By Dave Long Plastic bottles, bags, straws, and packaging are often the focus for reducing plastics in Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. But there’s a smaller, more ubiquitous type of plastic pollution, called microfibers—fibers less than 5 millimeters in length—that may pose a bigger threat and may be harder to solve. Many people are… Read more »
We cannot beat COVID-19 without access to safe water for all of us. Water is a public health issue. Water is a human right. This is what the pandemic tells us. Our work continues. It continues every day. We are developing legal and policy solutions for Michigan’s water infrastructure crisis and addressing the COVID-19 emergency needs, fighting Line 5 to prevent a catastrophic Great Lakes oil spill, educating about the importance of groundwater and the need for septic system pollution-control legislation, elevating the role of government in safeguarding our natural resources, and much more.
Photo courtesy of People’s Water Board Coalition Story update: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order on Saturday, March 28, stipulating that people who have lost water service because of non-payment of bills will have that service reconnected. The order comes with a $2 million state grant attached that will be administered by the state… Read more »
Water is a Human Right and Even More Vital during the COVID-19 Pandemic FLOW and our allies are working to research, analyze, and advance funding and financing solutions to address Michigan’s pressing water needs equitably and with the involvement of those people and communities most deeply impacted. Michigan faces a water infrastructure funding gap—a need exceeding available resources—of approximately $800… Read more »
Over half the U.S. population, including 99 percent of the rural population, relies on groundwater for its drinking water supply. Groundwater is also used in crop irrigation. It may come as a surprise, then, to realize that most citizens are generally unaware of the nature and critical importance of groundwater.
To foster appreciation of groundwater, FLOW is unveiling our groundwater story map. Packed full of information about the environmental significance of this resource, the story map is a window into one of Michigan’s overlooked assets.
When Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivers her State of the State speech on Wednesday, January 29, she would do well to emulate her predecessor Gov. William Milliken, who 50 years ago gave a 1970 State of the State speech that fought environmental degradation and deregulation and called for dramatic changes in state policy to better protect the air, water, land, fish and wildlife.
Powered by our supporters, FLOW had quite a year in 2019. Our legal advocacy work to restore the rule of law made a big impact at the state level. Michigan’s new Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a public trust lawsuit on June 27 to revoke the 1953 easement that conditionally authorizes Enbridge to operate its… Read more »
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.
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.
