Midterm season is fast approaching. In November we'll head to the ballot to vote for our state's executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The results could dramatically reshape each institution come 2023.

That means these remaining months of 2022 could very well be a time of intense legislative action. As lawmakers feel political winds change, they may seek to pass their landmark legislation and advance agendas with more tenacity.

This leaves us with many exciting opportunities to pass legislation a long time coming that make our nature and communities stronger. There are bills that will give every school and childcare center lead-free drinking water. Other bills would better keep over a million septic systems from spilling into our lakes and streams.
There are, of course, a few threatening bills in the works, too. One set could ramp up ethanol production, a move that would only create more pollution and higher gas prices. Another set might make it easier for mines to pollute.

Join the Michigan Environmental Council's water policy director Megan Tinsley, chief policy officer Charlotte Jameson, and President & CEO Conan Smith as they share the great opportunities and potential threats ahead for our state and planet in what will surely be a busy fall.

Register

Can't make the event live? Register and we'll send you a recording.

The Capitol Connection webinar series is generously sponsored by: 

Steve & Judy Dobson

Every Michigan child attending school or childcare centers—over 1.4 million—could soon drink lead-free water.

With 35-1 votes, "Filter First" bills passed out of the Michigan Senate on Tuesday and now head to the House.

The Huron River should be known as a prime place in Southeast Michigan to kayak, fish, and take in the beauty of nature. Unfortunately, companies like Tribar Manufacturing continuously threaten these activities by polluting our water. Tribar's made fish and beef unsafe to eat by spilling PFAS, and in August it spilled the chemical hexavalent chromium into the Huron River.

Tribar is the most infamous, recent example of a company that is not held accountable for its pollution. Without accountability, change does not happen. Join the Rebecca Esselman, executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council, as we discuss what happened with Tribar and how it speaks to the need for laws that keep companies from polluting.

Register

Can't make the event live? Register and we'll send you a recording.

The Capitol Connection webinar series is generously sponsored by: 

Steve & Judy Dobson

Another year, another bad algal bloom for Lake Erie, another lackluster government effort to prevent it. Join Megan Tinsley, the Michigan Environmental Council's water policy director, and a local business owner as they share the devastating impact poisonous algal blooms can have on our environment, economy, health, and happiness. They'll also share the solutions they're advocating for in Lansing and beyond.

Register

Can't make the event live? Register and we'll send you a recording.

The Capitol Connection webinar series is generously sponsored by: 

Steve & Judy Dobson

This is big. Like, really big. 

It's not often we get to celebrate a truly good environmental win. Sometimes good legislation is dead on arrival. Sometimes it stalls out as a new guard of politicians arrives. And sometimes good policy is paired with the ambivalent or bad.

But on March 30, Gov. Whitmer signed into law $2.5 billion in funding to better water, parks and communities, and it's almost wholly good news. It stems from earlier proposals by Gov. Whitmer and Republican Sen. Jon Bumstead, and it's supported by leadership from both political parties.

On Wednesday morning, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer rolled out a proposal for the largest state budget in history, with billions of dollars being dedicated toward natural resource protection, clean energy, clean water and climate resiliency.

Among the largest environmental investments are $1.22 billion for clean water; $593 million for climate, clean energy and mobility; and $403 million in natural resource protections.

Charlotte Jameson, chief policy officer of the Michigan Environmental Council, issued the following statement in response.

A discovery of potentially dangerous chemicals in Michigan beef renewed calls for better pollution prevention and cleanup standards to be set.

The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) announced Friday per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (commonly known as PFAS) were found in beef produced by Grostic Cattle Company near Hartland and sold to consumers. PFAS, used in a variety of products, have been linked to a number of illnesses, like cancers, thyroid disorders, diabetes and elevated cholesterol. 

Efforts are underway by the State of Michigan to ensure contaminated beef is no longer sold and consumers who may have bought it are alerted.

In early December, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and leaders from departments of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Nature Resources (DNR), and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) announced an adaptive management plan to tackle harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.

Nearly 1.5 million Michigan children are one step closer to drinking lead-safe water in their schools and daycare centers thanks to two votes in the Michigan Legislature.

Senate Bills 184 and 185 both passed out of the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality with 5-0-1 votes on Nov. 30. They head to the Senate floor.

It began with a skim through the Yellow Pages.

Lynn McIntosh needed an environmental lawyer. Her thick phonebook yielded only one: AJ Birkbeck, Fulcrum Law.

So she gave him a call, and a short while later she was driving from small-town Rockford to East Grand Rapids in her rundown ’97 Mercury van.