Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) and Rep. Christine Morse (D-Portage) introduced legislation to update and expand Michigan’s 40-year-old “Bottle Bill” law. Michigan Environmental Council will advocate and educate with them for its passage.

Senate Bill 167 and House Bill 4331 would expand the state’s current 10-cent deposit on certain soft drinks, beer, and other carbonated beverages to all other non-carbonated beverages, except for milk containers.

Whether it be the “green ooze” that trickled onto a highway from a shuttered Madison Heights business in 2020 or PFAS currently seeping into west Michigan wells, a new bill ensures those causing pollution catastrophes pay for the health threats they create.

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, Michigan House Democratic House Floor Leader Yousef Rabhi introduced House Bill 4314, which requires private companies to pay to clean up pollution they create. Current law only requires companies to contain and limit exposure of these pollutants. The financial burden of cleanup falls on residents, who pay through taxes.

Lana Pollack did not know Joan Wolfe too personally. They would occasionally cross paths when Pollack was a three-term Michigan Senator and Wolfe, as ever, was working to make Michigan’s environment better.

The last time they met was 2012 at a service honoring the late Helen Milliken, environmentalist, women’s rights activist, former First Lady of Michigan.

Wolfe carried layers of loss that day, said Pollack, former president and CEO of Michigan Environmental Council. She had just lost her friend, recently lost her husband and was losing her eyesight. Yet, the 83-year-old still carried a force and spirit with her that Pollack felt during all her meetings over the decades.

It was emblematic of Wolfe’s personal and professional life, one that forever changed state and national environmental law and shaped and invigorated Michigan’s environmental movement.

Michigan Senate Republicans put politics ahead of improving the lives of their constituents Tuesday when they rejected 13 expert appointees to citizen commissions and boards in a show against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 decisions.

The party line rejection vote means appointees cannot be considered again for their respective workgroups, which provide policy recommendations to the state government and its elected leaders. 

Included were four environmental appointees: Thomas Baird and David Cozad to the Natural Resources Commission; Erin Kricher to the Rural Development Fund Board; and Cheryl Kobernik to the Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The fog of anxiety was thick for many as we trudged through an exhausting election and an ever-present pandemic. Yet, bright lights cut through.

Laws, decisions and amendments passed at 2020’s end will make the health of Michigan’s people, places and finances stronger in 2021 and beyond.

Check out the wins from late 2020 that MEC helped secure. Let’s ring the bells once more!

In a move that will protect the health of Michigan’s water, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed an agreement Thursday that will keep an invasive, destructive species out of our water.

Michigan will provide $8 million in appropriated funds to Illinois, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use to engineer and design fortifications of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois. Once complete, the site will provide a strong series of blockades to keep Asian carp from entering Michigan waterways.

“We’re a state of makers,” said Jeff Thompson, of Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis. “We put the world on wheels, and now we want to do everything else.”

Thompson was a guest speaker at a December virtual showcase of Michigan’s outdoor manufacturers, co-hosted by the Michigan Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

The Motor City drove the world. Albion gave it iron. Alpena, cement. Now, Thompson argued, outdoor recreation manufacturers are making Michigan known as a state that moves people in a new way.

This article is part of a continuing series on lead threats and lead safety by the Michigan Alliance for Lead Safe Homes. Tina Reynolds, MEC’s environmental health program director, heads the coalition. MEC health policy intern Hailey Dunn wrote the article. Learn more at mileadsafehomes.blogspot.com.

Deer Hunting season is upon us! In a time of being told to stay indoors and out of the public due to COVID-19, some of us are finding comfort in our favorite hunting spots.

Michiganders made history by overwhelmingly voting 'yes' on Proposal 1 to protect Michigan’s water, wildlife and parks for generations to come.

More than 84% of voters approved of Proposal 1, which commits oil and gas royalties to protection of our land, water sources and parks in perpetuity by lifting the cap on Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. This victory sends a clear message to lawmakers that voters across the state prioritize the protection of our natural resources and access to outdoor recreation for all Michiganders to enjoy.

Seven pro-environment Michigander leaders were appointed or reappointed across three government groups by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Thursday. Michigan Environmental Council gave a thumbs-up to each.

The advocates, educators and researchers will serve either on the Environmental Rules Review Commission, the Environmental Rules Review Commission or the Great Lakes Protection Fund.