Today the City of Detroit released their first sustainability strategy, the Sustainability Action Agenda (SAA), developed through City leadership and extensive community engagement to provide clear goals and outcomes for a sustainable city.  

Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) is proud to partner with the City of Detroit’s Office of Sustainability in development of the Sustainability Action Agenda. MEC has worked diligently in Detroit for many years to create a clean, healthy and safe environment where people want to live, work and play, and has long advocated for an Office of Sustainability to advance sustainability goals in the city.

Michigan Environmental Council President Conan Smith issued the following statement in response to today's legal steps by AG Nessel to decommission Line 5, and Gov. Whitmer's executive action directing the DNR to perform a comprehensive review of Enbridge's Easement compliance:

"Michigan Environmental Council supports the legal action taken by Attorney General Nessel against Enbridge to end the threat of Line 5 in the Great Lakes. We thank her for the clear filing of summary disposition on Enbridge’s lawsuit, and hope for swift resolution of that lawsuit.

Recently a diverse set of stakeholders reached a deal with Consumers Energy over the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The IRP is a long-range plan that outlines how a utility will meet energy needs 5, 10, and 15 years into the future. Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) weighs in on IRPs to advocate for keeping costs low for Michiganders by retiring aging, expensive coal plants and replacing that generation with low cost renewables and reducing energy waste. The agreement arrived at in Consumers’ IRP sets a bold path forward for the utility and one that will reap significant dividends in cleaning up our air, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and saving us money on our utility bills.