This is the first article in our “Shockwave” project, a series of reports that will investigate the rapid evolution of the energy landscape in the Great Lakes region and the consequences the new era will have for one of the world’s largest reserves of fresh water. Produced by the five partners of the Great Lakes News Collaborative — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal — Shockwave will document the depth and breadth of the region’s energy transformation and its influence on water use and pollution.

Those for and those against constructing a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac are making their cases. A comment period for the necessary permits from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy ends this Friday.

The upgraded system stretches between roughly Port Huron and Monroe, along Lake Saint Clair between Lakes Huron and Erie. Water treatment plant operators can now continuously monitor water for signs of potential contamination.

Cigarette butts are one of the most common kind of plastic pollution found on Great Lakes beaches.

A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council found contamination from neonicotinoid pesticides exceeding federal standards in Michigan waterways.

A circuit court judge in Lansing has denied a request by Enbridge to put a hold on the state court case filed by Attorney General Dana Nessel. The AG took Enbridge to court six years ago.

A number of deteriorating dams have been torn down and streams restored. It's expensive, and Michigan's budget is facing challenges.

The International Joint Commission has issued a draft report on Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes, a ten-year review on the consumptive use, diversion, and removal of water from the Great Lakes.

Long a threat to southern Ontario lakes, climate change is allowing cyanobacteria -or blue-green algae- to thrive in even the coldest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior.

Michigan's environment department found new detections of 1,4-Dioxane in residential wells in Scio Township. Washtenaw County says these wells have been tested before, but the state has lowered its level for reporting dioxane.