Environment

After a failure of safety systems, it appears some of the mercury spilled at our wastewater treatment plant probably ended up in a Lansing landfill.

Where do BWL’s standards come from? Where do Consumers Energy’s come from? How do they differ?

Debris pick-up from the July 8 storm is wrapping up and DPW is returning to normal operations. What will happen to all those downed trees, what will the cleanup cost, and can residents get help with replanting trees along the street? We found out.

With temperatures expected to exceed 90 degrees over the course of several days this week, the City of East Lansing has asked us to remind residents to keep the following safety tips in mind.

These tips were adapted from the American Red Cross, and provided to us by the City:

1. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids.

2. Wear loose-fitting, lightweight, light-colored clothing.

3. Slow down, stay indoors when possible and avoid strenuous exercise during the hottest part of the day.

Above: Tree-trimming trucks out in the Glencairn neighborhood today, following Friday’s storm

With electrical provider BWL and East Lansing resident Richard Crittenden still unable to agree on the right way to trim a mature silver maple in Crittenden’s yard, Ingham County Judge Clinton Canady will soon be going out to look at the tree himself.

East Lansing’s Department of Public Works will continue for at least another week to pick-up trees and tree limbs downed by Friday’s storm according to City Manager George Lahanas. Speaking at City Council’s meeting last night, Lahanas praised City employees and residents for coming together to deal with the aftermath of the storm. He asked residents to continue to get downed vegetation to the curb.

When East Lansing’s City Council voted unanimously to offer a much less lucrative tax abatement than the developer of a local solar project asked, some were worried that the Council’s decision would kill the project. But asked by ELi about whether the project proposed by Inovateus Solar is going forward, the City Manager’s office confirmed this morning that it is.

East Lansing’s City Council voted unanimously tonight to give a tax abatement to a company seeking to build a large solar array on MSU’s campus—but the abatement was not nearly as big as the company and two council members were hoping.

Above: an artist’s rendering of a solar array project from the application for the tax exemption

A Michigan-based company wants to install a large solar array at MSU, and its request for a related tax exemption from the City of East Lansing is causing debate at City Council.

Above: an East Lansing basement floor drain through which sewer back-up has occurred

The City wants you to know that, if a sewer backs up into the drains in your East Lansing home and creates a big mess, odds are high the City will not help you financially and that your homeowner’s insurance will be inadequate to managing the cost of cleanup. That’s the message of a brochure recently distributed by the City on basement flooding.

This Saturday, June 4^th, the City of East Lansing invites residents to bring their hard-to-recycle items to the Abbott Center to be reused, recycled, or disposed of properly. This annual event began over 20 years ago as a community clean up effort organized by community members, and continues to grow larger every year.

A reader wrote to ask ELi: “Why the heck did MSU cut down all of the trees at the Abbot Road entrance?”