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. Data Centers — S and corporate overuse. The Great Lakes provide more than 20% of the world’s surface freshwater. AI data centers consume enormous amounts of water and electricity while creating relatively few permanent jobs, putting our natural resources and local infrastructure at risk.
2. Clean Drinking Water — Communities across Michigan are still dealing with toxic “forever chemicals” in their water. We must hold polluters accountable, accelerate cleanup efforts, and ensure every family has access to safe, clean drinking water.
3. Climate Change — And the transition to clean energy. Michigan is already experiencing the impacts of climate change through extreme weather, flooding, and infrastructure challenges. We need a rapid transition to clean energy that creates union jobs, lowers pollution, and protects future generations.
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 maintaining and strengthening Michigan’s 100% clean energy standard. We must rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and toward publicly accountable, renewable energy while ensuring the benefits go to working people, not monopoly utilities and corporate shareholders.
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?
I oppose AI data centers in Michigan. The Great Lakes provide more than 20% of the world’s surface freshwater, and protecting that resource must be a top priority. These massive AI data centers consume enormous amounts of water and electricity while creating relatively few permanent jobs. State government should put communities and natural resources ahead of corporate profits by enacting a moratorium on new AI data centers until their environmental and economic impacts are fully understood.
I believe we should be extremely cautious about approving new AI data centers and focus instead on investments that create more jobs without threatening our natural resources.
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?
Hold polluters accountable and make them pay for cleanup. The most important step is ensuring that the corporations responsible for PFAS contamination bear the full cost of remediation, not taxpayers. Communities across Michigan have waited too long for clean water and justice. We need aggressive enforcement, faster cleanup timelines, and significant federal investment to remove PFAS from drinking water systems and protect public health. Clean water is a right, and no family should have to worry about toxic chemicals coming out of their tap.
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
Absolutely, for too long, corporations have concentrated pollution in working-class communities and communities of color while politicians looked the other way. I support requiring regulators to assess the full cumulative impact of pollution before approving new permits, because every Michigander deserves clean air, clean water, and protection from environmental harm.
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?
For too long, utility companies have raised rates while delivering unreliable service and record profits. Elected officials should be fighting for consumers, not rubber-stamping rate hikes. I support stronger oversight of utilities like DTE and Consumers Energy to ensure Michiganders aren’t forced to pay more while corporate executives and shareholders reap the benefits. We should also be willing to challenge and break up monopoly power wherever it exists, because no company should have a captive customer base and a blank check to raise costs on working families. Affordable energy is a necessity, not a luxury.
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 oppose Line 5. The Great Lakes contain 20% of the world’s surface freshwater and are far too important to risk for a decades-old pipeline. A spill in the Straits of Mackinac would be devastating for our environment, economy, and drinking water. We should be investing in clean energy and protecting our natural resources, not doubling down on aging fossil fuel infrastructure that puts the Great Lakes at risk.
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?
Absolutely! Access to clean, safe water is a basic human right. No family should have to choose between paying their water bill and putting food on the table, nor should anyone lose access to water because they are struggling financially. I support legislation that caps water bills for low-income households and provides strong protections against water shutoffs. As climate change, aging infrastructure, and corporate profiteering drive costs higher, we must ensure that water remains affordable for everyone.
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
I support legislation to hold polluters accountable because it will help protect public health, safeguard our drinking water, create good-paying cleanup jobs, and ensure future generations inherit a cleaner, healthier Michigan. As a member of Congress, I will fight for stronger environmental protections, robust enforcement, and the resources needed to remediate contaminated sites across our state.