There was a lot of trash and illegal dumping,” Rivers said. “The fishing pier was in bad shape, and the playground was falling apart in several spots.” 

The county partnered with the city to restore the area. Pontiac will keep ownership of the park, while the county takes over maintenance and construction of new facilities. 

Rivers mentions that upgrades include fixing up the popular fishing pier, renovating the bathrooms, adding new playground equipment, and expanding the disc golf course. 

“We’re making improvements that the community actually wants to see, instead of trying to do things we think are best,” Rivers said. 

Pontiac Oaks is one of several parks being renewed across the county. 

Rivers also says there are plans to improve parks in Southfield, Madison Heights, and Waterford.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Michigan’s air quality declined dangerously earlier this month due to wildfire smoke from Minnesota and Canada. 

Pollutants in the smoke can have long-term health consequences for humans, pets, and wildlife. However, for trees themselves the health effects are less consequential.  

Wayne State University forestry professor Dan Kashian says that while our tree canopy is important for converting carbon dioxide into life-supporting oxygen, days or even weeks of heavy smoke plumes is unlikely to harm Michigan’s trees. He says the main effect would be on the amount of sunlight on smokey days. 

Kashian says,  “Trees need to photosynthesize…anything that affects the amount of light that they’re receiving is going to affect how well they can grow.”

According to Kashian, harmful pollutants from wildfire smoke can settle on leaves but are often washed away by rain without lasting harm to the tree’s health.  

“But when you’re talking about a couple of days of heavy smoke like this, especially when it’s hot, it can actually help them because they don’t really like really high temperatures either,” Kashian says.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Oakland County Parks and Bloomfield Hills Schools are working together to turn natural areas into public parks.

Officials say that this partnership is designed to protect the sites for the long term, give more residents easier access and keep school programs going.

Oakland County Parks Director Chris Ward and Bloomfield Hills Schools Superintendent Rick West say the plan will make the land more open to the community while preserving a special natural area in a suburban neighborhood.

Since Bloomfield Hills doesn’t have any public parks, this change is a big deal for local residents. Sites like the Johnson Nature Center may eventually connect to walking paths, including a safe route through the city. 

Students already use these sites for their lessons. A fifth-grade class took a field trip to the Johnson Nature Center recently to learn about the local watershed.

West says the center is a valuable natural area in the midst of the highly developed community. “It’s… nature at its best, right here, nestled in Bloomfield Township, and our students get to benefit from it. Our community gets to benefit from it, and that’s the richness of the partnership [with Oakland County Parks],” he says.

This agreement is a teamwork effort between the school district and the parks department, aimed at benefiting both recreation and education for students, local residents, and the entire county.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy announced a statewide Air Quality Alert for Wednesday, July 15. 

Smoke from Canadian wildfires is expected to spread across the state. This will likely cause higher levels of air pollution which can be harmful to health.

EGLE stated that thick smoke from wildfires north of Minnesota will start reaching the Upper Peninsula overnight and then spread south across the Lower Peninsula during the day and into the evening Wednesday.

Dr. Youcheng Liu, who is with Wayne State University, said people should check the Air Quality Index (AQI) before going outside.

“Even moderate levels are a concern. But if the AQI goes above 100, it’s considered heavy pollution, which everyone should pay attention to.”

Health officials recommend that residents, especially children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with asthma, COPD, heart disease, or other breathing problems, should avoid strenuous outdoor activities while the alert is in effect.

Liu explained that the main worry is the presence of PM2.5, tiny particles from wildfire smoke that can penetrate deep into the lungs and increase the chances of lung and heart problems.

To stay safe, Liu suggests limiting outdoor time, avoiding intense exercise outside, keeping windows and doors closed, using indoor air circulation instead of bringing in outdoor air, and running air purifiers if you have them. 

He says those who need to spend time outside should consider wearing a mask rated N95 or higher for better protection.

Michigan residents can check local air conditions on the EGLE MiAir Quality Index Dashboard, AirNow, weather apps that show AQI numbers, or by signing up for Michigan’s EnviroFlash alert system.

Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development says the spread of hemlock woolly adelgid along Lake Michigan is increasing. Native to East Asia, hemlock woolly adelgid is an invasive insect that attacks Hemlock trees, feeding on their sap and killing them between 4 and 10 years of infestation.

According to the MDARD, it’s been detected in Allegan, Antrim, Benzie, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa, Van Buren, and Washtenaw counties. 

Rob Miller is the Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MDARD) invasive species prevention and response specialist. Miller has played a crucial role in slowing the insect’s spread across the state. 

“Hemlock woolly adelgid really became a problem… between 2015 and 2017. It was [unintentionally] brought into the state on nursery stock that was infested with hemlock woolly adelgid [and] there are no native predators or diseases to keep [their] populations in check,” Miller says. 

While infestations have been found at the University of Michigan’s Nichols Arboretum, Miller is not overly concerned for Southeast Michigan. He says Southeast Michigan’s climate isn’t suited for hemlock trees, so the area doesn’t have a large population of them to worry about.

However, Miller is very concerned for the infestations detected in the west and northern regions of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, where there are hundreds of hemlock trees. 

Treatment for hemlock woolly adelgid 

Unfortunately, Miller says the infestation is too far along and too widespread for eradication to be an option for MDARD. One way the state  is supporting this effort is by funding local conservation districts that have Cooperative, Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA) programs. Miller says this partnership gives local conservation districts more resources to directly treat and prevent hemlock woolly adelgid infestations. 

For property owners, there are two different insecticides to treat hemlock woolly adelgid infestations: imidacloprid and dinotefuran. 

Miller differentiates these chemicals by the speed they move through trees; imidacloprid moves slowly and protects the tree for longer, and dinotefuran moves quicker and protects the tree for a couple of years. 

Both insecticides are neonioctinoids, which are harmful among pollinators. However, Miller explains that application techniques reduces the environmental risk of these chemicals.

“You’re applying [insecticide to protect hemlock trees] either directly to the trunk of the tree or you’re actually injecting it in the tree. You’re not spraying it all over the place…shooting it out of a high pressure hose [or] using a mist system,” he says.”

“So, when it’s applied to the tree properly, it’s very targeted and that chemical is then actually inside the tree, and we don’t have any runoff.” 

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Public access to the Wayne County Airport Authority’s monthly meetings has changed, according to officials and an inside source. The move follows public opposition to the use of Willow Run Airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation-related flights earlier this year.

In February, the WCAA ended an option for the public to attend monthly meetings remotely while keeping the option available for some employees.

Officials say the decision to end remote attendance is meant to prioritize those who attend the meeting in-person and is a part of a broader shift to the Authority’s pre-pandemic policy. However, an inside source says the change is a reaction to strong public opposition against the use of Willow Run Airport for ICE deportation flights.

An anonymous whistleblower shared internal communication with WDET that shows while the public will be barred from attending public meetings remotely, some employees will still be offered the option. Those employees must first be vetted by the officials before receiving a unique, traceable link to attend. 

The source also tells WDET that public comment had previously been moved to the end of each monthly meeting, raising concerns that the change will limit public input before major decisions are made. 

Under the Freedom of Information Act, WDET requested all flight activity records, agreements, contracts, communications, and financial records related to the use of Willow Run Airport by ICE.

The airport authority is charging WDET $7,991.68 for the information.

Tensions erupted at the Oakland County Board of Commissioners meeting as residents objected to the approval of a controversial Flock surveillance contract.

Public comment was halted after the crowd began calling for the recall of Board Chair Dave Woodward. WXYZ found that he visited Flock Safety’s headquarters last fall, a trip paid for by the surveillance company that he did not disclose prior to voting on the contract.

West Bloomfield resident Ellie Mosher said speakers were skipped during the comment period, prompting outcry from attendees before Woodward called a recess.

Residents attending the meeting already have reason to feel unheard. “They have had meetings regarding budgets that we are not have access to. That is not public record when it very much should be,” said Mosher.

Mosher is worried about Oakland County becoming a surveillance state with Flock cameras. “We’re seeing them pop up more and more. They can record. They use infrared light to be able to see at night, see license plates, see people’s faces through sunglasses, through clothing, through hats.”

This disruption follows criticism of a previous meeting where residents say commissioners approved Flock surveillance drones before allowing public input.

—WDET’s Natalie Albrecht contributed to this report.

Activists in Ypsilanti Township keep fighting to halt a data center development associated with nuclear weapons research.

Stop the Data Center members gathered following an anonymous tip about a potential groundbreaking ceremony in South Hydro Park in Ypsi Township. So far, construction details for the $1.2 billion data center have been kept under wraps by University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory officials. 

Elizabeth Jordan is a spokesperson with Stop the Data Center. She says the facility will have several buildings, including one for nuclear weapons research that will need so much energy that a new DTE substation will need to be built on location. 

“One of the buildings will account for 10% of the energy, serving as a small data center for University of Michigan to lease, while the remaining 90% will power a much larger, top-secret military data center authorized for Los Alamos to conduct nuclear weapons research,” says Jordan.

Local officials are also against the data center’s construction in Ypsilanti Township. Jordan says the political influence of the University of Michigan could move the project forward despite existing zoning restrictions and widespread local opposition. 

Jordan says Stop the Data will continue to monitor the site closely, and host monthly public meetings. 

“[Stop the Data Center] is on Instagram…we also have big monthly meetings. The next one is May 9 at 2 p.m… it’s in North Hydro Park, right across the river,” Jordan says. 

The U.S. Forest Service is shutting down all four of its research centers in Michigan as part of a nationwide reorganization, sparking concerns about the future health of forests in the Great Lakes.

According to environmental advocates, the closure could increase problems like invasive pests and diseases, as well as harm wildlife, outdoor recreation, and forest biomes. 

Emma Shedd is with the Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter. She says the importance of these research centers cannot be ignored.

“It is a big deal….there are a lot of impacts that we can expect to see [like layoffs and loss of skilled research staff]…we can [also] expect to see a much weaker agency, and that trickles down to a lack of regional research to support our forests here [in Michigan].” 

Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service study forest health, monitor invasive species, and collect long-term data that help both federal and state agencies make decisions. Shedd says this includes a nationwide program which guides actions about logging, wildlife habitats, water quality, and outdoor activities.

Without these facilities, she says, a lot of that work could be reduced or lost. 

Shedd says, “Forest management is a long term game…we’ve got rotations of 60 to 80 to 100 years going on in our forest, and so having a lack of management now…has effects that span whole lifetimes.” 

She says Michigan residents who oppose the drastic cuts to the U.S. Forest Service should call their representatives. “This is something that we really need to push back on for… the health of our forests in the long term,” Shedd says.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.