Gov. Whitmer’s State of the Union response: standing up for the Great Lakes and environment
The Trump Administration has attacked longstanding U.S. environmental policy head-on. The unprecedented rollback of environmental protections during the past three years puts Michigan, the Great Lakes, and the entire nation at great risk.
Case in point: the recent rollback of federal clean water protections threatens water quality in wetlands and streams across the mitten state. “Clean water is a basic need,” Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters—Great Lakes Coalition told Bridge Magazine in response. “I am astounded that you would even think about rolling back regulations when you still have people in Michigan that don’t have clean drinking water. We need more—not less—protection for clean water.”
The National Environmental Policy Act—nicknamed the “Magna Carta” of American environmental law—which former President Richard Nixon signed into law on Jan. 1, 1970, is also under threat. This CNN report chronicles Trump’s attacks on the environment.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was given a prime opportunity to provide a bold, optimistic alternative to Trump’s war on the environment when she delivered the Democratic Party’s response to the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Feb. 4.
She highlighted the efforts of young people who are standing up for the environment and other progressive policies:
“Democracy takes action and that’s why I’m so inspired by young people. They respond to mass shootings, demanding policies that make schools safer. They react to a world that’s literally on fire with fire in their bellies to push leaders to finally take action on climate change. They take on a road filled with potholes with a shovel and some dirt. It’s what gives me great confidence in our future and it’s why sometimes it feels like they’re the adults in the room. But it shouldn’t have to be that way. It’s not their mess to clean up, it’s ours.”
As the leader of our Great Lakes state, and the protector of our lakes, streams, air, and groundwater, FLOW applauds Whitmer for standing up for the 1.5 million workers whose jobs are directly tied to the health of the Great Lakes. We encourage Whitmer to call for a Great Lakes platform to protect our drinking water, public health, jobs and quality of life.
During her State of the State address last week, Whitmer initially alluded to critical issues including drinking water, climate change, PFAS, record-high Great Lakes water levels, and “their impact on tourism, agriculture and infrastructure”. She suggested that she will make big announcements in the weeks ahead.
FLOW would like to hear her talk more about how state and federal government can protect water and the environment.
Surveys show overwhelming bipartisan support for the protection of air, water, public lands, and natural resources—an essential function of government.
FLOW’s environmental economics work over the past year makes the economic, legal and moral case for government’s role in protecting the environment and aims to reset the public narrative on environmental policy. Our “Resetting Expectations” briefs by former FLOW board chair Skip Pruss trace the history of environmental regulation since 1970, and illustrate how environmental policies protect individuals, families, and communities while fostering innovation and economic gains.
Leelanau Clean Water is utilizing a relationship with the University of Alberta to use DNA based qPCR testing to identify pollutants in our lakes and source track them. We are initiating a Community Based Monitoring thrust to increase the scope of variables measured so that the data will determine threat priorities. The dream would be to include every Water Quality based organization in a ubiquitously shared conversation: to leverage expertise; to inform advocacy with hard data; to have combined multiple organizations converge on and represent priority issues, findings and recommended actions. With today’s virtual tools such collaboration is possible. Two needs. 1) Skilled technicians to identify user friendly tools, and 2) the will of separate organizations to collaborate. It seems the our area could offer a leadership initiative to a Whitmer supported “what’s in our water and what are the steps to be taken to deal with the most important identified threats to health and safety”.