Amy Larsen / Lake Superior Magazine
Soo Locks
Michigan governor pushes for new Sault Ste. Marie lock
Rick Snyder called on congressional representatives this week to support the decades-long struggle to build a second lock on the St. Marys River for the biggest lakers.
Todd Spangler quotes the letter in the Detroit Free Press:
“The longer we delay on preemptive measures to mitigate lock closures, the more real a complete shutdown of Great Lakes steel production becomes,” Snyder wrote in letters mailed Tuesday. “This will likely cause almost all North American appliances, automobile, construction, farm and mining equipment and railcar production to cease within weeks.”
Currently, only the 1,200-foot Poe Lock can handle the 1,000-foot ore boats that traverse the Great Lakes. If it were knocked out of service for any significant amount of time, the shipping industry has argued, smaller vessels and other means of transportation would be unable to meet demand, potentially leading to steel mill shutdowns and catastrophic ripple effects.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a new cost-benefit study to evaluate the project. An earlier study, which argued against constructing a $600 million new lock, wrongly assumed that fallback transportation options would have the infrastructure and capacity to handle the load, Michigan’s lawmakers have said.
You’ve got company, craft brews
Wine Spectator, the highly respected magazine for connoisseurs of great wine, just released its list of restaurants around the world with the best wine selections and the Lake Superior neighborhood can boost of several establishments on the list.
Perennial winner Bellisio’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar in Duluth, on the magazine’s Excellence Award list since 1999, received a Best of Award of Excellence, the second level out of three – Award of Excellence, Best of Excellence and Grand Award Winner. Also in Minnesota, Burntside Lodge in Ely, also on the list since 1999, received an Award of Excellence as did Lutsen Resort Dining Room, listed since 2008.
In Thunder Bay, Caribou Restaurant & Wine Bar, listed since 2002, earned an Award of Excellence.
Nearby the Big Lake neighborhood on Mackinac Island, Salle à Manger in the Grand Hotel earned its first listing with an Award of Excellence and in Eagle River, Wisconsin, Riverstone Restaurant & Tavern earned an Award of Excellence, as it has since 2004.
Cornelia owner fined $1 million for waste discharge: The Liberian-flagged vessel was detained in the Twin Ports for six weeks during an investigation late last year. The Duluth News Tribune says “its owners pleaded guilty to dumping oily wastewater into the Great Lakes.” $200,000 will go toward the preservation of the Lake Superior watershed. The saltie wasn’t allow to leave the Duluth area until December 26 after loading grain in Superior on November 5. The USCG reported that the ship’s crew discharged oily wastewater at least 10 times from February to October, including at least once in the Great Lakes.
She said yes: A Marquette man proposed to his girlfriend during the Fourth of July parade after a rendition – straight out of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” – of the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout.” Here’s the video.
Thunder Bay Art Gallery architects announced: “Award-winning architects will design the new waterfront art gallery while a familiar face oversees the project,” reports Jon Thompson for TBNewsWatch.
A Gooseberry tip: Paul Sundberg, retired manager of Minnesota’s Gooseberry Falls State Park, reveals his favorite place to photograph Gooseberry in this photo essay.
Expect to see a fleet of research vessels, including rare views of the EPA’s Lake Guardian, around the western portion of Lake Superior this summer, as Moira Harrington of Wisconsin Sea Grant explains in a Duluth News Tribune story.
New Fitz exhibit opens in Ashland: The Ashland Historical Society Museum – which will have a new home in the fall – has an exhibit on local connections to the Edmund Fitzgerald. Museum manager Richard J. Pufall wrote a historical piece for the Ashland Daily Press.