Michigan Political Week in Review: Nov. 30 - Dec. 6
How quickly things change. This past week, the incoming Snyder Administration announced it will re-split the MDNRE back into its former Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Quality. Additionally, announcements were made as to the overall organization of state government. These two agencies will now be grouped together under a unified reporting structure (along with Department of Agriculture) in a managerial structure that will be repeated in other areas of state government.
We also are beginning to learn who will be in charge of each of these administrative groupings. Whether or not the governor-elect will live up to his promise of reinventing Michigan is yet to be seen, but there can be little doubt that we’re going to see a major re-engineering of how it functions.
MDNRE, We Hardly Knew Ye
It is less than a year since Governor Granholm officially merged the MDNR and MDEQ into the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE). Apparently, the governor-elect did not agree with that decision and so we are going back to the way it was; land management and environmental protection are to be tackled under different roofs. Unfortunately, it is impossible to ignore the interconnected nature of these two issues and we hope that this separation doesn’t mean that the two will stop talking. After all, they will still have joint custody of preserving Michigan’s vital and valuable natural resources.
This reorganization of responsibilities does have serious consequences, however. When Governor Engler originally split the two departments, it was in an effort to make the DEQ less powerful in its enforcement responsibilities. This present division, then, can result in two possible outcomes: The first is that the DNR and DEQ focus on their respective areas of authority in a more focused and efficient manner, leading to even greater benefits to Michiganders. The second is that resources are more easily diverted from DEQ by legislators uncomfortably close to major polluters, communication between the two agencies is hampered, and our lakes, communities, and rivers all suffer.
Obviously, we have a preference here and look forward to working with the new governor, Legislature, and the new agencies in order to successfully navigate the administrative turbulence to calmer (and cleaner) waters.
New Environmental Leadership and Organization
Along with new appointees to the DEQ, DNR, and Department of Agriculture, the Snyder Administration previewed its new approach to organizing state government. The agencies responsible for each area of state government’s authority will be organized into clusters that will be coordinated by a single administrator who will, in turn, report to the governor. For our purposes, we will be primarily focused on the “Quality of Life” group which includes the DEQ, DNR, and Department of Agriculture.
And now, to introduce the cast of characters who will be leading the state’s Quality of Life cluster or – if I’m allowed to coin yet another acronym in this already alphabet-heavy missive – the "QOL" group:
Dan Wyant: Wyant will be overseeing QOL while also heading up the Department of Environmental Quality. Previously, Wyant served in both the Engler and Granholm administrations as director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture. He now takes on enormous new responsibilities and challenges, not least of which will be balancing his strong agriculture background with the environmental protection and enforcement that is required of the DEQ;
Rodney Stokes: Stokes is promoted from within the MDNRE and is an excellent choice to head the Department of Natural Resources. We believe that his experience and passion for the appropriate and measured management of Michigan’s valuable lands and waters will provide steady guidance to this agency in the upcoming reorganization;
Keith Creagh: Another veteran of the state bureaucracy, Creagh will be leaving the Neogen Corp. to return to lead the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, where he was previously chief deputy director. His experience will be welcome, but new solutions are going to be essential to managing the complicated issues surrounding both rural pollution and development.
Of course, all of this change remains overshadowed by the looming question of funding. As we noted in our press release on all these changes, “without funding, new leadership and new departments mean nothing.”
The Big Picture
As we see these dramatic shifts in Michigan’s governance, we would do well to recognize that we aren’t the only ones carefully watching the direction of our state. Michigan is in the unique position of having a centrist candidate moving into the governor’s mansion while so many other states, especially those around the Great Lakes like Ohio and Wisconsin, are now home to far-right ideological candidates. Many other states and national organizations are justifiably curious to learn whether it is possible to advance a conservation agenda in a state that is thoroughly controlled by Republicans, and led by a moderate.
We don’t think there is any question in the matter: The answer is, yes, we all can.
The environment, our Great Lakes, our rivers, neighborhoods, cities, and farms are not partisan entities and there is room for agreement on the proper and pragmatic management of each of them. At Michigan LCV, we are excited about the opportunity to prove the non-partisan viability of our issues. Furthermore, I know that we are not alone in that optimism.
Justice Brandeis once wrote about states as the “laboratories” of democracy. It’s time to show the rest of the country what the formula is for bipartisan progress in the pursuit of a healthy state.
Until next week,
Ryan Werder, Political Director
