Planet Detroit Candidate Survey
What are the three most pressing environmental issues facing the communities you seek to serve? Please rank them in order of priority and briefly explain why you chose each.
1. Clean Drinking Water — The three most pressing environmental issues facing the residents of Senate District 29 are clean, affordable drinking water; clean, affordable energy; and data center development.
2. Clean Drinking Water — Communities across the district are impacted by aging water infrastructure. Lead service lines are prevalent and while work to replace them is ongoing, the timeline is long (10-15 years). Water main breaks in recent years have cut a number of neighborhoods off from clean drinking water for days at a time.
3. Clean Energy — Utility bills (gas and electricity) for households increase every year while power grid reliability for residents continues to be poor (ranking near the bottom of all states in the country). The reliance on fossil fuels to power the grid continues to contribute to environmental pollution. The transition to clean energy is essential to improving power grid reliability, reducing utility bills and mitigating environmental impact.
Michigan law requires utilities to reach 100% clean energy by 2040. If elected, would you support maintaining this law, or would you support revising or repealing it? Please explain your position.
Maintain the current law and timeline
I support the timeline and requirements codified in the 2023 legislation and will stand opposed to current and future efforts to undermine or repeal current law related to the clean energy mandate.
More than two dozen Michigan communities are considering or have approved large-scale data center developments. These facilities can consume as much electricity as a small city and place significant demands on local water and energy infrastructure. What role should state government play in overseeing data center development, and what guardrails should the state legislature enact to protect communities where data centers are proposed?
Data centers are a significant threat to our clean energy goals and raise serious concerns related to water resources and PFAS contamination related to effluent from cooling processes. I support the current call for a moratorium on data center development while the state conducts the research necessary to impose appropriate guardrails on any future construction, including the protection of water resources; evidence that the energy needs of data centers will not increase energy bills for individual households; and assurance that Michigan’s clean energy and sustainability goals will not be negatively impacted. Additionally, I support the rollback of all public incentives for private data center development so that the resources required to fund these facilities are fully covered by the developing corporation.
PFAS contamination has been detected in drinking water, groundwater, and surface water across Michigan. Cleanup efforts are underway, but many affected communities are still waiting for action. What is the single most important step the officeholder in this position should take on PFAS in the next term?
The most important action to be taken is working to enact robust polluter pay laws that shift the responsibility for PFAS cleanup from the affected communities back to the private entities responsible. These laws should set clear timelines and responsibilities for the cleanup of contaminated sites and require industries to secure insurance to cover the cost of any future contamination cleanups that may be necessitated by their actions.
Michigan residents in some communities face disproportionate exposure to air pollution, contaminated water, and industrial waste. Do you support requiring Michigan regulators to assess cumulative environmental and health impacts on overburdened communities before approving new permits for polluting facilities?
Yes
Cumulative impacts legislation is necessary to environmental justice. Communities that are experiencing disproportionate health and environmental impacts from pollution must be protected from additional exposure to pollutants. It is an important and necessary role for state regulators to include an assessment of cumulative impact as part of the permitting process for facilities that may add to environmental contamination and deny permits based on findings.
Utility rate cases directly affect what Michigan residents pay for electricity and gas. DTE and Consumers Energy have requested frequent significant rate increases in recent years. Should elected officials play a greater role in holding utility companies accountable for rate hikes and rising energy costs?
Yes; Michigan legislators and state-level elected officials should take an active stance in holding utility companies accountable for rate hikes, rising energy costs and service reliability. Michiganders currently pay the highest costs for energy in the Midwest while experiencing the highest rates of service disruption. I support the Michigan Money Out of Politics ballot initiative as a powerful mechanism to reduce the influence of DTE and Consumers Energy on the actions taken (or avoided by) elected officials. I support various mechanisms proposed in the Ratepayer Bill of Rights and other advocacy efforts, including bill credits for power outages, increasing (or removing) the rooftop solar cap and requiring the utilities to make significant investments in infrastructure upgrades and clean energy to ensure more reliable and sustainable energy. Ultimately, I am most interested in policies that will incentivize and support the ability of local entities to transition to publicly-owned utilities to address the root causes of rate hikes and the undue influence of the for-profit monopoly utilities.
Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline runs through the Straits of Mackinac and carries crude oil and natural gas liquids between Wisconsin and Ontario. A proposed tunnel beneath the lakebed to house a replacement pipeline has faced legal and regulatory challenges for years. What is your position on the future of Line 5?
I support the decommissioning of the Line 5 pipeline as soon as possible. Previous spills and proposed mitigation measures related to both the current pipeline and proposed tunnel present serious risks to our freshwater (with the Straits of Mackinac as one of the most dangerous ecologically significant locations in all of the Great Lakes for an oil spill to occur), natural areas and tribal lands.
Drinking water is becoming increasingly unaffordable for Michiganders in both rural and urban areas, leading to water shutoffs. Would you support legislation that caps water bills for low-income Michiganders and adds shutoff protections?
Yes, absolutely. Everyone deserves access to clean drinking water. I will work to ensure that everyone has equitable access to clean drinking water that is uninterrupted by economic hardship.
Michigan is home to more than 18,000 contaminated sites. Do you support or oppose legislation to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up these sites?
Support
See answer above related to PFAS.