Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
Water levels in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan won’t drop anytime soon. Private waterfront homeowners rush to save their homes from loss. Citizens seek to preserve their public right to a walkable beach along the shore below the natural high water mark, and the State of Michigan and municipalities struggle to save valuable infrastructure for water, sewage, roads, dams, parks, and recreation.
Gov. Whitmer, State of Michigan Should Put an End to Enbridge’s Damaged and Decaying Oil Pipeline in the Great Lakes to Protect Drinking Water, Economy, and Way of Life 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… Read more »
Using the current COVID-19 situation as a pretense, the Trump Administration has stopped enforcing many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safeguards. This has left individual states with the additional responsibility to sustain environmental protection. Many companies and corporations have recently requested that state regulators be lenient on environmental regulations that require them to test and monitor pollution, claiming that the pandemic has interfered with their ability to comply with preexisting regulations.
The public is invited to join FLOW and the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation as we co-host a one-hour webinar on Wednesday, June 17, at 1 p.m., providing frontline, scientific, and legal insights into citizen-led efforts to challenge Nestlé, the Swiss-based corporate giant, in its quest to expand its groundwater grab in Michigan.
What may seem like dry legal arguments over the interpretation of a few words sometimes can have ripple effects on people, health, safety, and the environment. Such is the case with arguments heard June 3 before the Michigan Court of Appeals over the fate of the proposed Enbridge oil pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, which promises to leave a lasting mark on the future of the Straits and the people of the Upper Great Lakes.
Dear Friends, We need racial equity and access to clean water for all now. The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and continuing protests across the country and globe require each of us to re-examine our basic principles and to envision anew the diverse, inclusive, equitable, and just society we must seek together. This is… Read more »
Billed as “stories, reflections and conversations around a spirituality of the Great Lakes Basin,” the Great Lakes Spirituality Project is intended “to further develop a spirituality of the Lakes that values and protects the Great Lakes Basin and the life that depends on these waters.”
During a three-week comment period that ended in mid-May, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) received a flood of more than 3,100 public comments, with a strong majority firmly opposed, on Enbridge’s request to bypass the legal review process and plow forward with other permitting required to replace and relocate the decaying Line 5 oil pipelines crossing the Straits of Mackinac with a proposed 18- to 21-foot tall tunnel housing a new pipeline.
Rarely does a ruling by a state Administrative Law Judge overturn a permit issued by a state agency. In the contested case hearing on the Nestlé permit to withdraw more than 500,000 gallons of water per day from a White Pine Springs well near Evart, MCWC and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians had hoped the administrative law judge would reverse the Snyder administration’s unwarranted permission for Nestlé’s permit, writes Peggy Case, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) president.
Protecting our precious waters is a multigenerational mission. At FLOW, we put that mission into practice not only by pursuing solutions to water problems that will pay off for generations to come, but also by engaging young people who will carry forward the work as part of a rising generation. Each summer, we seek out bright, talented youth to assist us with communications, policy and legal research tasks. FLOW’s internships have taken on a new significance this year. We’re excited to work with Emma Moulton and Zoe Gum as our Milliken For Love of Water interns.
