Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
A view from the Mackinac Bridge of the Straits of Mackinac, just east of where the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipelines (not visible) cross along the bottom. Action Expected Dec. 11 in House, After Michigan Senate Passes Oil Tunnel Bill Still Tied to the Mackinac Bridge The Michigan Senate on Wednesday, December 5, voted 25-13,… Read more »
Photo credit: Nancy May By Liz Kirkwood and Skip Pruss Substitute Bill SB 1197 continues to be riddled with faulty assumptions and logic that favor and bend towards Enbridge’s private corporate shareholder interests. Most glaring of all is the audacious and misguided underlying assertion that we humans will continue to rely on a fossil fuel… Read more »
Photo credit: Charles Brackett In the midst of multiple legislative attacks on environmental laws and natural resources that Michiganders cherish, it is tempting to despair. But at FLOW we seek positive, right solutions based on the principle that no matter who a person is, no matter her or his walk of life or political persuasion,… Read more »
In response to an outpouring of bipartisan public pressure to save the Mackinac Bridge from Enbridge, the shareholder-owned Canadian corporation, Michigan Senate Republicans today released yet another rushed version of their Senate Bill 1197 that makes matters worse for the Mighty Mac, the Great Lakes, and Michigan taxpayers. Specifically, in a race to guarantee a… Read more »
This month, in its lame duck session, the Michigan Legislature intends to pass a number of bills harming public health and welfare and the environment – all without meaningful public input or debate. Included within this eleventh-hour debacle is Senate Bill 1211, sponsored by outgoing Senator Tom Casperson, chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee…. Read more »
The Michigan Legislature during its ongoing lame-duck session – in rushed fashion with little public input or time for lawmaker consideration – is moving a series of bad bills, which threaten the quality of our lakes, streams, wetlands, forests, prairies, and the Great Lakes. To help FLOW and many allied groups fight back, please read… Read more »
Editor’s Note: At FLOW, we couldn’t accomplish our work without support from our partners. Two great examples are The Boardman Review and Katherine Corden, both of whom are donating 5% of their proceeds from The Boardman Review Issue 6 and The Lake Lovers Collection, respectively. Check out both at the Boardman Review Launch party on December 2. Here is an… Read more »
Updated November 30, 2018 The rush continues in Michigan’s lame-duck legislature to bind the future of the Mackinac Bridge to notorious oil-spiller Enbridge and its proposed private oil tunnel. A Republican-led Senate committee at an 8:15 a.m. hearing on November 28 voted 3-2 along party lines to approve Senate Bill 1197 and advance it to… Read more »
Legislation introduced this week in the State Capitol would open hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands and thousands of inland lakes to destruction. Senate Bill 1211 attacks Michigan’s nationally recognized wetland protection act and the benefits wetlands provide — including clean water, floodwater storage, fish and wildlife habitat and mitigation of climate change through… Read more »
When Michigan voters cast ballots November 6, they did not express support for attacks on the state’s water resources. But that’s what they may be getting from Lansing between now and the end of 2018. In politics, lame ducks are officeholders whose successors have been elected but whose terms haven’t expired. “Lame” may imply powerlessness,… Read more »
