The Environment Report

Earlier this month most of the counties in Michigan were designated disaster areas for agriculture. Michigan is the largest producer of tart cherries in the nation and this year, the state lost 90 percent of its crop.Ben LaCross is one of the many farmers who is trying to cope in what is known to be the Cherry Capital of the world. He manages 750 acres of cherries in Leelanau County, just outside Traverse City.While walking through his cherry orchard next to his family’s home he points out that there are zero cherries on the trees when usually around this time of year, each of his trees would be holding 50 to 100 pounds of the crop.

The hot, dry weather we've been having is hitting home.  Some Michigan cities are asking residents to water street trees.  We'll hear what you can do on your own property.  And... a lot of Michiganders have an emotional connection to the idea of "up north." Kyle Norris explores why northern Michigan has such a strong hold on so many of us.

Scientists need data... and somebody has to go out and get it.  We’ll meet a guy who walks around gathering data on every tree on city property in Detroit.  We’ll hear why he’s doing this enormous task.

There’s copper in the brake pads in our cars.  It turns out that copper wears off when we drive and gets into rivers.  And that’s bad for salmon.  Two states have banned copper in brake pads.

We’ll talk with the director of a new documentary, The City Dark. It’s about our love affair with brightly lit cities – and how not being able to see the starry night sky might not be so good for us.

The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant near South Haven has one of the worst safety records in the country.  It’s been shut down to repair a leaky water tank.  A group of special federal investigators has just launched an investigation into that leaking tank.It turns out the company that runs the plant knew the leak was happening for more than a year.

Enbridge Energy wants to replace one of its pipelines to carry more tar sands oil.  The federal government is examining whether that kind of oil could damage pipelines.  Some critics say it’s too early for a new pipeline to be built, and they want to wait for the results of that study.  We’ll hear why Enbridge says it doesn’t treat tar sands oil any differently from regular crude.

The Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs coalition wants to increase the state’s renewable energy standard to 25 percent by 2025. That would mean that a quarter of all the energy used in Michigan would come from renewable sources like the wind and sun. The coalition is trying to collect enough signatures to put the issue before voters in November.  We'll hear why some groups are opposed to this idea.And... bee experts hosted the first-ever Bee Palooza on Michigan State University's campus this past weekend. They wanted to show people the impact pollinators have on our food - and teach people how to create habitat for native bees in their own backyards. 

Migratory birds can get confused at night by the lights on communications towers... and often they can be killed.  We’ll hear about the solution that scientists, industry and government came up with.