Oct 28, 2017
Although most governors play it down, all of them think about their legacies. As Michigan Governor Snyder enters the last year of his tenure, despite his denials, he has to be considering what he is bequeathing the state. Traditionally, Michigan governors exalt their economic record over any other feature of their work. The environment is in the second tier of issues. But there is at least one exception. When William Milliken left office on New Year’s Day 1983, Michigan’s economy was a wreck. He had little to do with it, just as governors who leave office on a flying carpet of prosperity should get minimal credit. National trends largely shape Michigan’s prosperity or lack of same. The point, though, is that few today remember the state of the economy when Milliken retired. But his environmental accomplishments remain monumental. He played key roles in laws and rules protecting air quality, water quality, wetlands, wilderness, and sand dunes and promoting recycling, hazardous waste control, toxic site cleanup and more So Governor Snyder might want to think about legacy opportunities in the realm of conservation and the environment. He has special reason to; the Flint tragedy will otherwise obscure any other environmental issue he has handled. Here is some simple advice on how to leave a legacy with a chance to be as enduring as Milliken’s · Begin it with wisdom growing out of the public health emergency that was (and remains) Flint. Much needs to be done, but the most important is to empower an independent toxic substance ombudsman to investigate and move swiftly when a toxic substance emergency threatens. The...
Oct 25, 2017
Where is the anger? Where is the action? We are living through the first Dark Ages for the environment, at the federal level, since President Richard M. Nixon created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And while the splintered environmental community is valiantly fighting individual battles on issues within their expertise, nobody seems to be contemplating the whole theater of war – and that’s what it is. For there will be real casualties. Should that seem an exaggeration, consider this widely noted statement to the New York Times from the chief spokesperson for the Trump/Pruitt EPA, Liz Bowman, formerly of the American Chemistry Council: “No matter how much information we give you, you would never write a fair piece. The only thing inappropriate and biased is your continued fixation on writing elitist clickbait trying to attack qualified professionals committed to serving their country.” This kind of repugnant invective is not merely an unprofessional and arrogant statement from a public servant, but a sure signal that disasters lie ahead. Consider a second quote, this time from former Michigan DEQ spokesperson Brad Wurfel about what would become the tragedy of Flint. Alerted by a Virginia Tech researcher to disturbing levels of lead in Flint water after the city switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River for its drinking water source, Wurfel said: “…[T]his group specializes in looking for high lead problems. They pull that rabbit out of that hat everywhere they go. Nobody should be surprised when the rabbit comes out of the hat, even if they can’t figure out how it is done…..while the state appreciates academic participation in this...
Oct 24, 2017
This scene from a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan north of Cross Village on Saturday, October 21, will make it possible to persist in the face of a corrupt US EPA and lackluster Michigan environmental policies. This scene is why we do what we do. ...
Oct 21, 2017
Candidates for governor of Michigan are all talking up their commitment to the Great Lakes. They should be offering more than warm fuzzies. As long as the current president remains in the White House, the federal government‘s $300 million per year Great Lakes restoration initiative will be at risk. That’s why the governor of Michigan should be championing a state Great Lakes restoration initiative. Michigan can afford, and the public would support a $300 million a year Great Lakes protection program. But advocates can do even better. They should be agitating with the legislature to place a $2 billion clean water bond on the Michigan ballot for November 2018. The public has supported clean water bond programs in 1968,,1988, 1998, and 2002. There’s no reason to think they won’t do it again. But someone has to offer the vision. Michigan once was the leader in Great Lakes protection. It’s time for it to be the leader in more than rhetoric about Great Lakes...
Oct 15, 2017
Every time I see this decal, I think of another image. It is NOT true that the Great Lakes are unsalted. In fact, the chloride trend in the Great Lakes is generally upward. Here’s a somewhat dated chart for Lake Michigan. This is part of a broader phenomenon As one study of North American 371 freshwater lakes put it, “the potential for steady and long-term salinization of these aquatic systems is high.” The study predicted that within 50 years chlorides in many of the studied lakes would exceed EPA water quality standards. Chloride concentrations in Chicago area rivers are already above “acceptable levels.” A 2008 study of the Great Lakes found that even if the 2006 level of chlorides going into the Great Lakes remained the same in subsequent years, “concentrations in all lakes will continue to increase with the most dramatic rise occurring in Lake Michigan which will ultimately approach the level of Lake Erie.” That’s a problem. Since road salt is the cause, I don’t have an...
