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) Protecting Waterways and Infrastructure: We must protect our lakes from corporate abuse and pollution. We also need to upgrade the stormwater infrastructure in SouthEast Michigan to combat the increasingly chronic flooding. 2) Community Oversight: I support any major developments to require direct approval from the affect communities via public assemblies, preventing corporations and lobbyists from getting top-down approval to destroy local environments. 3) Utility Reliability and Accountability: We must transition our grid away from for-profit and publicly traded companies like DTE toward a state-level public utility substitute or worker/ratepayer-owned alternatives. Removing Wall Street shareholders is the only way to fund grid reliability while lowering bills.
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?
Maintain the current law and timeline
Explanation for Question 2 (1-2 sentences)
I fully support transitioning to 100% clean energy as soon as possible. Transitioning away from fossil fuels makes our state more self-dependent, freeing us from oil instability and lobbyists, all while protecting our land, sea, and air.
More than two dozen Michigan communities are considering or have approved large-scale data center developments. What role should state government play in overseeing data center development, and what guardrails should the state legislature enact?
State, county, and even municipal government should not enable top-down corporate mega-developments. Any large-scale corporate developments must receive direct approval from the affected community via public assemblies. Furthermore, we must enact strict guardrails on water and grid usage. We also need to prohibit these corporations from receiving tax breaks or passing their infrastructure costs onto working-class ratepayers.
PFAS contamination has been detected across Michigan. What is the single most important step the officeholder in this position should take on PFAS in the next term?
Michigan had strict "Polluter Pay" policies that were repealed. Bringing those back would be an incredible step in the right direction. Accountability starts with making polluters strictly liable for the medical monitoring of affected communities. However, we must also prioritize preventative measures. Michigan has many properties that were polluted by bankrupt or dissolved companies, or even the government (such as Flint). To address this, we need companies to post upfront bonds or hold insurance before they are allowed to operate. Furthermore, the state must establish a task force to intervene during environmental emergencies or when prevention fails.
Do you support requiring Michigan regulators to assess cumulative environmental and health impacts on overburdened communities before approving new permits for polluting facilities?
Yes
Explanation for Question 5 (Optional 1-2 sentences)
Every resident deserves a clean environment. Treating communities as sacrifices for corporate destruction and pollution makes our state sicker and unfair.
Should elected officials play a greater role in holding utility companies accountable for rate hikes and rising energy costs?
Yes, it is already the responsibility of elected officials to control rate increases, but their power to say "no" has been neglected. Lobbying and profit incentives will always compete against the ratepayers. We must transition our grid away from for-profit and publicly traded companies. We either need a state-level public utility or worker/ratepayer-owned alternatives.
What is your position on Line 5?
I oppose Enbridge's tunnel proposal. I am not always anti-development, I am open to compromise, especially for projects that have plans that guarantee safety, stability, and the environment. If a company wants to use their own funds for a safe project, that is generally a positive step. However, the Line 5 tunnel does not meet these principles. Constructing a massive underwater tunnel risks our water and fisheries, and the pipeline's existence will continue to threaten the Great Lakes with the chance for a catastrophic spill. In addition, Enbridge was responsible for one of the the largest in-land oil spills in American history, the Kalamazoo River Oil Spill. The planned tunnel is destructive, lacks approval from the affected communities, and maintains a risk to our environment.
Would you support legislation to cap water bills for low-income Michiganders and add certain shut-off protections?
Yes. Every resident deserves a clean environment and guaranteed access to essential services. Access to clean water is a fundamental human right. We need a system that prevents working-class residents from their water being shut off.
Do you support or oppose legislation to hold polluters accountable for cleanup costs?
Support
Please explain your position on polluter accountability.
I strongly support reinstating the strict "Polluter Pay" legislation. We need to make corporations take responsibility for the messes they created and left behind. We also must address the properties left behind by bankrupt/dissolved companies, and properties harmed by government pollution and contamination. To prevent future contamination being abandoned, companies need to post upfront bonds or hold sufficient insurance before they may operate. We also need a state-run task force to address emergency situations or properties that fall through the cracks. Every resident deserves a clean environment.