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.
Environmental Racism and Corporate Pollution For generations, communities in my district have been treated as sacrifice zones for corporate profit. Neighborhoods like 48217, one of the most polluted zip codes in Michigan, have been forced to live alongside refineries, steel facilities, power plants, and other major polluters while suffering disproportionately high rates of asthma, cancer, and respiratory disease. This is not an accident. It is the result of policy decisions that have allowed corporations to pollute Black, Brown, and low-income communities with little accountability. Environmental justice must begin with listening to the people living on the frontlines and ensuring they have the power to shape the decisions that affect their health, safety, and future.
Water Affordability, Access, and Infrastructure Water is a human right. Yet too many families in our district continue to face water shutoffs, unaffordable water bills, lead contamination, and aging infrastructure. While we have federal programs that help families pay for electricity and heating costs, there is still no permanent federal water affordability program. That is why I helped establish the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program during the pandemic and recently introduced the Water Access and Affordability Act to create the nation’s first permanent federal low-income water assistance program. I also created the bipartisan Get the Lead Out Caucus and fought for historic investments to replace dangerous lead service lines.
Climate Change and Building a Just Transition The climate crisis is already impacting our community through flooding, extreme weather, and environmental degradation. That’s why I have supported investments in renewable energy, fought to remediate toxic PFAS contamination, introduced legislation to create good-paying union jobs in the green economy, and pushed for at least 40 percent of climate investments to go directly to vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. My Fix our Flooded Basements Act would require FEMA to remediate mold and flood damage after our increasingly frequent storms. We must confront the climate crisis while ensuring working families and frontline communities share in the benefits of a cleaner, healthier future.
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
DTE and Consumers have polluted our communities with dirty power plants for decades, and it’s long overdue that they transition to 100% clean, renewable energy that will improve the health of our communities while cutting the toxic emissions that drive climate change. If anything, I would like to see this timeline shortened, because this is an urgent crisis.
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?
For starters, I urge our state lawmakers to immediately impose a data center moratorium to halt these projects that are overwhelming our local governments. We should be clear about the distinction between data centers used for the normal operation of our phones and computers and data centers used to power AI that kills jobs, steals people’s work, and serves no societal value. We don’t need AI data centers and I am completely opposed to them being built in Michigan. If state lawmakers are going to pursue so-called guardrails, they should be as strict as necessary to protect our communities, even if that means the regulations effectively shut out data centers in Michigan. There should be public disclosures and hearings before any data center project is approved, they should be required to use 100% clean, renewable energy at no increased cost to residents, there should be strict air, water, and noise protections, and there should be labor protections that preserve our jobs AI is intended to eliminate. The people most affected by these projects, not corporate lobbyists, should have the loudest voice in the decision-making process. My strong preference would be to prohibit AI data centers in Michigan entirely.
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 single most important step we can take is to make the corporations responsible for PFAS contamination pay for the cleanup. For too long, communities have been forced to live with contaminated water while taxpayers shoulder the costs and polluters avoid accountability. Families deserve clean, safe drinking water, and the burden of remediation should not fall on the people who have already been harmed. In Congress, I have fought to prioritize frontline communities in PFAS remediation efforts and supported investments to address toxic contamination. We need to strengthen enforcement, accelerate cleanup efforts, and ensure that communities impacted by PFAS receive the resources they need. Polluters must be held accountable, and no community should have to wait years for access to clean water because a corporation refuses to take responsibility for the harm it caused.
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
Absolutely. My Cumulative Impacts Act would require the EPA and EGLE to consider cumulative impacts and area health impacts in permitting decisions and reject permits that would negatively impact our public health. This is the single most important reform we could enact to protect our communities from corporate polluters and rubber stamp regulators.
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?
Yes. I have submitted comments against rate increases in DTE rate cases. Utility companies like DTE and Consumers Energy should be held accountable when they raise rates on working families while failing to deliver reliable service. Too many Michigan residents are paying more every year only to experience repeated outages, aging infrastructure, and poor customer service. I’ve heard from residents facing utility bills that climb into the thousands of dollars while they struggle to keep the lights on and make ends meet. I introduced the Make DTE Pay Act, legislation that would require DTE to pay enhanced Clean Air Act penalties when they seek rate increases in conjunction with violating their permits. Elected officials have a responsibility to stand up to powerful utility monopolies and ensure that affordability, reliability, and public accountability come before corporate profits.
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 support shutting down Line 5 and revoking the permits that allow it to continue operating through the Great Lakes. Clean water is a human right, and we cannot allow corporations to continue exploiting our water for profit while putting millions of people at risk. Line 5 is an aging pipeline operated by Enbridge, a company with a troubling history of environmental damage. It carries millions of gallons of oil every day through the Straits of Mackinac, one of the most critical parts of the Great Lakes system, even though the overwhelming majority of that oil is destined for Canada. Michigan residents are being asked to bear the risk while a multinational corporation reaps the rewards. The Great Lakes provide drinking water for millions of people, support Tribal treaty rights, sustain local economies, and are home to irreplaceable ecosystems. We cannot wait for a catastrophic spill before taking action. The future of our communities and our Great Lakes is worth more than Enbridge’s profits, and elected officials have a responsibility to protect this resource for future generations.
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. Water is a human right, and no one should have their water shut off because they cannot afford to pay their bill. I support legislation that caps water costs for low-income households and provides strong protections against water shutoffs. This has been one of my top priorities in Congress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I helped secure more than $1.1 billion in federal funding to prevent water shutoffs and reconnect service for families across the country. I recently introduced Water Access and Affordability Act to create the nation’s first permanent federal low-income water affordability program. Beyond affordability, I have fought to ensure families have access to safe drinking water. I created the bipartisan Get the Lead Out Caucus, organized a congressional tour of Michigan communities impacted by lead contamination, and helped secure funding to replace dangerous lead service lines. I have also worked to hold corporations accountable when they profit from Michigan’s water resources while residents struggle to afford this basic necessity. In the richest country in the world, access to clean, safe, affordable water should be guaranteed for everyone.
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
Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve fought to ensure polluters, not taxpayers, pay to clean up contaminated sites, including leading efforts to prioritize frontline communities for PFAS cleanup funding and holding corporations accountable for the pollution they leave behind.