FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Voters Provide Clear Choice
for the Great Lakes State
Associated Press Declares Gretchen Whitmer,
Bill Schuette Winners in Primary Races for Governor
The following statement can be attributed to Anne Woiwode,
Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair
Sierra Club congratulates Democrat Gretchen Whitmer and Republican Bill Schuette on their apparent primary election victories today in the governor’s race. These two candidates could not be more different in their approaches and priorities when it comes to protecting the public health and Michigan’s Great Lakes environment.
Voters have clear choices for who will shape the future of the Great Lakes and enforce our public health and environmental laws: Gretchen Whitmer, who led Michigan’s clean energy revolution, opposes oil pipelines in the Great Lakes and has fought for clean air and clean water; and Bill Schuette, who over the course of his long political career has consistently worked to weaken laws that protect wildlife and our waters and instead lined up with polluters and against consumer protections, clean energy and clean air. As Michigan Attorney General, Schuette gained a deserved reputation as an ally of polluting industries and tried, unsuccessfully, to block clean air rules, including pollution limits on mercury and other toxins.
In 2010, Republicans nominated a candidate for governor who held out the promise of modeling himself after the legendary Bill Milliken on the environment: a moderate who pioneered shorelands protection and conservation. Instead Michigan saw the worst public health crisis in modern history caused by the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder that prioritized money over people and has consistently sided with the oil industry instead of acting to protect the Great Lakes from oil pipelines.
Bill Schuette doesn’t even pretend to be a Milliken Republican but, rather, models himself after Donald Trump. Fortunately, voters have the opportunity to choose Gretchen Whitmer, the candidate for governor whose values and priorities are more in line with a place we call the Great Lakes State.
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