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davidembee · 6 years ago

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Let’s Do Something About Line 5 | Jason Noble for Michigan State Senate

Op-ed blog piece authored for Jason Noble for State Senate, a candidate running in Michigan’s 19th State Senate District.

The Great Lakes State – our home – is surrounded on four sides by fresh water. We can rightly claim the world’s longest freshwater shoreline and the second longest stretch of coastline in the nation. Our pristine waters have been a lifeline for our people for generations, and helped to build our state, and the Midwest as a whole, into an economic powerhouse.

We cannot take our waters for granted. Securing a good tomorrow for the next generation demands that we safeguard and nurture our waters. Big Oil has different ideas, though. The notorious ‘Line 5’, owned and run by Enbridge, has run under the Mackinac Straits for over 60 years, and its age has been on full display for years now. All the while Enbridge has claimed time after time in official statements that they have full faith in Line 5’s ability to run safely for decades into the future. For what it’s worth, the company made similar claims about the pipeline that ruptured in 2010, dumping hundreds-of-thousands of gallons of raw oil into the Kalamazoo River.

Oil and petroleum products played a major part in the industrial explosion of our state, this much cannot be denied. As pipelines and transportation systems for crude oil products age, however, the risks they pose outstrip any benefits that may be had. The pipeline under the straits sustained damage from a freighter’s anchor in April of this year. The time to shut down this liability before it blooms into an environmental and economic disaster is now. Safer options to transport crude petroleum products do exist, and as your next Senator in Michigan’s legislature, I intend to push my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fully and seriously explore any alternatives.

Sacrificing the health of our waters and our soils is a sacrifice of the health of the citizens of Michigan. We’ve seen the disastrous effects of industry groups allowed to run rampant over the safety and well-being of the people – look no further than the ongoing Flint Water Crisis if you need evidence. What’s good for the people will ultimately be good for business, and as your elected representative in Michigan’s Congress, I’ll never choose to put your health and safety in jeopardy because it’s “business friendly” or “politically expedient”, not even for myself.

Our officials have largely forgotten what it means to be a public servant, and have chosen to serve themselves firstly, in contradiction of the title “public servant”. My promise to the voters of Michigan’s 19th District – all voters, not just those who vote for me – is that my focus will always be on doing those things that are most beneficial for you to ensure a good today, and a prosperous tomorrow.

We are stronger together, and together we are better. dJoin me, and together we can bring the vision of a state that once again works for and protects the interests of all her citizens.

#blog #copywriting #op-ed #michigan state senate #jason noble

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cnasnmu · 5 years ago

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Sault Tribe selected host site for environmental internship

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) has listed host sites for a paid 8-week summer internship. Students can spend your summer working with tribal organizations--one being Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians-- to address tribal environmental issues. The internships have a technical, educational or policy focus. The ITEP is offering eight positions in air quality. The internship program provides each student intern with a $4,000 stipend, and limited housing and travel allowances. Host sites are selected from tribal environmental organizations, government offices, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and others.

>> LEARN MORE >>

Eligible students must meet the following:

US Citizen

Identify as Native American/Alaska Native

Full-time undergraduate or graduate college student during Spring 2020 (12

hours undergrad, 9 hours grad) at any tribal college, college or university

Have at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA

Majoring in an environmental or related field like science, engineering,

planning, policy, law, management, political science, anthropology, or health

Interested in pursuing an environmental career after graduating

Proficient verbal and written communication skills

Strong interest in working with Native American tribes or topics

Please register at nau.edu/itepinterns for more information.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 28, 2020 and questions can be directed to Robin Bouschor, Sault Tribe Environmental Department - Environmental Specialist at (906) 632-5575.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Sault Tribe) is a federally recognized Indian Tribe of over 44,000 members, located in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Tribe are Anishinaabeg (which can mean 'Original People' or 'Spontaneous Beings') and have lived in the Great Lakes area for millenia. Some of the oldest legends recall the ice packs breaking on Lake Nipissing and archeologists have found Anishinaabeg sites from 3000 B.C. Sault Tribe's ancestors were Anishinaabeg fishing tribes whose settlements dotted the upper Great Lakes around Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, throughout the St. Marys River system and the Straits of Mackinac. Anishinaabeg gathered for the summers in places like Bahweting (Sault Ste. Marie) and broke up into family units for the winter.The Tribe's Environment Program's mission statement is 'To protect the health and wellbeing of present and future members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, by protecting the environment on which they depend.' We hope doing this study/assessment will help us with our mission.

About the Internship

The purpose of the project is to improve air quality in a tribal community in Michigan. The project involves doing an assessment of PM 2.5 exposure at three tribal casinos located in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, Hessel, MI and Christmas, MI. This will include the health aspect of PM 2.5 pollution, sampling methodologies, protocols, assessment design, data analysis and research into the effects of other casinos or other establishments that went smoke free. The research will contain not only human health effects but also economic effects when available. The information that is obtained will be presented to internal Tribal agencies through a PowerPoint presentation and a report will be written of findings. The intern will also assist Tribal staff at an outreach event at a Tribal Pow Wow, and assist in creating a hands on activity that is air quality related for the outreach booth.

The main goals are to learn about PM 2.5 indoor air pollution, and this will include the health issues associated with PM 2.5, sampling methodologies and protocols, data analysis and research the effects of other casinos/establishments that went smoke free.

Specific Tasks

Learn about PM 2.5 health issues

Obtain training from staff on operating a PM 2.5 sampler

Develop a document to record data accurately

With help from Environmental Staff develop appropriate sampling methodologies/design for this project

Travel with Environmental Staff to Casinos to conduct PM 2.5 sampling

Research of other establishments that went smoke free

Analyze data/research and write a report

Combine report information into an easy to follow PowerPoint presentation

Present report in PowerPoint format to internal Tribal agencies

Assist in creating an air quality related activity for an outreach event

Desired Skills

Intern will need to feel comfortable in operating a particle counter (no experience necessary, will be trained), strong research skills required, needs experience in word, excel, and PowerPoint, strong science background preferred.

About the Location

Harwoods Student Apartments (https://harwoodproperties.net/hillside-student.html) rentals offers student rentals at $700 a month, with the possibility of it being cheaper if roomed with other students, it can be as cheap as $175. There is no guarantee other students (From Lake Superior State University will be staying for the summer and renting), more will be known after mid May when LSSU term ends. Another option is renting from the Environmental Manager rental house on Eureka Street in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This will be estimated to be $450 a month, and it comes furnished. In the area there are also hotels that will rent a room for the month. These typically cost $550-$650.

Public transportation is limited in our area, we have a cab company, Lyft/Uber. However, given the short distance from the potential housing sites the intern can use our departments bicycle during the course of the internship. It would be about a 5-10 minute bike ride, or 15-20 minute walk.

In the summer months there are a plethora of activities for all types' interests. We have ice skating at our local Tribal recreation facility, swimming at the LSSU pool, outdoor beaches such as Sherman Park Recreational area, fudgy lane, where you can get fudge an ice cream cone and watch as ship enter and leave the world famous Soo Locks, disc golf at Minneapolis Recreational Woods or at LSSU campus. We are also uniquely situated as a border city to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and they have a movie theaters, a mall and wonderful hiking trails. Last but not least experience a real drive in burger joint located near the Environmental Department that not only offered some of the best burgers around but also spectacular view of the St Mary's river and Canada.

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bluemagic-girl · 5 years ago

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The Democrats In Detroit Are Still Unclear On How To Stop The Next Flint Water Crisis

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DETROIT ― The Democrats vying to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 spent two nights sparring over plans to make it easier for Americans to see doctors, go to school and trust that the planet’s climate will remain hospitable to human life in the coming decades.

Yet few, if any, of the 20 presidential hopefuls offered a clear vision of how to guarantee the water flowing from the nation’s aging pipes won’t make them sick, damage their children’s brains and remain accessible as freshwater reserves dry up.

And that’s despite debating in a theater just an hour’s drive from Flint, Michigan, the city where, since 2014, a lead contamination crisis has forced tens of thousands of residents to drink, bathe and cook with bottled water.

Flint featured prominently in the 2016 Democratic primary. Over the two-night debate in Detroit, the crisis came up repeatedly. On Tuesday, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas) rhapsodized about the time he spent in Flint last week, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) touted her $1 trillion infrastructure plan to replace aging pipes. On Wednesday, Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.) admonished policymakers for failing to fix “not just Flint, but every water system in this country.”

But it was self-help guru Marianne Williamson who came the closest to describing the problem when she declared that “Flint is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Flint’s story is a gripping one, colored by the naked racism and classism of leaving a mostly black, poor city with rust-colored water in a cynical effort to cut costs on municipal bills. It’s also a problem with health effects easily understandable to anyone who’s ever sought housing with paint that won’t poison an infant or remembers teachers’ scorn for chewing on pencils.

JIM WATSON via Getty Images

So near to Flint, Michigan, and yet not close enough.

In 2016, only nine states reported safe levels of lead in drinking water to the Environmental Protection Agency. A study published last year found that from 1982 to 2015, up to 28% of Americans’ drinking water violated federal standards.

But the crisis goes far beyond lead. So-called forever chemicals ― a family of cancer-causing compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS ― now contaminates roughly 19 million Americans’ drinking water, according to a study released in May. Despite a growing body of legislation calling for its cleanup and removal, the Trump administration is refusing to enact new federal regulations.

Last December, the EPA moved to gut a critical Obama-era rule extending federal protections to streams and wetlands that feed 117 million Americans’ drinking water sources, clearing the way for increased pollution from chemical-dependent farming giants.

Then there’s the issue of expanding oil and gas infrastructure. The 2.5 million miles of pipeline that crisscross the United States intersect with water sources at 18,000 points across the country, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. North of Detroit, a fight is brewing over the expansion of Michigan’s Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, adding to fears that a leak could contaminate a source of water for 5 million people.

Paul Sancya/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Teacher Cedric Cook pushes cases of water into Noble Elementary-Middle School in Detroit last year.

And that says nothing of the climate change that increased fossil fuel use exacerbates. Dystopian fears over water shortages are rapidly becoming a reality across the world. From 2017 to 2018, South Africa’s Cape Town teetered on the brink of disaster as the threat of droughts and overuse parching the city’s aquifers loomed as “Day Zero.” Nearly 11 million people in the Indian metropolis of Chennai are nearly out of water now.

In Detroit, the city’s public utility threatened to shut off water for nearly 17,500 households that were behind on bills last year. This year, the shutoff rate plummeted nearly 70% to about 5,600 households. But the wave of shutoffs came as the debt-choked city was looking to privatize its utility in what the left-wing think tank Centre for Research on Globalization described as an effort to hand over a basic public necessity to profiteers.

Though it hardly came up in the debates, some 2020 contenders are proposing plans that could offer relief. After visiting Flint, former Housing Secretary Julián Castro released a plan to “completely eliminate” lead in drinking water. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called for banning the use of PFAS ― a common ingredient in food packaging, nonstick fabrics and firefighting foam ― as part of his sweeping environmental justice proposal. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proposed legislation to spend $35 billion on water infrastructure improvements.

“As our national water crisis rapidly grows and our environment continues to deteriorate due to climate change,” said Mary Grant, a campaigner at the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, “we need a president who prioritizes fixing our broken water systems.”

REAL LIFE. REAL NEWS. REAL VOICES.

Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard.

The post The Democrats In Detroit Are Still Unclear On How To Stop The Next Flint Water Crisis appeared first on Nosy Media.

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velmaemyers88 · 5 years ago

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2020 Democrats put climate justice front and center ahead of debates – ThinkProgress

Several 2020 presidential hopefuls are highlighting climate justice as a priority ahead of this week’s Democratic debates in Michigan, a state whose residents have faced persistent lead- and chemical-tainted water supplies along with dangerous air pollution and an impending, controversial pipeline project.

On Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, the only candidate to build his campaign around climate change, released the final part of his five-prong climate policy proposal. Focused entirely on environmental justice, Inslee’s latest plan would direct $1 trillion over a decade toward a Community Climate Justice program to help low-income and minority communities deal with the impacts of local pollution and climate change.

Inslee would also shift the focus of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, renaming it the Council on Environmental Justice. The office, which oversees federal agency environmental reviews, would include representatives from pollution-impacted communities along with environmental organizations and business groups. An environmental justice office would also be opened at the Justice Department.

Also on Monday, The New York Times reported that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will join Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to introduce the Climate Equity Act, which would require the federal government to evaluate environmental regulations and legislation for their impact on low-income communities. While Harris’ campaign has yet to release a dedicated climate proposal, the bill provides insight into her environmental priorities.

The bill would create an independent Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability to represent vulnerable communities. A senior climate justice adviser also would be created at “all relevant agencies.”

The two proposals come after billionaire 2020 candidate Tom Steyer last week released his own “justice-centered” plan for addressing climate change. The wide-ranging plan includes a commitment to the Paris climate agreement — from which President Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw — a net-zero emissions goal of 2045, and a civilian climate jobs corps.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) in April also unveiled a proposal he described as an environmental justice agenda, which includes working with impacted communities to strengthen environmental rules targeted for elimination or significantly weakenedby the Trump administration.

According to the government’s own National Climate Assessment released last November, indigenous tribes, farmworkers, and low-income communities of color are already bearing the brunt of climate change, and it’s set to get worse in places like Texas and Florida. Addressing this inequality is therefore critical to any climate action.

Numerous studies show that low-income communities and communities of color often disproportionately feel the impacts of environmental issues due in part to their proximity to polluting industries, Superfund sites, and low-lying coastal regions. One recent study, for instance, found that communities that were subjected to discriminatory lending and mortgage practices decades ago now have higher asthma rates.

Michigan is no exception. During the 2018 midterms, environmental issues were front and center among several candidates across the state. And a poll released last week by the League of Conservation Voters found that 77% of Michigan voters surveyed agreed that climate and environmental issues are important, and a third said candidates should support investment in the state’s water infrastructure system. Support for clean energy was also widespread, according to the survey, particularly among black and Latinx voters.

Michigan is still reeling from the Flint water crisis, and some high school students in Detroit — where this week’s debates will take place — have gone at least six months without being able to use school water fountains due to fears about lead contamination.

But it’s not just lead that has been contaminating drinking water. Residents across Michigan have over the past year become increasingly concerned about the impacts of PFAS chemicals — or, “forever chemicals” — in the water; these chemicals are found in everything from nonstick pans to firefighting foam and can increase the risk of health issues, including cancer. Political pressure is mounting for lawmakers to set a national drinking water standard for the class of chemicals — something which the Environmental Protection Agency has been resistant to doing.

Meanwhile, the controversial Line 5 pipeline tunnel set to replace pipes beneath the Straits of Mackinac — a channel linking Lakes Huron and Michigan — is also an issue of concern for residents. Both Inslee and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have this month called for the Enbridge-backed fossil fuel pipeline project to be scrapped, arguing it poses a risk to the Great Lakes and the climate.

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from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/2020-democrats-put-climate-justice-front-and-center-ahead-of-debates-thinkprogress/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2020-democrats-put-climate-justice-front-and-center-ahead-of-debates-thinkprogress from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.tumblr.com/post/186639091017

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reneeacaseyfl · 5 years ago

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2020 Democrats put climate justice front and center ahead of debates – ThinkProgress

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weeklyreviewer · 5 years ago

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2020 Democrats put climate justice front and center ahead of debates – ThinkProgress

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The post 2020 Democrats put climate justice front and center ahead of debates – ThinkProgress appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

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