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Photo ©2010 Utopian Empire Creativeworks
IN THIS PHOTO, THE GULF OIL SPILL IS ILLUSTRATED OVER A MAP OF MICHIGAN |
Dan Scripps, Representative for the 101st. District Presents Legislation to Ban Drilling in the Great Lakes | Listen to Audio
Traverse City—Representative Dan Scripps announces legislation that will constitutionally ban drilling in the Great Lakes. While drilling in the lakes is already prohibited, it is a law that could be reversed at any time legislatively. This legislation would amend the Michigan constitution to permanently ban drilling. Michigan would be the first Great Lakes state to permanently ban drilling. The legislation will have to pass the Michigan House and Senate, and then the prohibition would appear on the November ballot, giving Michigan voters the right to decide the issue. Rep. Scripps is joined by members of the sport fishing community, as well as the council chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and other allies and supporters. DontDrillMILakes.com
2010 Environmentalist of the Year Awards in the News
NMEAC, Bioneers present awards
TRAVERSE CITY -- Andy Gale started collecting recyclable materials two years ago as a way to keep waste out of landfills and raise money for local agencies. His Leelanau County-based nonprofit, Bay Area Recycling for Charities, since has expanded across the five-county region and soon will enter Manistee County with the acquisition of a recycling plant. Proceeds are donated to various charities. It has been a rapid rise for Gale's young organization, recognized Friday as one of the top environmental efforts in the past year. Gale accepted the Environmentalist of the Year honor for businesses from the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council during its annual awards event. He also was named the Bioneer of the Year from organizers of the Great Lakes Bioneers conference. "People's mindset, their paradigm, is changing," said Gale, who recycles many materials, including all plastics, that often are thrown away. "They're looking at their waste as a resource, rather than a liability."
September 2010
NMEAC is Pleased to Announce Our “Smart People's Community Energy” Workshop”
Thank you for attending our forum, “Biomass: a Burning Question”. It is now time for the community to come together and work on developing green energy solutions. NMEAC invites you to join our facilitated research and problem solving initiative endeavoring to use the power of community to address our energy and environmental challenges in NW Michigan. We look forward to your participation. If you would like to join the “Smart People's Community Energy ” Initiative working group send us an email at
SmartEnergy@Traversearea.com
To join the discussion about getting past biomass, join that chat over at Facebook, click here to go there
Environmental Legacy Fund
We are grateful to the hundreds of people who came out to share an evening of music and great times at the Traverse City Opera House at the kick off event to support the establishment of the NMEAC Environmental Legacy Fund. Click here to learn more about he Environmental Legacy Fund. Visit us at NMEACLegacyFund.org
NMEAC “Environmentalists' of the Year” Updates
Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor to be Renamed for Former Gov. William G. Milliken
The William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor, seen as a portal for the state park system and tourism opportunities in Michigan, is located in the heart of downtown Detroit along the riverfront. It is 31 acres in size, located on a reclaimed brownfield that had been impacted by 300 years of industrial use. UPDATES: OUR PREVIOUS ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE YEAR WINNERS
2010 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
2009 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
2008 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
NMEAC: Become a Fan at Facebook
It’s an exciting day at NMEAC – we’re happy to announce we’re now on Facebook! Please check out our page and let us know what you think. We’ll be posting videos, sharing ideas, and more, so don’t miss it! We invite you to join us and share your stories and photos on the Facebook wall.
URGENT:
Environmental Action Alerts
An Environmentalists Guide to renewable energy in NW Michigan
Energy is becoming a hot issue in Michigan. Will we be ready? Do we have enough information to make good energy choices? Check out http://JobsAndEnergy.com for answers.
Asian Carp Update
17-Jul-2010—Here is an update on the Asian Carp situation – lots happening these days!
Click Here to Print our “Pledge to Protect the Waters of the Great Lakes Basin” PDF
We need your help distributing the "Pledge to Protect the Waters of the Great Lakes Basin". Please take a copy to your place or work, worship, and when you meet up with friends and associate. We need as many signatures as possible to plug the loophole in the Great Lakes Compact agreement. MORE INFORMATION
Quit Coal - Save Our Climate
One-hundred-fifty coal-fired power plants are currently proposed to be built. If even a small portion of these plants are constructed the global warming pollution pumped into our air will make all our other efforts to reverse climate change irrelevant. Coal plants are the dirtiest, most regressive source of energy possible - poisoning our communities and environment. The Environmental Law Program is working with activists around the country to champion clean energy in the face of this unprecedented rush to build new coal plants.
Environmental Justice
Vandalizing the truth about HB 5319 (Water Protection)
Vandalism usually happens to things like cars, mailboxes, etc. But it can also happen to something less tangible, like truth. It’s amazing how easy it is to start a rumor just by circulating misinformation. Recently articles have been published that state either outright or by implication that HB 5319,sponsored by Representative Dan Scripps, would tax our private well-water and is therefore an example of government "take-over" of our "private property". In fact, the bill does just the opposite. It empowers us as citizens to maintain the control we have always enjoyed over our water, whether in lakes and streams or underground. Water is a public trust and is held in trust by us all as a common good. Therefore, it should not be privatized and sold for private profit for the benefit of the few, leaving the rest of us "high and dry", as our watershed is depleted of this precious resource.
An Eaters Guide to Avoiding Factory Farm Food
Most people share at least the following traits: they want to be healthy; they like animals; and they value clean air and water. Yet relatively few Americans connect those concerns with their food. As more people start making the link, many decide it's time to stop eating foods from factory farms. This is a guide for doing just that. Industrialized animal production has become one of the nation's worst polluters of water and air.
Factory Farming Could Cause a Pandemic
Michael Greger, M.D. delineates how a virus begins, mutates, and becomes dangerous. As with so many problems we are seeing lately -- environmental or health -- factory farmed meat seems to be a big part of the cause. A graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine, Michael Greger, M.D., serves as Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. An internationally recognized lecturer, he has presented at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit, testified before Congress, and was an expert witness in defense of Oprah Winfrey at the infamous "meat defamation" trial. His recent scientific publications in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Critical Reviews in Microbiology, and the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition, and Public Health explore the public health implications of industrialized animal agriculture. So far, only thousands of people have died from swine flu. Unless we radically change the way livestock are raised for food, though, it may only be a matter of time before a catastrophic pandemic arises.
Fruit Processing Wastewater Threatens Health and Environment
In Michigan's prized fruit and vegetable industry, processors have contaminated groundwater with metals and arsenic by spraying wastewater on fields—a 40-year-old practice that has led to polluted drinking water wells. In other cases, they also have dumped or spilled their waste into streams, marshes and wetlands, damaging them for many years to come. Read our important NMEAC report
Group Meets to Fix the Great Lakes Compact
Traverse City—The initial goal is to pass a Michigan constitutional amendment, either through the legislature or by popular referendum, that would accomplish two things: No. 1, eliminate what some environmentalists feel is a dangerous loophole in the recently passed legislation designed to protect waters of the Great Lakes basin and No. 2, clearly establish that Michigan citizens own their water and only they have the right to determine whether and who would be able to sell it for private gain. The legislation of concern, the Great Lakes Compact, is now federal law after having been ratified by legislatures in the eight states with land in the Great Lakes basin. The law prevents diversions of water to outside the basin except under some very specific and controlled conditions. But the law allows companies to ship water out of the basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or smaller if the diversion does not cause certain, specified environmental damages. Buried in the fine print, the Compact by definition also excepts "water produced as a product" from the ban on diversions. “This sets up a climate where hungry states, corporations, or nations outside the basin could tap Great Lakes water if it is packaged in any size containers,” says environmental attorney James Olson, an organizer of the November 16 event.
Mancelona plant source of tainted water
A six-mile-long plume of contaminated groundwater from a polluted northern Michigan factory site is threatening the Cedar River, one of two sources for the area's drinking water. "I would have to say this is one of the largest contaminations we've ever seen," Janice Adams, a senior geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, told The Detroit News for a Monday story. The state has spent more than $14 million battling the tainted groundwater generated at the Mancelona plant, which made auto parts in southern Antrim County. Dura Automotive Systems Inc., which operated there most recently, closed the factory in February. The now-defunct Mount Clemens Industries Inc. operated the plant from 1947 to 1967, when workers used trichloroethylene, or TCE, to degrease the machinery. To dispose of the chemical, workers poured it on the ground or dumped it into seepage pits.
Alba well blocked indefinitely
A new deep-injection disposal well won't be drilled near this Antrim County community, at least not anytime soon. A circuit court judge indefinitely blocked an energy company from drilling such a new well in Antrim County's Star Township. By doing so, he closed the book on a lawsuit filed by the county, township and environmental group Friends of the Jordan River Watershed.
BATTLE ENDS:
FOR MICHIGAN CITIZENS FOR WATER CONSERVATION v NESTLE
Big Rapids, Michigan: Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation stopped Nestlé Waters North America, Inc.’s attempt to pump more water from a stressed stream and lake for its Ice Mountain bottled water in Mecosta, Michigan on Monday, July 6. CLICK HERE TO READ RELEASE
more headlines
Just say “NO!” to Plastic Bags & Bottles
Traverse City Government Passes Resolution to Eliminate Disposable Plastic Water Bottles PDF
In an effort to protect the environment, reduce waste, and save wildlife and fish, passed a Resolution (brought before the Commission by NMEAC) to Ban Plastic Bottles at city facilities, meetings and events. MORE ON BOTTLED WATER
Traverse City Passes Resolution to Reduce Plastic Bag Waste PDF
Traverse City, in an effort to protect the environment, reduce waste, and save wildlife and fish, passed a Resolution (brought before the Commission by NMEAC) to Ban Plastic Bags. MORE ON PLASTIC BAGS
Plastic is Passé
Paper or plastic? It's a question we hear every time we go to the grocery store. It's time shoppers in NW Michigan had a better choice – recyclable and reusable containers. Dear consumers and shoppers. I wouldn't bring this matter up if it wasn't incredibly important. May I have a moment to share a few ideas on plastic single use shopping/grocery bags? In all honesty, I probably wouldn't be asking for your time if all of your plastic was being properly recycled... ...But it's not. Plastic bags are in trees and on fences, in the creek near my house, flapping on windy days from my shrubs, and rolling across the lawn like tumbleweed on the way to their next unsightly outpost. READ ARTICLE
Our Current Priorities
Energy. There is a growing scarcity of oil, gas, and coal around the world. Decisions that are made today will affect this region and the planet for generations to come. NMEAC is a leader in developing solutions to reduce pollution that damages our environment and quality of life. JOBS AND ENERGY: a regional guide to energy for environmentalists
Transportation
and land use. Growth is the greatest single issue affecting the environment of Northern Michigan. NMEAC is active on several fronts to help local officials to curb sprawl development and avoid its devastating impacts on wildlife habitat, clean air, clean water and quality of life. NMEAC is a founder of, and leader in,
The Grand Vision, a $1.6 million, six-county regional planning process that is involving several thousand residents of Northern Michigan in defining our future. We encourage NMEAC members to find out more about the project by clicking The Grand Vision logo. THE GRAND VISION
Contamination
cleanup. Northern Michigan has scores of contaminated sites
left over from industrial activities dating back as far as the 1800s.
We are pressing local and state officials to accelerate efforts at
cleaning these up.
Inland Lakes Initiative. We've begun engaging riparian property owners,
public officials, lake association members, and others in focused
discussions revolving around our region's inland lakes. These finite
and land-locked resources face many threats, from over-development to
invasive species to poor water quality. NMEAC aims to head up an
umbrella group of inland lakes champions and collaborate with
water-based partners to implement real strategies for protection. Be
sure to check out our Inland Lakes page to stay up-to-date on recent
inland lakes activities!
