By Carrie La Seur, FLOW Legal Director It’s getting warm this spring down in Allegan County. In late February 2024, attorneys in the Michigan Attorney General’s office brought an enforcement lawsuit against J&D Brenner Farms, an Allegan County dairy operation and successful scofflaw until this year. EGLE has been trying since 2016 to get Deb… cafo/" title="ReadAG Nessel’s lawsuit against Allegan County CAFO“>Read more »
By Carrie La Seur, FLOW Legal Director My lungs remember. While I was an Iowa Environmental Protection Commissioner, I said yes to a chance to visit a relatively small hog confinement run, by the dad of one of my son’s best friends. It was just a few miles from our home in Mount Vernon, population… cafo-amicus-brief/" title="ReadFLOW joins amicus brief in Michigan Supreme Court CAFO case”>Read more »
Guest author Pam Taylor is a volunteer with Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan. Taylor’s family came to Lenawee County, Michigan in 1837 to farm, and some family members are still farming there. She and her brother own a farm that’s been in her family for 117 years, where she lived and raised sheep… CAFO Sewage Runoff Threatens Water Systems”>Read more »
By Zach Welcker, FLOW Legal Director On February 16, 2023, FLOW (For Love Of Water) and 10 other environmental groups filed an amicus brief asking the Michigan Supreme Court to strike down an appellate court ruling that prevents the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (“EGLE”) from fulfilling its duty to protect Michigan’s… cafo-pollution/" title="ReadCombating CAFO Pollution”>Read more »
Public notice in a local newspaper in October 2017 announced a permit application for a mammoth swine factory near the Oceana/Muskegon County line along Lake Michigan. Called a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), this proposed pollution factory activated our resistance. Reviving Our American Democracy (ROAD) is a White Lake Area public interest group that has worked hard to stop this outrage ever since.
Summer is here, and for those of us in the Great Lakes region—especially in Michigan, where we’re never more than six miles from a body of water—it’s high-five season for water-lovers. If you love Great Lakes water, raise your hand. Right now, a generous donor is matching all gifts to FLOW up to $15,000! That means everyone… Read more »
Friends of FLOW, As a descendant of early Montana homesteaders, I’ve been blessed to spend much of my life close to pristine trout streams and millions of acres of wilderness. I’ve pulled lambs, witnessed calves being born on open range, and found myself way too close to grizzlies and bison. Both the responsibility of an… Read more »
On May 1-2, 2024, FLOW policy director Carolan Sonderegger and legal director Carrie La Seur attended the Great Lakes Manure Conference in Toledo, Ohio. The conference was an opportunity to tour the Maumee River, and learn from experts about legal, environmental, and public health issues posed by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Below, Carolan shares… Read more »
By guest authors: Alan Steinman, Ph.D.1 and Charlyn Partridge, Ph.D.2 1Allen and Helen Hunting Research Professor and 2Associate Professor Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University In an email issued earlier this summer, FLOW quite appropriately noted the beauty and allure of our Great Lakes beaches, and also the potential dangers of entering these… Read more »
Photo: A harmful algae bloom causing a dead zone in Lake Erie primarily due to excess agricultural nutrient pollution. Editor’s note: Members of the media can reach Zach Welcker, FLOW Legal Director, at Zach@flowforwater.org or (231) 944-1568. Lansing, MI – Eleven environmental groups, including FLOW (For Love of Water) late last week filed an amicus or “friend of… Read more »
