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 — Groundwater contamination and over-pumping
Michigan's 5th District includes communities still dealing with contamination in groundwater and drinking water. I am a board member with the Karst Aquifer Coalition of Monroe County, and the impact of contaminants moving fast through fragile geology poses risks to a much wider radius than most policymakers consider.
2. Air Pollution — Industrial pollution and environmental justice
Growing up in Ann Arbor, I saw first hand what industrial pollution from Gelman Science’s dioxane plume has been a lasting and significant danger to wells, wildlife, and communities in the area.
3. Water Systems — Climate resilience and aging infrastructure
The increasing frequency of flooding, severe storms, and extreme weather events is exposing weaknesses in Michigan's infrastructure.
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
Michigan's clean energy standard provides long-term certainty for workers, utilities, manufacturers, and local governments. The transition to clean energy should continue on schedule while prioritizing reliability, affordability, domestic manufacturing, and high-road union jobs that strengthen Michigan's economy. Not only is renewable energy less harmful, but it is far more cost-effective than fossil fuels. At the federal level, I am committed to incentivizing the switch to clean energy wherever it makes a pragmatic impact in order to support the state-level initiative.
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 can bring investment, but they can also place enormous demands on local water supplies, electric grids, and infrastructure. While I am fully appreciative of the jobs that building these bring, I am also fully appreciative of the environmental costs and risks associated with their construction and operation. We have existing industrial sites that need clean-up and where there are already federal dollars allocated for that. I intend to wield both the carrot and the stick to incentivize these sites to locate away from environmentally sensitive areas and greenfield development, while also strengthening the legislative rules to ensure their impact is contained. Not only should the state require comprehensive environmental impact reviews, water-use reporting, and community benefit agreements before approving large projects, but we should also have standards at the federal level with enough teeth to ensure compliance. Communities should certainly not be left paying for infrastructure upgrades while private developers receive tax incentives and profits.
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 step is securing dedicated funding and stronger enforcement to accelerate PFAS cleanup while ensuring polluters pay the costs. Communities that have already been exposed should not have to wait years for clean drinking water while litigation and regulatory delays continue.
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
Communities already facing significant environmental burdens deserve a full accounting of how additional pollution may affect public health before permits are approved. Looking at a facility in isolation ignores the reality that pollution impacts often accumulate across multiple sources over decades. PFAS is such a far-reaching problem that we need a federally-supported response to address the impact.
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?
I would like to see utilities become publicly-owned entities, but barring that, I absolutely want to rein in the monopolies and the price hikes that are literally driving our residents on fixed incomes out of their homes. Michigan families are paying more while utility companies continue to request significant rate increases. Elected officials should push for greater transparency, stronger oversight of utility spending, improved grid reliability, and policies that ensure ratepayers are not subsidizing excessive profits or avoidable costs.
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?
The Great Lakes are one of Michigan's most valuable natural and economic resources, and any risk of a catastrophic spill in the Straits of Mackinac must be taken seriously. The tourism and hospitality industry alone in the Great Lakes region is an industry that brings in over $1billion a year. I oppose putting any of this at risk with Line 5. We should reduce dependence on aging fossil fuel infrastructure while ensuring that energy transition plans protect workers, consumers, and regional energy reliability.
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?
Access to clean water is a necessity, not a luxury. I support affordability programs, protections against shutoffs for vulnerable households, and policies that ensure low-income families are not forced to choose between paying for water, food, housing, or medicine. I will fight tooth and nail to prevent our water resources from being plundered by other states, and to ensure that access to clear, safe, and affordable water is a basic human right.
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
Michigan has thousands of contaminated sites that continue to threaten public health and economic development. Polluters should be responsible for cleanup costs rather than shifting those costs onto taxpayers, and enforcement mechanisms should be strong enough to ensure remediation actually occurs. I have seen firsthand how companies pass on those costs to the public and escape accountability after profiting from the destruction of our communities. Fighting to ensure the language in every bill holds them accountable and provides penalties that more than offset the profits is a priority of mine.