Michigan Political Week in Review
With lawmakers still out on their summer recess, it was a quite week in Michigan politics. Michigan LCV announced its most recent endorsement of the 2010 election season, Rep. Lisa Brown (D- West Bloomfield). As a freshman lawmaker, Rep. Brown scored 100% on the Michigan Environmental Scorecard, and sponsored clean energy initiatives like the Clean, Renewable and Energy Efficiency Act.
Democratic candidate for governor Virg Bernero picked up some endorsements last week- he captured the endorsement of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for Women, as well as the support of U.S. Reps. John Conyers and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. Republican candidate Pete Hoekstra received the endorsement of Dr. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family. And Mike Bouchard received an unofficial endorsement of sorts from ardent hunter/fisher and Detroit native Ted Nugent. Nugent joined forces with Bouchard to call for a constitutional amendment which would create a legal “right to hunt and fish”.
With election season in full swing, and campaign ads and literature flooding airwaves and mail boxes, the non-partisan Center for Michigan has launched an independent website called The Michigan Truth Squad. The project aims to carefully research the claims made in political ads, and determine fact from fiction. So far, they have called "foul" on 17 different political ads containing false or distorted information.
On the Issues
A proposed coal-fired power plant in Holland, MI faced a roadblock last week, when the Michigan Public Service Commission issued a report saying the Holland Board of Public Works failed to “adequately demonstrate the need for the proposed facility." A similar report resulted in the denial of an air permit for the construction of a coal-fired plant in Rogers City.
Whether or not Holland becomes home to a dirty coal plant, it will be the home of the new Compact Power electric battery plant. The plant will be making battery cells for the Chevrolet Volt. President Obama is scheduled to attend the plant’s groundbreaking on July 15.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled on July 2 that the Kennecott Eagle Mineral Company does not need a federal permit to discharge wastewater from its proposed nickel mine in the Upper Peninsula. The mine plans to discharge 500,000 gallons of wastewater each day. Mine opponents are concerned that the sulfide mine would cause irreparable environmental damage in one of the most pristine places in Michigan, as well as develop land sacred to local Ojibwa tribes.
Federal News:
Michigan Senator Carl Levin last week issued a letter to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, encouraging the governor to take urgent action to stop the spread of Asian carp. The letter was released following the discovery of a spawning population of Asian carp in the Wabash River in Indiana. The Wabash shares a floodplain with the Maumee River, which drains into Lake Erie. So a flood on the Wabash could give the carp another access point to the Great Lakes, with serious ecological consequences. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources issued a statement following the discovery, that the threat of the carp was not as serious as it was being portrayed by other states. That statement prompted Senator Levin, who co-chairs the Senate Great Lakes Task force, to issue the letter to Governor Daniels.
The death of U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) on June 28 may have serious long-term repercussions for the passage of clean energy legislation. While Senator Byrd had recently taken a strong stance against coal and for clean energy legislation, his replacement, of course coming from the coal-producing stronghold of West Virginia, is very likely to be a strong proponent of coal. It doesn't help that many of his potential replacements have also received substantial donations from coal-industry bigwigs.
