The Great Lakes region is in the midst of a seismic energy shakeup, from skyrocketing data center demand and a nuclear energy boom, to expanding renewables and electrification. In 2026, the Great Lakes News Collaborative is exploring how shifting supply and demand affect the region and its waters.
This story is part of the Great Lakes News Collaborative‘s latest series on rising energy demand and the future of the Great Lakes
The collaborative’s five newsrooms — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal — are funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
Michigan lawmakers may fund last-ditch effort to save whitefish
Originally published by Bridge Michigan As lake whitefish teeter on the brink of collapse in the lower Great Lakes, Michigan lawmakers are considering investing in a last-ditch effort to save the iconic species before it’s too late. An appropriations bill under consideration in the Democrat-controlled state Senate would allocate money to the Michigan Department of Natural…
As affordability issues surge, is it finally time for offshore wind?
By Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now Covering an area the size of the United Kingdom and surrounded by half a dozen large, energy-hungry metropolitan regions, the Great Lakes, surprisingly, boasts not a single offshore wind energy project. We know that the resource and the demand are there. But no offshore wind effort has ever taken off.…
Trump has an energy ‘tiger team.’ Carney’s fast-tracking office ‘operates similarly,’ docs say
By Carl Meyer; Originally published by The Narwhal Summary Prime Minister Mark Carney’s special office for speeding up major projects “operates similarly” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s energy “tiger team,” according to internal Canadian government records. The comparison between Carney’s Major Projects Office and the president’s National Energy Dominance Council, or NEDC, are contained in…
Northern Michigan’s Extreme Climate Disaster
On April 7, 2026, a light drizzle began to fall from the dark clouds over the forests of Michigan’s lower peninsula. A spring rain, nothing especially unusual in a region of uncommonly clean lakes, the magnificent shorelines of two Great Lakes, over a dozen rivers supporting healthy fisheries, and so many places of solitude serenaded…
Senate Overturns Ban On Mining Near Boundary Waters Wilderness
The U.S. Senate in April 16 voted to overturn a 20-year ban on mining on federal forest near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The vote draws Chilean-owned Twin Metals a step closer to gaining permits to open an underground copper mine near Ely, Minnesota, close to the protected wilderness. The resolution, sponsored by Minnesota Republican…
Stalled Farm Bill, Slashed Grants Undercut Farmers’ Water Protection Efforts
More than two years have passed since the Agriculture Improvement Act — better known as the Farm Bill — expired, leaving the nation’s primary agricultural policy framework in a state of prolonged uncertainty. The bill, which steers the economics, logistics, and environmental priorities of America’s food production and land and water use, is one of…
Executive Order Puts Oldest Polluting Coal Plants Back in Action
Until May 2025, utility executives like those at Consumers Energy in Michigan operated in the world of orderly oversight of electricity generation. In coordination with MISO, the regional transmission agency, and the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), Consumers Energy decided when to build new power plants to meet energy demand. When plants grew old and…
EPA Reversal Opens the Door to More Mercury Pollution
The practice of reporting on the environment starts with a working knowledge of a range of scientific disciplines. One of them is chemistry. To wit: since the 1960s, when Americans and visionary lawmakers voted to hold polluters accountable for their wastes, a specific chemical pollutant has emerged in each decade as the leading environmental and…
Consumers seeks to delay millions in flood control upgrades as it pursues dam sales
Consumers Energy is looking to delay hundreds of millions of dollars in planned safety upgrades at the largest dam in Michigan while it seeks approval of a hotly-debated plan to sell the facility and 12 others. In a filing March 16, the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to put off a long-planned $350 million replacement…
The Great Lakes Are Wasting a Massive Source of Clean Energy
The energy system in the Great Lakes region, as in most parts of North America, is wasteful. Stupendously wasteful. Consider these data points. Two-thirds of the energy generated by the 2,100-megawatt Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, east of Toronto, comes in the form of heat, not electricity. The excess heat is transferred to cooling water that…
