Stay updated with breaking news from ஜேம்ஸ் கிளிஃப்ட். Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Credit J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue When Monica Evans gets together with her friends they talk economics, politics, the weather. They also discuss a subject that arises periodically in the news - the prospect that Great Lakes water could be diverted to other parts of the country. Evans, who is known in the Traverse City region as an effective environmental activist, has long worried that water could become in the 21st century what oil was in the 20th. As the global climate warms and water scarcity mounts, Great Lakes water is more valuable than ever before. That point was made clear on February 5 when the Village of Somers in Kenosha County, WI applied to the state Department of Natural Resources to divert water from Lake Michigan. The community wants 1.2 million gallons a day, and up to 2 million gallons of water daily in high stress events, in anticipation of future population growth. The application will only need state approval, according to the DNR, since t ....
Children playing nearby air pollution sources in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood. Image: Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice By Jakkar Aimery Capital News Service Serious health problems like increasing asthma rates among children in Detroit’s Black and Hispanic communities have been linked to what local organizations call environmental injustices as a result of low air quality and polluted neighborhoods. “Detroit is a heavy industrial city that has a legacy of pollution through the auto industry and segregation practices like redlining, which has made it a poster child for environmental injustice,” said Catherine Diggs, the manager of programs and outreach at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. ....
State environmental officials say it’s too early to call it a windfall. That’s because some portion of the money that showed up on the state’s year-end balance sheet will likely be offset by lower-than-average revenue next year, as Michiganders liquidate stockpiles of empties that they didn’t get around to returning in 2020. The glut of bottle bill revenue comes as a GOP-majority House budget recommendation proposes slashing the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s overall budget by nearly 70 percent a move that is unlikely to gain approval from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. Under current law, 75 percent of revenue from unredeemed bottles which in 2019 totaled $43 million goes to the state Cleanup and Redevelopment Trust Fund, where much of it supports EGLE’s efforts to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites. The other 25 percent goes to retailers who sell bottled drinks to offset their cost of collecting returns. ....
Capital News Service Industries such as steel, cement, chemical and automotive are working to become more energy-efficient by implementing the use of renewable resources, experts say. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is cooperating with energy-intensive industries to help them become as energy-efficient as possible and reduce carbon emissions, said James Clift, the department’s deputy director. The department is responsible for coordinating Michigan’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Carbon neutrality refers to net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. That cooperation includes construction of electric automotive manufacturing plants. Those industries don’t get enough attention from environmental groups when it comes to increasing sustainability, Clift said. ....
Kirk Heinze, James Clift, and Saulius Mikalonis talk all things environment and sustainability. James Clift is the deputy director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. And before that, he served as policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council. Saulius Mikalonis is a widely respected environmental attorney in the Bloomfield Hills office of Plunkett Cooney. “The impact and insignificance of Earth Day is that it started the ball rolling,” Mikalonis tells host Kirk Heinze. “Shortly thereafter, the EPA was created, and the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act were passed. There were environmental statutes that were in the books before that, but they were very mild and not very well enforced. ....