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. The continued operation — The continued operation of the Campbell Plant. This plant has now been kept open by executive order a year past its close date. It continues to poison the ground air and water around the site and there is absolutely 0 reason it remains open. Moreover, the ability of the federal government to mandate its continued operation is a disturbing precedent.
2. Great Lakes — Consumers application to use injection wells for the mediation of the Campbell site once it does close. In its initial mediation plan Consumer's Power planned to take all the fly ash deposits and work with a 3rd party that could re-use that spoil for road work. Recently they have applied to the EPA to develop 2 deep injection wells to deposit the slurry in.
3. Clean Energy — Broad based partisan attacks on property owners who wish to allow their land to be used for renewables. PA233 and the surrounding guidelines allowing landowners to lease their land to renewables have come under attack here and are starting to be used as a means to attack 233 and all legislation surrounding the Governor's clean energy initiative.
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.
Revise or repeal portions of the law
PA233 is a good law, but I feel some revision is needed, particularly in the areas relating to how a company can apply to MPSC after local efforts fail to get a CREO.
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 personally feel this is a conversation that should have be had at the national level. But in the absence of that the state should create higher bars for development and licensing on this technology than for renewables. I feel all projects should be reviewed by an independent commission before moving forward. The development of these reeks of potential bias and conflict of interest. Given the distrust of both the government and this technology by the communities impacted, the committee would be a good step. There should also be an 18-month moratorium on the process for every project so a statewide audit can be done on the effectiveness of the program thus far. No legislation is a perfect vehicle, not that all of the enabling legislation for this process has had a couple of encounters with the real world, we have the opportunity to take a step back and see if it can be improved to create more transparency for the residents.
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?
Continued advocacy for federal resources for this problem, I don't feel there is enough money to be found to address the totality of this within the state's coffers. If we did find funds both the means of application, scoring and award of money for remediation and mitigation should be outside of normal bureaucracy and in an independent agency whose only purview is working with PFAS.
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
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?
Absolutely
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?
Line 5 should be abandoned an Enbridge should reroute the product that goes through that so that is transits less environmentally delicate terrain.
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
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