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.
Michiganders deserve to live in a clean environment, without fear of toxins, pollution, and with a livable climate for their kids and grandkids. 1.) Clean Water: We need to complete the process of getting rid of lead pipes, and we need to ensure that our drinking water is free from PFAS and other pollutants. 2.) Protecting the Great Lakes + Natural Resources: We are blessed in Michigan with natural resources that are under attack right now. We need to protect those resources from overdevelopment of data centers and other pollution-heavy developments. 3.) Out of control utility costs and dirty energy: We need our utility companies to transition to 100% renewable energy. Right now, dirty energy on our grid is raising costs for consumers, as are data centers that the utility companies have lobbied for. I was the first candidate in this race to reject all Utility PAC money.
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.
N/A This question does not apply to the election in which I am a candidate
I will work at the federal level to make the critical clean energy investments we need and re-build the Inflation Reduction Act. In my time in the federal government, I worked on implementation of the electric vehicle transition, and my background as an engineer will allow me to lead on this issue.
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?
First off, state government should not be providing tax breaks to billion and trillion dollar companies to build data centers. Communities need to be protected from start to finish in this process, with full veto power over data centers. Government must also set high standards for protecting our water, ensuring these data centers are not fueled by fossil fuels, and that ratepayers are not expected to pick up the tab for ever-more-scarce power as they've been asked to in Michigan again and again.
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?
I will work to rebuild the EPA and the federal workforce of scientists needed to run it, because the Trump administration has gutted the agency that is supposed to protect Michigan families from contaminants like PFAS. The rollback of Biden-era standards on clean water and PFAS is a betrayal of every community that has been waiting years for action. In Congress, I will fight to restore those protections, hold polluters financially responsible for cleanup costs, and make sure Michigan families are not stuck paying the bill for corporate contamination.
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
Growing up on a farm, I learned that pollution does not stay where you put it. It moves through soil, water, and air, and it accumulates. Communities that already bear a disproportionate burden of industrial exposure should not have to absorb even more without regulators first accounting for the full picture of what those residents are already living with.
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. I was the first candidate in this race to reject all Utility PAC money and all Corporate PAC money. Michiganders pay some of the highest rates in the nation for some of the worst service in the nation. I will work tirelessly to pass MOP Up Michigan, overturn Citizens United, and remove the influence of utility companies from our politics so that our power companies are on the side of everyday people.
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 will not support further construction and expansion of Line 5. Renewables and clean energy are the way forward to lower costs for Michigan.
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.
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
On the farm growing up, we were responsible for the waste and contamination we produced. I believe polluters should be held accountable.