Thanks for Commenting
Excellent! Thanks for taking action to support clean water in Michigan. Now take the next step. This kind of thing works best when thousands of comments are sent. Please share this action with your network using these links:
Search Results for: PFAS
Don’t Forget the Department of Natural Resources
An angler speaks with a DNR creel clerk. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR By Tom Baird Many Michiganders overlook a state agency critical to the environment. When we talk about water issues in Michigan, we usually think of environmental protection, especially related to pollution and public health. We tend to forget that environmentalism was born out of… Read more »
Breaking the Cycle of Great Lakes Ruin and Recovery
It’s been almost 50 years since the United States and Canada entered into the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and during this time, we have watched rust-belt contaminated urban cores rebound and polluted ecosystems revived. But we also have witnessed a rollback of major federal environmental regulations and laws, the Flint lead crisis, Detroit water shutoffs, lack of investment and crumbling regional water infrastructure, lack of safe, affordable drinking water, wetland destruction, water privatization, legacy and emerging pollutants like PFAs, and unprecedented climate change impacts. Our challenge in this new century is to avoid the constant cycle of ruin to recovery.
Resetting Expectations in Traverse City and Grand Rapids
Do environmental regulations hinder or help the economy? That question framed FLOW’s community engagement session on November 13 in Traverse City examining the role of government in protecting human health and the environment. Presenters included Cherry Republic founder and environmental steward Bob Sutherland and former FLOW board chair Skip Pruss, who has authored three “Resetting Expectations” reports for FLOW that make the case for government regulations to protect the environment.
Gov. Whitmer, Michigan Legislature Agree on Funding for Clean Water
Although budget talks between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state Legislature are strained at best — as the two sides appear deadlocked over road funding — it does appear her request for significant one-time funding for clean water for the fiscal year 2020 starting October 1 will survive the process, with some changes made to fit legislative priorities. On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the Legislature approved the water money and will send the bill to Whitmer’s desk for signature within a few days.
Swine CAFO Threatens Environment, Public Health along Lake Michigan Shoreline
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.
Resetting Expectations: the Value of Natural Systems and Government’s Role in Protecting Water
This is the second of four reports by former FLOW board chair, and former director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, Skip Pruss that make the economic case for government’s role in protecting the environment. FLOW will unveil the last two reports in the coming months.
DDT: The 50th Anniversary Everyone Forgot
Photo: Michigan State University ornithologist George Wallace By Dave Dempsey Engulfed in a mammoth chemical crisis involving a family of chemicals known as PFAS, Michigan has something to learn from a 50th anniversary that passed unnoticed last month. In April 1969, Michigan became the first state to effectively ban DDT. It wasn’t easy or quick. Michigan… Read more »
Michigan Citizens, Tribe Challenge State Permit for Nestlé’s Water Grab
By Jim Olson I don’t mean to dampen the joy of spring in Michigan, but amidst headlines over Line 5 and unconscionable groundwater contamination from PFAS, we need to embolden our governor, our state officials, and every citizen who cares about water, justice, and the rule of law to join another battle. We need to hoist the mast of Michiganders’… Read more »
With Michigan’s Trout Opener on Tap, An Angler Reflects on Coalition-Building to Protect Coldwater
The Crown Jewel Saturday is the opening day of the trout fishing season, a high holy holiday to those of us who love to cast a fly in Michigan’s coldwater rivers and streams. I’ll be knee deep in the Holy Waters section of the Au Sable River by 10 a.m. There’s nothing else like it…. Read more »
