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The skies over Southeast Michigan have been thick with smoke due to over 200 wildfires burning in Canada. Fire officials have classified roughly half of those as “out of control.”
These fires come with many consequences. They have led to thousands of evacuations, with people leaving their homes under duress. The fires have also released vast plumes of smoke, degrading air quality across the American Midwest.
Health experts warn that wildfire smoke poses risks not just to vulnerable groups, but to everyone. Fine particulate matter in the smoke can enter the lungs and bloodstream, leading to serious health issues.
To discuss the health impacts of wildfire smoke and the broader implications for public health, Dr. Omer Awan joined The Metro.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline has been fueling debate for decades.
It carries millions of gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids each day from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario. A critical segment of this pipeline lies exposed on the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac.
It’s a location University of Michigan scientists call the “worst possible place” for an oil spill. That’s because of strong currents that could rapidly spread contaminants across the Great Lakes.
Now, Enbridge wants to build a $500 million dollar tunnel deep under the lakebed to shield the pipeline, prevent an oil spill, and repair aging infrastructure. A new environmental report from the Army Corps of Engineers says it will likely accomplish these things.
But that would come at a cost. Habitats could be destroyed, wildlife disrupted, and tribal rights threatened.
Meanwhile, legal fights continue. Michigan’s governor and Indigenous communities want Line 5 shut down, citing environmental and treaty violations.
Enbridge insists federal law protects the pipeline.
The Army Corps of Engineers is asking people to weigh in on its new report about the tunnel project through the end of the month.
So, it’s a good time to ask: is this tunnel a safe solution or a continuation of something that violates indigenous rights and threatens the environment?
Andrew Buchsbaum, an expert on environmental law at the University of Michigan, has been part of the movement to stop Line 5. He joined The Metro to discuss the new report.
The Metro invited an Enbridge spokesperson to discuss Line 5 and its proposed oil tunnel, but didn’t hear back before the show’s air date.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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Canadian wildfire smoke that blew into the Great Lakes region is expected to clear from northern Michigan this weekend — at least for now.
The Michigan Air Quality Division said Thursday morning that the heavy smoke across the Upper Peninsula was already clearing out. Earlier in the week, there were unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter in the air across parts of the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, with smoke settling here for days before moving further south.
While division forecasters expect Friday to be the last day for advisories from this round of smoke, they said it was too early to put out a firm forecast much beyond that: “There is still a considerable amount of smoke in Canada and the models are indicating a late weekend frontal system could draw down more smoke, next week.”
The state has been issuing air quality alerts for much of the region. As of Thursday, there were still advisories across the Lower Peninsula for sensitive groups, including people with health issues like asthma.
People can take measures to protect their health, such as limiting outdoor activities, closing windows, and running air conditioners with high-quality filters.
This is the latest in a series of intense wildfire seasons fueled by dry conditions in Canada, resulting in smoky springs and summers in the Midwest.
“For the last few years, you’ve combined what has been somewhat persistent wildfire problems in Canada with an air flow that is moving some of that air from Canada down into the United States,” said Jim Keysor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord.
It can be difficult to predict how far-away wildfires will affect air quality in different regions, since smoke is influenced by factors like wind, pressure systems, weather fronts and geography.
“Wherever the wind blows, the smoke is going to go,” said Alec Kownacki, a meteorologist with Michigan’s Air Quality Division. “And at different levels of the atmosphere you can have differing wind directions.”
Over the past week, low pressure systems funneled smoke from fires in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba toward the upper Midwest.
“Along with that wind shift, a cold front came through. And what happens on the back end of a cold front — you have a lot of air sinking,” Kownacki said.
Local weather patterns also have an influence. While rain can help improve air quality, the rain that swept across parts of the region earlier this week actually pushed smoke down toward the earth, Keysor said, making exposure more likely.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires was visible from Traverse City drifting across Grand Traverse Bay in May 2024.
“It’s actually helping to bring down some of that smoke that’s higher up into the atmosphere, which normally would have been way up there,” he said. “That wouldn’t have bothered us a whole lot.”
One positive, Keysor added, was that modeling for smoke forecasts has become more accessible in the National Weather Service offices in recent years. Their smoke forecasts are informed by state data.
“The programmers that were putting some of those models together began to look at that [smoke] parameter a little bit more and to make it a product that we could view more readily,” he said. The weather models they use are improving. “We’re able to see more of it than we used to.”
The heavy smoke that was hanging across the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan has now moved further south, including around Lansing.
“It’s wreaking havoc for us down here right now,” said Kownacki, who is based there.
Conditions are expected to improve across much of the state over the next few days, but there may be more smoke from the fires in the near future.
A new study highlights the importance of removing “forever chemicals” from drinking water.
What are PFAS?
PFAS are chemicals that take a long time to break down in the environment. They can also build up in the human body and cause a variety of health problems.
Researchers took blood samples from people living near a contaminated site in southwest Michigan. They compared PFAS levels in those who drank city water to people who have private wells.
Courtney Carignan is an environmental researcher at Michigan State University. She says PFAS turned up in people’s blood three years after officials cleaned up the water.
“We still saw higher levels of PFAS in the blood of our participants who drank higher levels of contaminated water compared to those who had much lower levels in their water,” she said.
Scientists have been evaluating the impacts of PFAS for years. Carignan says this study is the first of its kind.
“No other studies really have looked at exposure from other sources like paper mills,” she said. “There are a lot of other types of industries that have used PFAS in the past, or may still currently be using PFAS, and there just really aren’t a lot of studies looking at those kinds of communities and releases.”
“These interventions to reduce PFAS in drinking water are really important,” she said. “The higher the level is in the drinking water for these PFAS, the more kinds of health effects you would see in the population.”
State lawmakers propose testing
Michigan has its own PFAS standards and is taking steps to protect people.
State Sen. Mark Huizenga (R-Walker) and Rep. Julie Rogers (D-Kalamazoo) proposed bills to test children for PFAS. They are SB 298 and HB 4499.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
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