By Audrey Richardson for Great Lakes Echo.
Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Michigan News Connection reporting for Solutions Journalism-Public News Service Collaboration

A start up company recently got design approval to build a ship that moves cargo with sails rather than fuel.

The 330-foot-long, hydrogen cell powered sailing vessel is proposed by the Veer Group, a Bahamas-based company committed to zero carbon emissions. The design was approved by the American Bureau of Shipping.

"If there was a desire for this in the Great Lakes, it would just make me super happy to be able to fulfill that," said Veer CEO Danielle Doggett.

Whether such vessels will someday ply the Great Lakes is uncertain. But interest is high in decarbonizing shipping. Globally, shipping's 100,000 vessels are responsible for 3% of carbon emissions, according to Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center, a nonprofit research company committed to decarbonizing the maritime industry.

The Maritime Administration recently announced a study to explore low carbon options for shipping on the Great Lakes. The group, which includes the International Council on Clean Transportation, the American Bureau of Shipping and others, is looking at alternative fuels and power. The study will examine environmentally friendly fuel alternatives like biofuel and how to incorporate different power systems, like hydrogen fuel cells, into Great Lakes shipping, according to a press release.

Combustion engines have dominated the shipping industry since the 1930s. Veer is looking to bring sailing cargo back, Doggett said. The company seeks funding to begin an 18-month build and have two vessels sailing by 2024 and six by 2026.

Greenhouse gas emissions significantly contribute to climate change. They increase global temperatures, weather variability and air pollution. The Great Lakes have seen the effects of emissions from increased flooding, algal blooms and soil erosion.

"Veer sail ships in the Great Lakes would make a lot of sense," Doggett said.

One reason is that Veer's plans are consistent with the clean shipping goals of the U.S. and Canada, Doggett said. Another component for the Great Lakes is that the hydrogen fuel cells produce freshwater. It would be nice to excrete freshwater into a freshwater lake rather than into the ocean, Doggett said.

Growing up around the Great Lakes ships in Kingston, Ontario, inspired her field of work, she said.

Cleaner shipping comes at a crucial time for action, said University of Michigan Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Professor Matthew Collette.

In 2021, the U.S. joined a United Nations coalition to reach net zero emissions. The executive order emphasized the goal to reach net zero carbon emissions from federal operations by 2050. Reaching zero means replacing energy sources that produce man-made emissions with renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power.

"If we want to be at zero carbon by 2050, the decisions we make in the next five years are really going to shape what fuel will become dominant," Collette said.

Great Lakes vessels primarily see the impact of climate change through variability in lake levels, extreme cold weather and major weather events, said Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers' Association, a group participating in the Maritime Administration study.

"If the levels are low, or lower than normal, for each inch of water we lose as much as 270 tons of cargo per vessel load," said Weakley, whose organization moves over 90 million tons of cargo throughout the Great Lakes each year.

The group wants to reduce the risk of climate change and is open to using Veer Group vessels once they are sailing, said Debra DiCianna, director of environmental affairs for the Lake Carriers' Association.

But using the existing ships on the Great Lakes would be better, she said.

"With our membership and their existing fleet, they are doing well at hauling the cargo that they need to," she said.

Veer's sailing vessels may be part of the solution, Collette said. But figuring out a balance of technologies and fuel is the way to a more sustainable future.

"We don't have a single winning technology today that everyone is pointing to and saying this is the way forward," he said.

While Veer's methods may not be in the cards for the Great Lakes for another few years, the idea of sail-assist to reduce emissions is relevant today, Collette said.

It is easier to update existing Great Lakes vessels by adding sails or replacing combustion engines with a lower sulfur level fuel cell, he said.

"Adding sails to existing ships might reduce emissions from 10% to 30%, he said. "But I think we are also going to have to figure out a zero carbon fuel source for them."

Alternative fuels that don't involve burning a hydrocarbon include methanol, ammonia or hydrogen, Collette said.

"I think there's a lot of work to be done on figuring out which one of those will be the most effective," he said.

Decarbonizing Great Lakes shipping may require multiple approaches.

"We need to make sure we are taking a holistic view of minimizing our impact on the Lakes and the people who live around the lakes," Collette said.


Audrey Richardson wrote this article for Great Lakes Echo.


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Wet weather this spring has improved drought conditions in Minnesota and southern Canada. However, experts remain on alert for increased wildfire activity and other climate changes affecting people's health.

Poor air quality was a frequent topic last year in the upper Midwest, as smoke pushed down from Canadian wildfires. Researchers said climate change is fueling hotter and drier summers, making forests more susceptible to large fires.

Dr. Bruce Snyder, co-founder of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, worries about a repeat summer of thick, hazy smoke in the air creating unhealthy conditions.

"When that happens, people have more respiratory disease; people who have chronic lung disease tend to get sicker," Snyder explained. "There's a lot of downstream consequences for people all over the world, but certainly here in Minnesota."

Snyder noted the transition to cleaner energy sources is complex, but acknowledged pollution events place more emphasis on the need for less reliance on fossil fuels, due to their contributions to a warming planet. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said the state has had 46 air quality alerts since 2015, and 34 of those were because of wildfire smoke.

Snyder emphasized it is not just air pollution from wildfire smoke to worry about. He pointed out there are other ways a person's health can suffer from climate change.

"We've got many more dangerous insects -- ticks, mosquitoes, and so forth," Snyder stressed. "This is having a profound effect on our wildlife. But also, we're seeing a lot more progressively rising rates of Lyme disease, of West Nile virus."

Year-over-year statistics may vary, but state health officials say the median number of Lyme disease cases has risen in the past decade. Snyder added adverse health effects of climate change can be much harder for populations lacking stable housing.


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Conservationists in Maine said reinstated protections of the Endangered Species Act could help wildlife already struggling to adapt to climate change.

Economic impacts will no longer be considered when listing certain species as threatened or endangered but the threat of climate change will be a factor.

Anya Fetcher, federal policy advocate for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said so-called "blanket rule" protections will also be revived.

"This is basically, while they are considering whether they should become endangered, they're going to continue to protect those species as if they were," Fetcher explained.

The Trump administration removed protections for threatened species along with other key aspects of the law. Fetcher acknowledged the new rules are likely to be challenged by Congress similar to other climate and environmental regulations.

Conservation powers will also be extended to federally recognized tribes, allowing them the same opportunities to protect wildlife, including some of Maine's most iconic species such as the piping plover and Canada lynx, which are losing critical habitat to development and a changing climate.

Fetcher pointed out one-third of Maine's species are vulnerable to climate change, including more than half the state's birds.

"Our wildlife is part of what makes Maine so special," Fetcher asserted. "Protecting critical habitat and the incredible wildlife that we have here is vital to our economy as well."

Fetcher added the Endangered Species Act has been helpful in protecting species such as the bald eagle, once on the brink of extinction but now a common sight in Maine. Nearly 500,000 public comments were considered in the new rule-making process.


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PacifiCorp's updated energy roadmap throws a lifeline to Wyoming's coal industry but critics said the new Integrated Resource Plan is a major setback for community health and the climate.

Rob Joyce, director of the Wyoming Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the plan would add 100 million metric tons of climate pollution by 2042. It also slashes near-term investments in cheaper wind and solar, and makes a huge bet on behalf of ratepayers to install unproven and expensive carbon capture devices on existing coal-fired power plants.

"To be increasing emissions, increasing investment in fossil fuels, and putting hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars towards carbon capture when we're not 100 % sure if that is actually even going to work is really dubious," Joyce argued.

PacifiCorp, the parent company of Rocky Mountain Power, plans to extend the life of the Jim Bridger coal-fired power plant in southwestern Wyoming until 2039. The plan also pushes back the retirements of Utah's Hunter plant by at least 10 years, and the Huntington plant by at least four years. PacifiCorp said it should deliver significant near-term cost savings to ratepayers.

The plan also added more natural gas to PacifiCorp's energy portfolio. Joyce worries Wyoming ratepayers, already tapped by state lawmakers to pay millions for a carbon capture compliance surcharge, will end up on the hook.

"We're going to have to cover the costs of the volatility of new gas resources," Joyce pointed out. "The company is saying between $500 million and $1 billion per unit that they put carbon capture on. Those are all things that they pass on to the ratepayers."

Joyce noted with a looming 2030 deadline to significantly reduce fossil fuel pollution in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, now is the time to invest big in wind and solar. He added by delaying the expansion of clean energy resources, PacifiCorp is leaving billions of dollars in Inflation Reduction Act incentives on the table.

"Right now we know that solar and wind and even battery storage are cheap and getting cheaper," Joyce emphasized. "Those are investments that the rest of the country is making to save ratepayers money."