Lawmakers are crafting the next budget, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office is trying to hide accountability measures while boosting spending.
In 2018, Whitmer made a transparency pledge while running for office. Now, in her second term, her office is trying to hinder transparency efforts in the next budget process.
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When Liesl Clark, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), was asked five times in a row whether Benton Harbor’s water was safe to drink, she repeatedly said, “the state of Michigan wants citizens to be drinking bottled water.”
“Come on, let’s talk like normal people here,” Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, responded. “It’s a normal question: Is the water in Benton Harbor safe to drink or not?”
Clark eventually answered “no,” and recommended residents drink bottled water.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration hasn’t revealed alternatives to transport more than half a million barrels of natural gas liquids if it succeeds in its legal efforts to close the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline in May 2021.
Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy told The Center Square there are no pipelines or other alternatives that can readily substitute for Line 5 in transporting the crude oil and natural gas liquids to the refineries and other facilities served by Line 5.
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The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy dismissed a case challenging the department’s issuance of a permit to increase water withdrawals by Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) in Osceola County.
EGLE announced on Friday it would dismiss the case, which was filed in 2018 by the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. An EGLE statement stated the groups “erred in not appealing the permit directly to circuit court.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to reconnect residents’ water services that had been shut off.
The governor signed the $2 million Water Restart Grant Program on Saturday. The suspension of the public utility shut-offs were mandated effective immediately.
“This is a critical step both for the health of families living without a reliable water source, and for slowing the spread of the Coronavirus,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We continue to work to provide all Michiganders – regardless of their geography or income level – the tools they need to keep themselves and their communities protected.”
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Twenty-one Michigan residents have been selected to join the state’s first Michigan Advisory Council for Environmental Justice, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lake and Energy (EGLE) announced on Thursday.
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The City of Detroit was awarded nearly $1 million in grants earlier this month as part of an expansion in recycling education. The grant is part of a first-ever public-private collaboration to increase state recycling costing $2.2 million.
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