A west suburban forest preserve is dispatching an army of freshwater mussels this spring to clean up contaminated waters.
Over the next six months, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County will place 9,000 mussels along 13 miles of the west branch of the DuPage River.
Mussels’ ability to remove large quantities of contaminants from waterways was detailed in 2014 by a team of researchers at Stanford University.
“Because mussels often live en masse, together they can filter enough water to lower overall water pollution levels.” Mussels will be placed at 11 locations along the river in Warrenville and Naperville.
The animals play crucial roles in the health of aquatic habitats in urban waterways but are among the most endangered group of wildlife in North America.
Man-made changes to rivers over the past 100 years have damaged mussels’ preferred sand-gravel habitats, according to the district.
As a result, 213 of the 297 known species of native freshwater mussels in the U.S. are classified as endangered, threatened or species of special concern at the federal or state level.
At the research center, the district monitors DuPage County’s streams and conducts research on water quality and aquatic species.
Follow Alex Ruppenthal on Twitter: @arupp Related stories: March 21: The tale of the Western pond turtle was one of several success stories shared with donors Monday evening at a Shedd Aquarium event focused on conservation efforts nationwide.
May 4, 2016: How local forest preserves are using fire to maintain the Chicago area’s natural ecosystem, much like Native Americans did prior to European settlement.

Special legislative session on WV budget starts Thursday at 11 a.m.. Gov.
Jim Justice issued a special session call Wednesday afternoon, pulling West Virginia legislators into session at 11 a.m. Thursday to address three major themes, including a revenue compromise worked out with Senate leadership that increases sales taxes but lowers income taxes.
Justice did not spell out details in the special session call or accompanying news release, although indications are that the plan is essentially unchanged from proposals discussed last week, resulting from negotiations that began with Senate leaders on the last night of the regular session, on April 8.
Justice’s call specifies three main topics of legislation to be taken up in the special session: n The revenue measure, including the sales tax increase and income tax phase-out, an income tax exemption for military pensions, a temporary increase in the corporate net tax, a surcharge on West Virginians with incomes over $300,000 and the tiered severance tax.
Previously, Justice chief of staff Nick Casey said the revenue plan includes a 1 percent increase in the consumer sales tax to raise about $180 million a year; elimination of sales tax exemptions on telecommunications and data processing services to raise more than $60 million in additional revenue; a temporary increase in the corporate net from 6.5 percent to 8.5 percent to raise $45 million a year; and a surcharge on wealthy West Virginians to raise about $4 million a year.
As the West Virginia Center for Budget & Policy has noted, because the sales tax increase would take effect on July 1, while the income tax cuts would not go into effect until 2018, the plan provides additional revenue for the 2017-18 budget, but ultimately results in a $70 million a year revenue shortfall — a budget deficit that supporters of the income tax cuts contend can be made up through growth in the economy.
Justice also is proposing an increase in tax credits available for restoring historic buildings, reviving legislation that failed to pass in the regular session.
Casey has said the road bonds are integral to the overall revenue plan, since the income tax cuts are not feasible without the economic stimulus the road construction package would provide.
As Carmichael noted Wednesday, indications are that there is general support for the revenue plan among the Justice administration, Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, and House Democrats — with House Republicans being the exception.
The second bill merged several state mine safety boards and helped coal companies avoid lawsuits over stream contamination cleanup.

Trump signs order authorizing offshore oil drilling Play Video3:34Live Video Please enable flash to watch this video.
Trump signs order authorizing offshore oil drilling Play Video3:34Live Video 00:00 00:00 buildnumber:0299c0 A coalition of environmental groups on Wednesday sued the Trump administration over its efforts to expand offshore drilling, arguing the move violates the president’s legal authority, threatens a multitude of wildlife and could harm the fishing and tourism industries.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Alaska, comes days after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at jump-starting offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, as well as assessing whether energy exploration can take place in marine sanctuaries in the Pacific and Atlantic.
The policy could open millions of acres of federal waters for oil and gas leasing, just months after President Barack Obama withdrew the areas from possible development.
At a signing Friday in the Roosevelt Room, Trump emphasized that the United States has abundant offshore oil and gas reserves and made clear his intention to tap them if possible.
It notes that Obama used his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Acts to permanently end drilling in much of the Arctic and key parts of the Atlantic but says that no president has ever undone or reversed such a decision and that the law “does not authorize the president to reopen withdrawn areas.” “The permanent protections President Obama established for the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans were won with years of research, lobbying and organizing,” Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.
“Offshore drilling and the associated threat of devastating oil spills puts coastal economies and ways of life at risk while worsening the consequences of climate change.
That said, the administration and supporters of the president’s approach have argued that future oil demand and prices remain uncertain and that the country ought to keep open the option to drill offshore.
Wednesday’s lawsuit marks the latest effort by activists to challenge the Trump administration’s energy and environmental policies in the courts.
Also Wednesday, the Sierra Club and other groups sued the head of Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency over a recent decision to halt an Obama-era regulation aimed at limiting the dumping of toxic metals such as arsenic and mercury by the nation’s power plants into public waterways.

Detroit River sturgeon population among healthiest in Great Lakes.
An estimated 6,000 lake sturgeon are now swimming in the Detroit River, according to research by Canadian conservation groups and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
The number of fish now make up about one per cent of what the abundance once was, according to a press release from Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, but the group celebrated the river’s return as one of the healthiest populations in the Great Lakes.
"This research, as well as data collected from egg and larvae surveys conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, shows the Fighting Island artificial reef expansion … near the Town of LaSalle, has been successful and is aiding in the recovery of Lake Sturgeon and other fish species in the Detroit River," explained action Plan coordinator Claire Sanders.
Lake whitefish, walleye and sucker eggs have also been found on the reef, she added.
In the past century fish have had to fight for their habitat as coastal wetlands disappear, shorelines are hardened with break walls and water pollution limited where they could live.

Pollution norms violated: 45-day window granted to hotels.
In a temporary respite, a 45-day window was today granted to around 500 budget hotels in Delhi, which were recently issued shutdown notices by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee for allegedly violating norms.
The 45-day time-period was granted after various hotel owners’ associations approached Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain in this regard.
Aam Aadmi Party’s trade wing convenor Brijesh Goyal, who led a delegation to the minister, said Hussain, who is also the chairman of the DPCC, assured them that he will look into the matter.
Goyal claimed that these "small establishments" did not violate the air and water pollution norms, which they had been accused of.
"The hotel owners told the minister that theirs were primarily small establishments, mainly guest houses, which did not serve food as they did not have kitchens or restaurants and hence, they were not violating the sewage norms either," he said.
Most of these hotels are located at Paharganj, Karol Bagh, Mahipalpur and Rajendra Nagar.
The notices, issued on April 10, stated that the hotels were operating without statutory approvals as regards air and water pollution and thus, they would have to shut shop.
(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

North Wildwood students receive tree seedlings for Arbor Day.
NORTH WILDWOOD – The city and Lomax Environmental Consulting Group distributed more than 500 evergreen tree seedlings to students in grades K-8 at Margaret Mace Public School and Cape Trinity Catholic School, marking Arbor Day and giving kids a lesson in the importance of environmental stewardship.
Mayor Patrick Rosenello and Peter Lomax of Lomax Consulting visited science classes at the schools Friday, April 28 to give brief presentations on the benefits of “green infrastructure.” They told students that green infrastructure is a vital component in benefitting the public health with protection of drinking water supplies, mitigating overflows from separate sewer systems, reducing storm water pollution and CO2 emissions, and cooling densely developed neighborhoods.
The planting of more trees will also increase the amount of critical filters for our air and assist in reductions of erosion in unstable areas, they said, as well as increasing soil permeability to facilitate groundwater recharge.
Additionally, when trees are properly planted and maintained, they increase property values with visually appealing curbsides and can reduce energy costs in both excessive heat and cold.
“The City’s most recent adoption of the Community Forestry Management and Vegetation Management Plans solidifies our dedication to providing a healthy and sustainable local ecosystem,” Mayor Patrick Rosenello said.

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2017—Center for Food Safety (CFS) today released Water Hazards 2.0: Continued Aquatic Contamination by Neonicotinoid Insecticides in the United States, an update to the 2015 report, “Water Hazard: Aquatic Contamination by Neonicotinoid Insecticides in the United States,” which shows continued widespread water contamination from neonicotinoid insecticides.
In particular, the report draws attention to new research that shows a presence of these pesticides in water bodies across the country at levels known to be toxic to several aquatic invertebrates.
Neonicotiniod seed coatings, the largest use of these chemicals, are still not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
As this report update makes clear, the scientific evidence continues to mount, yet so far, the EPA has taken no mitigation measures to deal with this growing crisis in our environment,” said Larissa Walker, pollinator program director at Center for Food Safety.
This is concerning as representative studies highlighted in this year’s follow-up report show that continued exposure to neonicotinoid chemicals may cause irreparable neural damage to species impacted, leading to rippling negative effects throughout the food web.
In light of new science and EPA’s inaction in the face of continued contamination, the report makes numerous additional policy recommendations to EPA to stem this ongoing crisis, especially in relation to shortcomings in the agency’s Preliminary Aquatic Risk Assessment to Support the Registration Review of Imidacloprid: EPA in the final risk assessment should more accurately portray the risk posed by seed-coatings.
Background: Neonicotinoid products are applied on more than 150 million acres of crop land annually, with seed coatings being the most common form of application.
Peer-reviewed studies from Holland already show that neonicotinoid contamination correlates significantly with bird population declines and numerous other species are thought be at risk.
There is also new science suggesting that sub-lethal exposure in agricultural landscapes is damaging to wild bees and could have long term repercussions on populations.
Other recent studies – including by EPA itself – have reinforced CFS’s report.

The state’s cruise ship pollution monitors say they are prepared to keep Alaska waters clean as some of the world’s biggest cruise ships are expected to land in Juneau this year carrying a record number of passengers.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s cruise ship monitoring program will watch for both air and water pollution.
Ed White, one of the monitors, said the team is fully staffed and ready to deal with the increase in cruise traffic, The Juneau Empire reported (http://bit.ly/2qxUszd ).
The state is expecting more than 1 million cruise ship passengers to arrive in Juneau this summer.
Dozens of cruise ships with berths for at least 250 overnight passengers have filed plans to make more than 500 voyages into Alaska waters.
Of the 34 ships, 19 are permitted to discharge treated wastewater in state waters, while others, including the 4,000-passenger Explorer of the Seas, are not.
Last year, the state did not issue any violation notices to cruise ship companies for air pollution.
Guy Archibald of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council said the state should do more to ensure Alaska’s waters are not negatively impacted by cruise ship season.
He suggested the environmental conservation department conduct more assessments of southeast Alaska waters both before the summer and during cruise ship season to determine how much of an impact the large cruise ships have on the water.
The department does take water quality measurements in the offseason in Skagway and Juneau.

Top legislature says tobacco, healthcare and state supervision on 2017 agenda.
Chinese lawmakers will revise the country’s law on administrative supervision to turn it into a State supervision law this year, according to a new plan released by the top legislature.
The bill aims to provide a legal guarantee for a centralized, unified, authoritative and highly efficient State-level government work supervision system, and is scheduled for deliberation at the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for the first time in June.
Legal revisions and new bills on public libraries, a tobacco tax, a vessel tonnage tax, the prevention and control of soil pollution, international judicial assistance in criminal matters, community correction and basic healthcare will also be submitted to the legislature for a first reading in 2017.
Meanwhile, the NPC will review amendments to laws on farmers’ specialized cooperatives, the justice system and the national anthem later this year.
In June the committee will continue deliberating or revising laws on intelligence gathering, small and medium-sized enterprises, and water pollution.
The Standing Committee held its bi-monthly session between April 24 and 27, adopting a revised surveying and mapping law and ratifying two treaties.
A quota distribution of deputies to 13th NPC was adopted at the session, according to which no more than 3,000 deputies should be elected, with 36 from Hong Kong and 12 from Macao.
Lawmakers also decided to extend the trial reform of the people’s juror system by a year to increase public participation in legal proceedings.

Regardless of who is to blame – and there are many causes of water pollution – the fact there is a problem is clear.
One special creature that lives in our streams, lakes, ponds, and swamps is the koura, or freshwater crayfish.
* Analysis: ‘Swimmability’ only part of the grim freshwater story * ‘Serious pressures’ facing rivers, Government report finds Koura are found in native and exotic forests, and pastoral waterways, but very rarely in urban streams because of chemical pollution, increased flood flows from stormwater inputs, and degradation of habitat.
There are two species endemic to New Zealand – a larger one that grows up to 80 centimetres long and is found on Stewart Island in the Marlborough Sounds and the east and south of the South Island, and one that is slightly smaller and found in the North Island, top of the south, and the West Coast.
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They also have a sort of reverse gear, to shoot back into shelter when alarmed, by flicking their tail forwards violently.
Their first pair of legs, their pincers, are used mainly for catching food, for fighting with invaders, or for waving menacingly at intruders.
Koura are scavengers that feed on leftovers that float by in the water or settle on the bottom; old leaves and small insects are favourites.
They cling to their mothers with their pincers until they are nearly 4 millimetres long.
Be aware of what goes down the drain, and remember that we are not the only ones who depend on clean freshwater streams and rivers.