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 Water — For Michigan residents is a top priority. Water quality issues pose an immediate threat to both public and environmental health, making it necessary for the state government to address PFAS, microplastics and other pollution urgently. I have introduced bills to address both PFAS and microplastics and continue to work for their passage.
2. Climate — Crisis, as it poses immense risks for Michigan residents’ environment and well-being. Extreme weather events are hurting our farmland through flooding and drought, increasing the occurrence of power outages and damages to homes, increasing our energy costs, and threatening our state’s beautiful natural resources.
3. Farmland Protection — Finally, we must protect Michigan public land and promote equitable access to land. In my next term as State Senator, I will continue increasing access to parks and natural areas, especially where many people live, protecting and maintaining those we have, and work with farmers to protect access to good farmland and promote farming that improves the health of Michigan’s soil.
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
I was part of the coalition who negotiated and helped pass this standard and I will continue to fight for it. Green energy will ultimately help reduce our energy costs, increase the reliability of our energy, diversify our economy, and promote good paying union jobs.
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?
I believe that the state government has the responsibility to both shield Michiganders from higher utility costs and consider the impact these data centers have on local communities, the environment, and our economy. That’s why I introduced legislation with bipartisan support to regulate the growing data center industry in Michigan and am supporting my fellow legislators’ bills to regulate data centers. The state legislature should continue these efforts by introducing guardrails such as limits on water consumption, prohibitions on any infrastructure improvement costs being placed on consumers, financial health of the data center companies, honesty requirements, community benefit funds and enforceable transparency standards, including in MPSC filings. I am open to a moratorium until appropriate regulatory bills have been signed into law.
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?
As State Senator, I have worked hard to protect Michiganders from PFAS and other poisons through a bill that would return rulemaking power to EGLE, and there is more work to be done to ensure that these pollutants are properly prevented and managed. I believe that in addition to returning rulemaking power to EGLE to prevent PFAS discharges, the most important next step is to accelerate PFAS cleanup and make sure polluters, not residents, pay for it. We need polluter pay legislation and adequate funding for EGLE to effectively enforce pollution policy and organize cleanups. We also need to ban PFAS from consumer products.
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 burdened by pollution should not take on additional environmental and health risks. Requiring cumulative impact assessments would help protect overburdened communities and help prevent new permits from worsening health and environmental disparities. I support bills in the legislature to protect overburdened communities.
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?
Elected officials should play a greater role in holding utility companies accountable for rate hikes and rising energy costs – that’s why I refuse utility company money – our elected officials need to be beholden to the people, not utility companies. I increased financial support for resident groups wishing to intervene in certain MPSC cases. I support bills to prevent utilities from asking for rate hikes more often than every three years. All MPSC cases should be public, with no ex-parte (secret) hearings. By holding utility companies accountable, we can protect Michiganders against unjust rates and set an example for future energy affordability policy.
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?
Continuing to run Line 5 through the Great Lakes is extremely dangerous, as a spill has the potential to cause irreversible damage to our clean water supply and the Great Lakes tourism economy. I am concerned about the environmental and cultural damage a tunnel will cause. Instead, we need to transition these jobs to other well-paying union jobs, particularly in the green sector – the transition away from Line 5 cannot leave workers behind.
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?
I support legislation to cap water bills for low-income Michiganders to prevent shutoffs for families already struggling with affordability. Protecting access to clean water is a public health priority, and the state has the responsibility to ensure affordable pricing for this essential service.
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 support stronger legislation to hold polluters accountable because polluter accountability is necessary to mitigate the public health challenges and crises as well as the economic damage companies can cause in pursuit of profit. If a company makes a mess, of course they should clean it up! While the state supports cleanup of brownfield sites, there are so many in Michigan that it is an overwhelming price tag–we need to prevent more from happening while cleaning up those we can.