Michigan Environmental Report

New protection for Michigan’s water, including legislation authorizing Michigan’s entry into the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (the Compact), was signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in July. The Compact is an agreement among the eight U.S. Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces to prevent diversions and regulate withdrawals that would harm the waters of the Great Lakes.

Legislation killing popular billboard restrictions was in the crosshairs of Michigan Environmental Council and member group Scenic Michigan this summer.

Twenty-two acres of publicly-owned Lake Michigan sand dunes in Benton Harbor’s Jean Klock Park are closer to becoming part of a private golf course after a federal agency reversed itself in July and approved its conversion.

Sky-high gasoline prices may have a silver lining as mass transit proposals see a resurgence in public interest. Reports throughout the summer indicate that vehicle miles traveled dropped significantly in Michigan and nationally, while ridership of busses, trains and commuter pools is on the rise. The Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) continues to monitor and work as a catalyst for several transit alternatives. This article provides updates on recent progress, complete with a thicket of acronyms!

The Michigan Environmental Council’s Urgent Action Fund demonstrated its worth this summer in the battle to pass modern energy policies in the Michigan Legislature.

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters (Michigan LCV) honored three Michigan mayors—Mayor John Hieftje of Ann Arbor, Mayor George Heartwell of Grand Rapids, and former Mayor Rob Sisson of Sturgis—with the 2008 Environmental Leadership Award on June 12, 2008.

Social and scientific innovators from across the country will descend on Marygrove College in Detroit Oct. 17-19 for the fourth annual Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit conference.

Students from across southeast Michigan showcased their environmentally themed films for East Michigan Environmental Action Council’s Green Screen Youth Environmental Short Film Festival held June 5 at the Main Art Theater in Royal Oak.

A Congressional Committee chaired by Michigan Congressman John Dingell finalized the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act to include provisions to set first-ever national standards on lead in toys and ban the plasticizer phthalates from children’s toys and childcare articles.

The second historical marker for a Michigan Environmental Council-sponsored Michigan Conservation Trail was approved by the Michigan Historical Commission this spring. Efforts by communities, scientists and governmental agencies to restore the endangered Kirtland’s warbler are the theme of the marker, which will be installed in the Mio area.

Last year my son Bryan, now 13, and I participated in a seven-state project called “Is It In Us?” intended to find out whether toxic chemicals used in everyday products have found their way into the bodies of average people. The answer, for us and the 33 participants in six other states, was a frightening and absolute “yes.”

Lead, mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals do not belong in toys or children’s products. Unfortunately, as the recall of nearly five million toys and children’s products containing lead in the U.S. in 2008 demonstrates, our federal system has failed to protect Michigan’s children from toxic toys.

Last issue, we asked an unbiased question and stood back disinterestedly to see the results: Did readers prefer the term Michigander and its melodic, friendly, open, harmonious ring? Or did they favor the term Michiganian, thus aligning themselves with nonnative, highbrow, overeducated socially sheltered wimps?

Tremaine Phillips, a Michigan State University graduate whose environmental studies have taken him from Brazil to Australia, joined the Michigan Environmental Council staff this summer.

The Michigan Environmental Council’s first-ever satellite office is appropriately located in the heart of Michigan’s largest city: Detroit.