Gary Wilson

Rousseau’s The Social Contract. The Right of the Strongest. “Surely it must be admitted that might does not make right, and that the duty of obedience is owed only to legitimate power.”

Who pays for keeping a coal plant running in West Michigan? @carol-thompson.bsky.social reports.

Michiganders had high hopes for the environment when Gretchen Whitmer was elected. She ran on a strong environmental agenda. But she's mostly disappointed except for a few issues. Here, two veteran environmental advocates share priorities for the new governor in 2027.
www.google.com/search?q=ski...

Uncertainty looms for Great Lakes protection and restoration It's been a generation since the health of the Great Lakes became a federal priority. Some success but bi-partisan support in Congress will be tested

Since its launch in 2004, support for Great Lakes restoration in Washington has been bipartisan. By that measure, the neglect of remediating the millions of cubic yards of toxic sediment that remains in the Detroit River has been bi-partisan too. More here.
garyglx5.substack.com/p/uncertaint...

Uncertainty looms for Great Lakes protection and restoration It's been a generation since the health of the Great Lakes became a federal priority. Some success but bi-partisan support in Congress will be tested

Uncertainty looms for Great Lakes restoration and protection. Some success on restoration to date but purported bi-partisan support will now be tested. The easy part has been done.
garyglx5.substack.com/p/uncertaint...

Trump Is Spoiling for a Fight over Canadian Potash | The Walrus The fertilizer that feeds America is key to the president’s next confrontation with Ottawa

Friday quiz. What does Canada have an abundance of that the U.S. can't live without? And it's not abundantly available elsewhere. h/t @greatlakesscribe.bsky.social
thewalrus.ca/trump-is-spo...

Lawmakers and conservationists marvel at how a massive cash infusion could help the Great Salt Lake • Utah News Dispatch President Donald Trump's interest in the Great Salt Lake is inviting praise from legislators and skepticism from a clean-air advocate.

A recurring story: Arid western state (Utah) desperate for water talks tapping far away sources. Previously the Great Lakes now Canada. Gov. makes a pitch to Trump for help.
utahnewsdispatch.com/2026/02/25/h...

SOTU. Didn't watch it and haven't read it. Read two commentaries, presumably Liberal Moira Donegan in The Guardian & Conservative Nolan Finley in the Det News. Both said last night should be the last SOTU. Donegan noting that it isn't in the Constitution, which only requires a periodic prez update.

Inside journalistic baseball. Post Covid when online press events became the norm, I put a question in the chat and the moderator read a diluted version of it. The response didn't come close to an answer and no follow ups. Never again online, I said. Ystrdy I made an exception, same result. Damn!

Great Lakes funding then and now A look back to 2017 and a tease for where to from here

In Trump's first budget in 2017 he threatened funding for the Great Lakes. Now he has turned the EPA's mission up side down. Here, a 2017 report I filed for Great Lakes Now with a tease on more to come. Note, Great Lakes advocates head to D.C. next week to lobby.
open.substack.com/pub/garyglx5...

The puck drops soon.

Not a fan of books about sports but, an exception. The backdrop is the U.S. and Canada play for Olympic Gold this a.m.

Three who resist group think and don't always believe their own press releases A minor memo on challenging the status quo

ICYMI: There's not a lot of independent thinking these days. Group think dominates on Great Lakes issues, witness the Ann Arbor/Chicago bubble. So here, three who are willing to break the mold even if alienating like-minded colleagues.
garyglx5.substack.com/p/three-who-...

Bsky friends. Can I just stipulate that I've seen every possible photo of your sunrises, sunsets, Full Moons and cloud formations possible. From both coasts and oceans and the Great Lakes.

The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche [Krist, Gary] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche

The power of avalanches. The tragic avalanche in California reminded me of the 1910 avalanche in the Washington Cascades that enveloped two trains taking 96 lives. 2008 book chronicled the event.
www.amazon.com/White-Cascad...

Three who resist group think and don't always believe their own press releases A minor memo on challenging the status quo

Three who resist group think and don't always believe their own press releases. "“We have to stop talking about EVs as if they are environmentally friendly. They are not..."
open.substack.com/pub/garyglx5...

‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?

A long, sobering read on our addiction to plastics. "Lies about recycling." Quick take: Confirms what I always thought about recycling, it's a crutch. A distraction from the main issue, gross consumption. No paywall.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

YouTube video by The New York Times The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek: Disaster on the Mountain | The New York Times

Reading about missing off trail skiers in massive Lake Tahoe snow storms reminded me of this 2011 NYT doc on a similar tragedy in Washington's Cascades. Three experienced skiers died. Includes body cam footage inside the avalanche. That skier survived.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzT...

Federal employees hit streets in Great Lakes region to protest government shutdown - Great Lakes Now Demonstrations against the government shutdown led by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), took place just steps from the EPA’s Great Lakes Region headquarters.

Jesse Jackson, part 2. My 2019 report for @greatlakesnow.bsky.social where federal EPA workers protest government shutdown in Chicago. Scroll down for a brief video of Jackson chanting with furloughed EPA staff.
www.greatlakesnow.org/2019/01/15/f...

Jesse Jackson, 1941-2026. My 2019 photo as he joined a rally in Chicago in support of government workers.

YouTube video by wayydowneast Jefferson Airplane Live at the Fillmore 10/14/1966 (Late)

Looking back, best band intro. A deadpanned Bill Graham at the Fillmore. ‘Leader of the opposition, Jefferson Airplane.’
youtu.be/DRIG7IHYml8?...

The energy boom is coming for Great Lakes water. Is Michigan ready? - Bridge Michigan How the region powers its growth will determine the future of the Great Lakes.

Quick fact check. It was Whitmer and Granholm as Biden's Energy Sec who pushed the re-start of the aged Palisades nuke plant in MI with a $1.5B fed loan. Not the current D.C. regime.
@bridgemi.com @greatlakesnow.bsky.social
bridgemi.com/michigan-env...

This EPA action begs the question - with pollution continuing apace - why are we continuing to invest $$ billions restoring the Great Lakes? #GRLI

EPA delays coal ash cleanup at Northwest Indiana sites A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency delay will affect coal ash sites nationwide, including two in Northwest Indiana. On Feb. 6, the EPA issued a rule that would give Coal Combustion Residual…

A year ago US EPA launched a Five Pillar mission statement that included "energy dominance." Here's how it works in NW Indiana near Lake Michigan. 'EPA delays coal ash cleanup at Northwest Indiana sites'

No risk to public from stored Manhattan Project waste: Wayne Disposal trial witness A witness at the Wayne Disposal trial testifies that radioactive waste shipments to the Van Buren Township landfill pose no public safety risk.

Worth noting legal proceeding in process in Michigan concerning shipping radioactive waste from New York to Michigan for storage. If there's no public health risk the judge asks, why ship it to Michigan? @brianallnutt.bsky.social reports for @planetdetroit.org.
planetdetroit.org/2026/02/manh...

Report: Michigan-Canada bridge delay could cost up to $7M per week - Bridge Michigan Delayed opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge would cost Canadian and US taxpayers, while indirectly affecting the auto industry, according to an analysis that follows President Trump’s thre...

Note the contrast in this photo. The future, the Gordie Howe Bridge. Lower left, Zug Island and aged steel mill remnants from the peak industrial era. Some long time ago I worked there.
bridgemi.com/business-wat...

Recycling going strong Old problems becoming new again

Veteran Great Lakes policy expert and scribe chronicles the inertia related to environmental issues that surface, are paid lip service and fade away only to resurface a decade or two later. Then repeat. open.substack.com/pub/dempseyd...

Olympics, women's Super G skiing. Crazy good in the fog. Italy, Gold. France, Silver. Austria, Bronze.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_rt...

Heads up on two books due for a May release. Earth for Sale: The Fight to Stop the Last Plunder of the Planet, by Canada's Maude Barlow. And The Environmental Republic: Why Citizens Will Save the World by Oxford scholar Giulio Boccaletti. High hopes for both based on previous works.

Bill would hold data centers responsible for energy costs and environmental protections Proposal would increase local accountability by setting water and electricity reporting requirements and water efficiency standards, and ensure community engagement.

Illinois advocates, legislators tee up bill to protect Great Lakes and groundwater from massive data center water consumption. Industry exec says the state's regulatory environment is "challenging" and the state is a "declining data center market."
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/11/i...