Now that major party candidates for Vice President are designated, it’s an appropriate time to check their records on two environmental concerns vital to Michigan and the Great Lakes region.
Climate Change
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, as Governor of Minnesota, has called for strong federal action to abate and prepare for the effects of climate change. As governor since 2019, he has also championed state action.
Under Walz’s climate change initiatives, Minnesota has enacted a law calling for 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2040, funded a clean energy job training program for minority and low-income populations, and signed into law an upgrade in the state’s clean transportation standards.
But Walz has declined to take any action against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, which traverses northern Minnesota and connects with Line 5 in Michigan, posing an unacceptable threat. This is despite groundwater contamination and other harmful environmental effects resulting from Line 3.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance once decried climate change as a problem, saying that switching to natural gas was not a sufficiently clean source to address it. Since becoming a candidate for the U.S. Senate and then being elected in 2022, he has questioned whether climate change is happening and consistently opposed electric vehicle mandates, which he calls a “scam.”
Great Lakes Restoration
Vance is the co-chair of the U.S. Senate’s Great Lakes Task Force and a prime co-sponsor of key legislation that would extend the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The bill, which was approved by a Senate committee in May, is now on the Senate calendar awaiting action. The bill would raise the program’s funding authorization from $475 million in 2026 to $500 million from 2027 through 2031.
“The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative delivers the tools we need to fight invasive species, algal blooms, pollution, and other threats to the ecosystem. This is a commonsense, bipartisan effort,” Vance said in a news release.
Walz has also supported federal action funded through the Initiative. As a member of Congress in 2017, he joined 62 other House Republicans and Democrats opposing the Trump Administration’s proposed elimination of funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and successfully supported funding of $300 million in fiscal year 2018. “I am proud to sign onto an agenda that prioritizes the vitality of the Great Lakes region by investing in safe drinking water, funding critical infrastructure projects, and addressing the dangers of pollution and contamination,” Walz said.
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