Bills introduced the Michigan Legislature would require the state’s environmental regulator to conduct cumulative impact assessments. What does this mean for environmentally burdened Southwest Detroit?
Planet Detroit
Posted inEnvironment
Truck traffic study measures impact on residents of Detroit’s east side: ‘A problem forever’
Tracking “trucking hot spots” helps community advocates and city officials “determine what future truck routes in Detroit might look like,” says Eastside Community Network’s Marie Garcia.
Posted inEnvironment
Green stormwater infrastructure in Detroit parks offers examples of flooding solutions
The Chandler Park Marshland “serves as an example of how we can do stormwater in the community,” says Alex Allen, president of the park conservancy.
Posted inEnvironment
Century of contamination: How Zug Island became Detroit’s industrial epicenter
Early ideas for the island included a city garbage dump with a promise of the operations being “smokeless and odorless,” or improving the land into a “healthful resort similar in attractiveness to Belle Isle.”
Posted inCivic and Community Information, Environment
Detroit launches $1M sea wall repair program for flood-weary Jefferson Chalmers
District 4 City Council Member Latisha Johnson advocated for the $1 million state grant to target sea wall repairs as a step toward moving the neighborhood out of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood hazard designation.
Posted inBusiness, Environment
DTE Energy secures $242 million electric rate increase
In August, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed testimony asking the MPSC to approve an increase of $158.4 million, a roughly 72% reduction of DTE’s request that would have represented a 2.5% jump in the average utility customer’s bill.
Posted inCivic and Community Information, Environment
‘We can’t wait for the city to just save us’: Southwest Detroit’s catastrophic water main break 1 year later
A year later, residents and local organizers say the totality of the incident – from financial losses to health concerns – prolonged the recovery process.
Posted inEnvironment
Judge fines DTE, its Zug Island facility $100 million for Clean Air Act violations
The EPA sought a $140 million civil penalty in the lawsuit, which DTE lawyers said amounts to a shutdown order on Zug Island.
Posted inEnvironment, Political and Public Policy Information
Michigan drinking water expert ousted from EPA council: A warning to whistleblowers?
The dismissal of Elin Betanzo from the National Drinking Water Advisory Council by the EPA follows a seven-month investigation into her signing of a letter criticizing Trump-era environmental rollbacks.
Posted inEnvironment, Health and Welfare
EPA drops health cost calculations for air pollution: How it could harm Detroiters
The agency will no longer consider health costs and deaths prevented when reducing two major pollutants, but will account for costs to industry.