It may take years to fully clear the damage from a historic ice storm. Some debris will be turned into biomass and converted into energy. One firm is using fallen trees to help power 38,000 homes.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. At a giant dirt lot off a side road in Emmet County, the air smells sharply of pine. Enormous piles of logs and branches sit around the property.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested an emergency declaration from President Donald Trump for the state, 12 counties, and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians following the historic ice storm that hit northern Michigan. If granted, up to $5 million from the federal government would be made available to help northern Michigan clean up and recover.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. The federal review of the Line 5 tunnel project will be sped up under new emergency permitting procedures announced by the Army Corps of Engineers this week. Those procedures were established under President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring a national energy emergency, which cleared the way for energy projects to receive emergency status.

The Trump administration disinvited two Canadian mayors from a Great Lakes event in Washington and the president has mentioned “revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations.”

The tribes are concerned with an anticipated fast-tracking of the tunnel permit. The Army Corps of Engineers says it will consider comments from tribes as it prepares an environmental impact statement.