Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
For over three years, FLOW has analyzed and reported on one of the biggest gaps in Michigan’s environmental protection safety net—groundwater protection. Now, during National Groundwater Awareness Week 2021, we are reaffirming and expanding upon our call for stronger state groundwater protection policies and actions. We’re also releasing our new report, “Deep Threats to Our Sixth Great Lake.”
What’s the natural resource that is critical to the survival of billions of human beings but invisible to the vast majority of them? The answer is groundwater, both in Michigan and globally. Out of sight but not detached from our economy and health, groundwater plays a critical role in Michigan communities, supplying 45 percent of Michigan’s population with drinking water. Yet groundwater is a neglected and much-abused part of our state’s natural endowment. This year, groundwater will be in the spotlight on the annual World Water Day, March 22.
Image courtesy of Leelanau.gov. Editor’s note: This opinion article by FLOW Legal Advisor Skip Pruss was originally published in the Traverse City Record-Eagle on Sept. 4, 2022. During SepticSmart Week, which runs through Friday, FLOW is sharing updates on efforts to protect fresh water and public health from uncontrolled septic system waste, as part of an… Read more »
Graphic courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Editor’s note: During SepticSmart Week, which runs through Friday, FLOW is sharing updates on efforts to protect fresh water and public health from uncontrolled septic system waste, as part of an annual educational campaign that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a decade ago, with the State of Michigan, other… Read more »
After two pivotal hearings Tuesday, June 30, Enbridge has lost its grip on the fate of its dangerous twin Line 5 crude oil pipelines in the waters of the Straits of Mackinac. Two hearings, and the State and its citizens are two steps closer to shutting down the unstable twin crude oil pipelines once and for all.
When the police pulls a resident over for going 100 mph in a 55-mph zone, they don’t cluck their tongues — they click their ticket books. But when Michigan’s state government catches Enbridge Energy putting the Great Lakes at risk by failing again to disclose dangerous conditions on its Line 5 oil pipelines in the… Read more »
Friday Favorites is our new series where we explore some of our favorite places in and around the Great Lakes. The Mighty Mac, the Big Mac, the Mackinac Bridge. One of the most iconic sights in the Great Lakes region, the Bridge has always been a source of wonder for me. My family took trips… Read more »
Photo above: MPSC Chairman Sally A. Talberg, presiding over the Commission hearing today on Enbridge’s proposed oil pipeline tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac. The following statement can be attributed to Liz Kirkwood, environmental attorney and executive director of FLOW (For Love of Water), a Great Lakes law and policy center based in Traverse City:… Read more »
Streaming live online this Friday morning, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and members of her staff—attorneys Peter Manning, Bob Reichel, and Dan Bock, steeped in water and natural resources law—will make historic arguments that will lead to a shutdown of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac to protect the public trust of all of Michigan’s citizens, now and in the future, in Attorney General Dana Nessel On Behalf of the People of Michigan v. Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership, et al., before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge James S. Jamo.
photo: Nancy May By JoAnne Cook, FLOW Board Member and former Tribal Court Judge The Anishinaabek, who are the Indigenous people from the Great Lakes area, are born with an innate sense of our connection to everything around us. We feel the connection between us and all things in creation, whether it’s people, plants, or… Read more »
