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.
Isaiah ranks failing water infrastructure as his top priority, closely followed by groundwater contamination, as protecting clean drinking water is a fundamental public health necessity for District 68. His third priority is protecting Michigan's vital farmland from unsustainable development, ensuring long-term agricultural stability and environmental preservation for our local communities.
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
Maintaining this timeline is critical because transitioning to clean energy will ultimately lower rising utility costs for working families while aggressively boosting Michigan's domestic energy production. Furthermore, reaching this goal will rapidly improve clean air quality in historically overburdened and low-income neighborhoods that bear the brunt of industrial pollution.
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?
Isaiah believes the state legislature must take a leading regulatory role in overseeing data center developments to protect local water and energy infrastructure from severe environmental strain. He strongly maintains that corporations should not be allowed to maximize their profits at the expense of creating poor environmental quality and resource scarcity for Michigan families.
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?
In the next term, Isaiah will prioritize securing robust state funding for local water cleanup efforts while aggressively supporting the technological development needed to filter out these "forever chemicals." Additionally, he will advocate for creating a centralized, state-managed database that is consistently updated online to provide complete transparency regarding water quality to our communities.
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
Michigan should fully fund a comprehensive environmental exposure mapping tool to track cumulative pollution impacts across the state. By using this objective data, state leaders can provide vital transparency to community advocates and accurately identify exactly which neighborhoods require urgent environmental cleanup funding.
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?
Isaiah strongly believes elected officials must step up to hold major utility monopolies accountable. To lower skyrocketing costs, his platform includes expanding clean energy options for local communities, enacting strict billing transparency laws, and creating targeted state tax credits to help working families offset high energy bills. Furthermore, he supports passing robust legislation to eliminate corporate conflicts of interest on the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC).
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?
Given the current energy strains facing the region, Isaiah does not currently advocate for shutting down the existing project, but he firmly believes the state's absolute focus must be placed on maximizing infrastructure safety. He supports rigorous, ongoing regulatory oversight and environmental protections to prevent any threat of a spill while continuing to evaluate the project's long-term impacts.
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?
Isaiah supports this legislation because access to clean drinking water is a fundamental human right. It is entirely unconscionable that the state would allow vulnerable families and children to go without such an essential resource due to economic hardship.
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
For Isaiah, this issue is non-negotiable: corporations and industrial polluters must completely foot the bill for cleaning up the environmental contamination they cause, rather than leaving Michigan taxpayers to inherit the financial and physical burden.