News Updates

The iconic Michigan steamship, the SS Badger, may lose its permit to dump spent coal into Lake Michigan.

Michigan must invest in strategic mix of options to create competitive transportation system

The Michigan Environmental Council seeks a Director of Major Gifts and Events to help raise financial support for our programs to defend the health and beauty of Michigan’s environment. This is a full-time position based in our Lansing, Michigan headquarters.

Across the state, we've been giving presentations on the 25% by 2025 proposal, and fielding good questions. Here are the top 12 questions answered.

MEC Development Director Andy Draheim's recent letter to his friends and family encapsulated his reasons for supporting Proposal 3, the 25x25 renewable energy standard on Michigan's ballot. We provide it here as an educational and outreach tool to YOUR friends and family who are interested in cutting through the confusing fog of television advertising and overwrought hyperbole.

How would Proposal 3 affect your electric bill? Generating one quarter of Michigan’s electricity from renewable sources by 2025 would not have a significant impact on electricity rates and would actually reduce energy costs in the long term, according to an analysis released this month.

Please join us on June 20 at the Ann Arbor City Club to celebrate the vision and achievements of two outstanding environmental champions! We are proud to honor Rosina Bierbaum with this year’s Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award. Blair Miller, nominated by the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, will receive the 2012 Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Builders would have an easier time gaining approval for houses, driveways and other projects in sensitive seaside areas under proposed legislation that would make the first significant changes in Michigan's sand dune protection law in nearly a quarter-century.

Michigan Environmental Council opposes House Bill 5660, which proposes to amend Michigan's successful bottle bill. The legislation looks to exempt alcohol pouch containers from our 10-cent bottle deposit.

The Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs coalition wants to increase the state’s renewable energy standard to 25 percent by 2025. That would mean that a quarter of all the energy used in Michigan would come from renewable sources like the wind and sun.

Legislation decried by environmental groups may soon legalize methane production via grass clippings

So much of what makes Pure Michigan so pure starts with our land—the miles of forests, the majestic dunes, the undeveloped trout streams and backcountry trails. Without the incredible Great Lakes landscapes that define us, we’d just be another Indiana, Ohio or Missouri.

Beware wolves in sheep’s clothing. Or in this case the waste industry trying to cloak itself in green rhetoric. The issue is legislation that recently passed out of the House Energy and Technology Committee to overturn the 17-year-old ban on yard waste going into landfills. It is on the floor of the House this week. It is a terrible idea on so many different levels that it’s hard to know where to start.

It's down to the wire on Proposal 3 -- the renewable energy campaign. Your financial support TODAY can make the difference between winning and losing. We're going to turn every $1 you give MEC before 5 p.m. Friday into $4 of support for Prop 3.