The Edenville Dam’s failure, following decades of warnings from regulators who warned the dam had structural deficiencies, presents a case study in what happens when America’s aging infrastructure collides with a broken regulatory system that is largely powerless to force changes at unsafe dams. —
Kelly House
Science experts believe Michigan’s ongoing high water crisis will repeat with increasing frequency as climate change alters weather patterns in the Great Lakes region. That makes coastal land use policy — a longtime blind spot in Michigan — more important than ever. —
Kelly House
As Michigan’s overfilled lakes wreak havoc on shoreline infrastructure, state regulators have granted record numbers of permits to armor the harden with seawalls, boulders and other armor. But at best, those structures are short-term fixes. And they come at a long-term price, worsening erosion over time and breaking up the sandy beaches that bring in tourists. —