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. Flooding — (Infrastructure) our neglect of infrastructure is so complete. It has created an abysmal reality for us.
2. Tree Canopy — Throughout this district in order to appease the Department of public Works, we have removed and not replaced trees on the ROW to our detriment
3. PFAS — Water contamination levels in our community are alarming. We need protective legislation on this ASAP.
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
If we are to have a future, we must have clean energy. If I were to even think to revise Michigan law, it would be to bring the timeline closer.
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?
The Michigan legislature must pass a statewide, moratorium and allow proper time to study the issue. We must protect our resources such as water. We must maintain local control. We need transparency on energy and water use, jobs created, an impact on rates before we consider the issue.
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 believe it is incumbent upon the state legislature to pass substantive and enforceable standards for the entire gamut of PFAS chemicals. We should be attempting to be over inclusive when it comes to the science on this as opposed to under inclusive.
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. We have to protect our community. We live here. We are not merely units to be exploited.
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. But, if we are to expect people beholden to utility money to bring about change, we will be sorely disappointed. That is precisely why I do not accept corporate pac or utility money. This way I can be free to vote My conscience.
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?
If it ever came to a vote, I would vote to shut it down. And, to be correct, it hasn’t faced legal and regulatory challenges,. Rather, it has been unable to meet legal and regulatory requirements as it must.
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. Nobody should face existential challenges in the wealthiest nation in the history of mankind. We must not sanction poverty. Rather, we must protect the vulnerable.
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
I believe, simplistically, that if you break it, you buy it. If you profited from it, you must deal with the aftermath.