Press Release: Sierra Club Legislative Scorecard

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 2016

Contact: Mike Berkowitz, (248) 345-9808, mike.berkowitz@sierraclub.org

Sierra Club: State Lawmakers Get Low Marks

Latest Scorecard Shows House Members Get a “D” and Senate Receives a Failing Grade On Key Environmental Votes

LANSING - The Sierra Club Michigan Chapter today released its Legislative Scorecard, which tracked environmental voting behavior of state House and Senate members during the 2015-16 legislative session. The Michigan Senate scored a failing grade of 58 percent, with the House receiving a narrow passing grade of 62 percent. While the Scorecard generally showed that Democrats voted to maintain or strengthen environmental protections- more disturbingly - it showed Republicans generally voted to weaken or eliminate environmental protections.

“The 2015-2016 state Legislature was regressive when it comes to environmental protection, rolling back many of the safeguards we’ve had in place for decades, while also attacking our democracy. It’s extremely frustrating that the environment has become a partisan political issue,” said Mike Berkowitz, the Michigan Legislative Director for the Sierra Club. “Environmental protections are a no-brainer for all Michigan residents. Our members find it hard to believe that so many of our elected officials are voting against clean air, clean water, and public health. We hope that when lawmakers return from their summer recess, they will see our scorecard and be motivated to get rid of this anti-environment attitude.”

The Sierra Club’s Scorecard calculated the results based upon 11 roll call votes in the House and Senate for the 2015-2016 legislative session. According to the Scorecard, House Democrats scored an average of 95 percent, while House Republicans scored an average of 37 percent. Senate Democrats scored an average of 96 percent, while Senate Republicans scored an average of 42 percent. 41 lawmakers scored a perfect 100 percent. A full list of “Environmental Champions” (91-100 percent), “Environmental Stewards” (80-90 percent), and “Pollution Promoters” (zero-36 percent) is included at the end of this release. Sterling Heights state Sen. Tory Rocca (R-10) was the highest scoring Republican with a 100 percent, second highest in the GOP was state Sen. Rick Jones (R-24) from Grand Ledge at 73 percent, and third highest was Troy state Rep. Martin Howrylak (R-41) at 64 percent. Representatives Charles Brunner (D-96) and Scott Dianda (D-110) were the lowest scoring House Democrats, receiving a 73 percent, and Virgil Smith (D-4) in the Senate with a 63 percent. The full scorecard is available here. A full description of the bills included in the scorecard is available here.

“Our legislature has the wrong priorities when it comes to protecting Michigan’s environment” said James D’Amour, a member of Michigan Sierra Club’s Political Committee who was once an active member of the Republican Party. “Clean air and clean water should not be partisan issues. We used to be leaders in making conservation a top priority, but no longer. This overall direction the GOP has been taking is disappointing and disheartening for people like me who care about the environment.”

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The Sierra Club is the nation’s largest grassroots environmental organization, with over 80,000 members and supporters in Michigan.

Michigan Senate

Environmental Champions (91-100%)

District	Name	Party	Score (%)
1	Coleman Young II	D	100
2	Bert Johnson	D	100
3	Morris Hood III	D	100
5	David Knezak	D	100
6	Hoon-Yung Hopgood	D	100
10	Tory Rocca	R	100
11	Vincent Gregory	D	100
18	Rebekah Warren	D	100
23	Curtis Hertel Jr.	D	100
27	Jim Ananich	D	100
9	Steven Bieda	D	91

Environmental Stewards (80-90%)

None

Pollution Promoters (36% and below)

District

Name

Party

Score (%)

12	Jim Marleau	R	36
13	Marty Knollenburg	R	36
14	David Robertson	R	36
15	Mike Kowall	R	36
17	Dale Zorn	R	36
21	John Proos	R	36
25	Phil Pavlov	R	36
26	Tonya Schuitmaker	R	36
28	Peter MacGregor	R	36
29	Dave Hildenbrand	R	36
30	Arlan Meekhof	R	36
33	Judy Emmons	R	36
34	Goeff Hansen	R	36
35	Darwin Booher	R	36
36	Jim Stamas	R	36
37	Wayne Schmidt	R	36
16	Mike Shirkey	R	27

Michigan House

Environmental Champions (91-100%)

District	Name	Party	Score (%)
1	Brian Banks	D	100
2	Alberta Talabi	D	100
5	Fred Durhal	D	100
6	Stephanie Chang	D	100
7	LaTanya Garrett	D	100
11	Julie Plawecki	D	100
12	Erika Geiss	D	100
13	Frank Liberati	D	100
15	George Darany	D	100
18	Sarah Roberts	D	100
21	Kristy Pagan	D	100
26	Jim Townsend	D	100
27	Robert Wittenberg	D	100
28	Derek Miller	D	100
29	Tim Greimel	D	100
31	Marilyn Lane	D	100
35	Jeremy Moss	D	100
37	Christine Greig	D	100
48	Pam Faris	D	100
49	Phil Phelps	D	100
52	Gretchen Driskell	D	100
53	Jeff Irwin	D	100
55	Adam Zemke	D	100
60	Jon Hoadley	D	100
67	Tom Cochran	D	100
69	Sam Singh	D	100
75	David LaGrand	D	100
76	Winnie Brinks	D	100
92	Marcia Hovey-Wright	D	100
95	Vanessa Guerra	D	100
109	John Kivela	D	100
3	Wendell Byrd	D	91
8	Sherry Gay-Dagnogo	D	91
9	Harvey Santana	D	91
16	Robert Kosowski	D	91
17	Bill LaVoy	D	91
25	Henry Yanez	D	91
34	Sheldon Neeley	D	91
68	Andy Schor	D	91

Environmental Stewards (80-90%)

District

Name

Party

Score (%)

22	John Chirkun	D	90
4	Rose Mary Robinson	D	82
10	Leslie Love	D	82
14	Paul Clemente	D	82
50	Charles Smiley	D	82

Pollution Promoters (36% and below)

District

Name

Party

Score (%)

19	Laura Cox	R	36
20	Kurt Heise	R	36
24	Anthony Forlini	R	36
30	Jeff Farrington	R	36
32	Andrea LaFontaine	R	36
36	Peter Lucido	R	36
38	Kathy Crawford	R	36
39	Klint Kesto	R	36
40	Michael McCready	R	36
42	Lana Theis	R	36
43	Jim Tedder	R	36
44	Jim Runestad	R	36
45	Michael Webber	R	36
46	Bradford Jacobsen	R	36
47	Hank Vaupel	R	36
51	Joseph Graves	R	36
56	Jason Sheppard	R	36
57	Nancy Jenkins	R	36
58	Eric Leutheuser	R	36
59	Aaron Miller	R	36
61	Brandt Iden	R	36
63	David Maturen	R	36
64	Earl Poleski	R	36
65	Brett Roberts	R	36
66	Aric Nesbitt	R	36
70	Rick Outman	R	36
72	Ken Yonker	R	36
73	Chris Afendoulis	R	36
74	Rob VerHeulen	R	36
79	Al Pscholka	R	36
81	Dan Lauwers	R	36
84	Edward Canfield	R	36
86	Lisa Lyons	R	36
87	Mike Callton	R	36
88	Roger Victory	R	36
89	Amanda Price	R	36
90	Daniela Garcia	R	36
91	Holly Hughes	R	36
93	Tom Leonard	R	36
94	Tim Kelly	R	36
97	Joel Johnson	R	36
99	Kevin Cotter	R	36
100	Jon Bumstead	R	36
104	Larry Inman	R	36
106	Peter Pettalia	R	36
107	Lee Chatfield	R	36
80	Mary Whiteford	R	33
23	Pat Somerville	R	27
33	Ken Goike	R	27
71	Tom Barrett	R	27
77	Tom Hooker	R	27
98	Gary Glenn	R	27
105	Triston Cole	R	27
101	Ray Franz	R	18

Sierra Club Is Dismayed by Waukesha DIversion Approval

Sierra Club: Veto Great Lakes Diversion

 

LANSING—Sierra Club has formally urged Gov. Rick Snyder to veto a proposed diversion of Great Lakes water when Great Lakes basin governors meet next week to decide whether to grant the suburban Milwaukee community of Waukesha what would be a precedent-setting withdrawal of Lake Michigan water. 

In a letter Wednesday to Snyder, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter leaders told the governor Wisconsin has failed to meet the Great Lakes Compact Agreement’s standards for granting an exception to a 2008 ban on diverting Great Lakes waters outside the Great Lakes basin.

“As the only state virtually entirely within the Great Lakes Basin, Michigan has more at stake in this decision than any other party to the Great Lakes Compact,” the letter stated.  “Not only do the Great Lakes literally define our borders, we depend on these waters to make our state an attractive place to live and work and to protect our irreplaceable natural resources. Michigan cannot afford to allow this badly flawed, first ever proposed Great Lakes water diversion under the Great Lakes Compact to go forward.”

The letter was signed by Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair David Holtz, State Director Gail Philbin and Conservation Chair Anne Woiwode.   The full text of the letter follows this release.

While Waukesha has serious problems with radium contamination of their drinking water source, for the past eight years the city has refused to use other options to diverting water for Lake Michigan even as neighboring communities do so.

“There’s no debate that the people of Waukesha need safe, clean drinking water,” said David Holtz, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Chair.  “But Waukesha and Wisconsin officials have failed their residents by refusing to do what other communities faced with similar problems have done, believing they can muscle their way to diverting Great Lakes water. “

 The Great Lakes Governors Council is scheduled to decide Wisconsin’s request on Tuesday.

“It’s up to Gov. Snyder to protect the Great Lakes from an unnecessary, precedent-setting diversion that would open the floodgates from other communities outside the Great Lakes basin who want to dip their straws into the Great Lakes,” said Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Conservation Chair.   “Wisconsin’s insistence on rejecting a less expensive treatment for their drinking water shouldn’t be rewarded.”

In its letter to Gov. Snyder, Sierra Club also pointed out a recent legal decision by the Wisconsin Attorney General that could allow communities like Waukesha to renege on agreements for managing groundwater resources. 

“What this means is if Waukesha is allowed to use water diverted from Lake Michigan they may still try to continue using groundwater resources without any limits being placed on them by the State of Wisconsin,” said Holtz.  “This essentially means the terms for granting any diversion of Great Lakes water to Wisconsin may be unenforceable. Waukesha could simply use the additional water resources it would have available to support more growth and eventually even greater demand for Great Lakes water.”

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 June 16, 2016

The Honorable Rick Snyder

Executive Office

Michigan State Capitol

Lansing, MI 48933

Dear Governor Snyder:

            One of the most important decisions of your tenure as the Governor of Michigan will occur next week at the Great Lakes Governors meeting in Chicago.  We urge you to exercise your authority under the Great Lakes Compact to VETO the proposal to divert water from Lake Michigan to the City of Waukesha, Wisconsin. While modifications suggested by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Regional Body made some important improvements to the badly flawed original proposal from Waukesha, that plan continues to fail the most fundamental criteria at the heart of Great Lakes Compact. Simply put, Waukesha cannot demonstrate a need for this diversion, and, failing that, this precedent setting diversion could permanently harm Michigan and the Great Lakes.

            For the past eight years, Waukesha has pursued approval under the Compact for diversion of water to their city.  They do face a serious problem with radium contaminating their source of water, and we do not make light of their need for safe, clean drinking water. However, the city has repeatedly rejected a less expensive course for addressing this issue that involves employing treatment options currently in use by two of their neighboring communities. From the start, Waukesha’s resistance to this feasible alternative has been the overwhelming argument for vetoing their proposed diversion, and that situation has not changed.

            A recent decision by the Wisconsin Attorney General has added even greater urgency to denying this proposed diversion. Under a May 10, 2016 opinion that has now been adopted by the Department of Natural Resources, WI Attorney General Brad D. Schimel has concluded that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has no authority to manage “high capacity groundwater well withdrawal permits” to protect or manage groundwater resources or impacts on surface waters because the Wisconsin Legislature has not explicitly delegated public trust over non-navigable waters of the state to the WDNR. One consequence of this is that the WDNR will not be able to require the City of Waukesha to discontinue the withdrawal of water from their groundwater wells even if the diversion from Lake Michigan is approved. Moreover, they will not be able to restrict neighboring communities or industries from pumping water from the same aquifer.  More importantly, despite efforts throughout the history of the Great Lakes Compact to assure that each state was also carefully stewarding its groundwater resources, in Wisconsin any prior commitments to that effect are currently incapable of being enforced by the agency vested with that duty. 

            As the only state virtually entirely within the Great Lakes Basin, Michigan has more at stake in this decision than any other party to the Great Lakes Compact. Not only do the Great Lakes literally define our borders, we depend on these waters to make our state an attractive place to live and work and to protect our irreplaceable natural resources. Michigan cannot afford to allow this badly flawed, first ever proposed Great Lakes water diversion under the Great Lakes Compact to go forward.  Your veto of this proposal is critical for Michigan’s future. 

Sincerely,

David Holtz, Chair                                                                           

Gail Philbin, Director

Anne Woiwode, Conservation Chair

URGENT ACTION NEEDED ON LAKE ERIE!

Tell the EPA to Declare Lake Erie "Impaired"!

It’s not even summer yet and the algae that plagues Lake Erie and many inland lakes is already causing trouble. The suffocating, sometimes poisonous growth fed mainly by nutrient runoff from agriculture—including animal waste from factory farms—typically causes havoc later in the season. Yet, on June 3 an algal bloom containing microcystin in the Maumee River near Defiance, OH prompted a “no contact” advisory warning against swimming and wading for children, pregnant or nursing women and pets. This is the same toxin that poisoned the Lake Erie water supply for a half-million people in Toledo and southern Michigan in 2014.

The Defiance water warning happened one day after Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan (ECCSCM) recorded dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the air of Lenawee County.  The pollution came from manure particles released when waste from local factory farms was sprayed on fields, a common practice that can also lead to runoff in waterways.  ECCSCM members found outdoor H2S readings exceeding OSHA Worker Safety and US ArmyCorps of Engineers permissible exposure levels, which they posted on their website, www.nocafos.org. Breathing at the levels they recorded is considered dangerous, and some members had to leave their home for days.

Though miles apart, these incidents are connected by the Western Lake Erie Watershed, which encompasses both the Maumee River, the largest tributary to Lake Erie, and Michigan’s Raisin River in Lenawee County. As shown in the Less=More Coalition’s groundbreaking report, Follow the Manure: Factory Farms and Lake Erie Algal Blooms, the watershed contains 146 factory farms with nearly 12 million livestock that annually generate over 630 million gallons of waste containing dissolved phosphorus that feeds toxic algae. Some of it originates in Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties where ECCSCM members choked on toxic air earlier this month, and eventually joins the waste from dozens of animal factories in the Maumee headed for Lake Erie.

Air and water pollution are the hidden costs of a heavily subsidized industrial food system that churns out deceptively cheap food. Less=More, a sustainable agriculture coalition led by Sierra Club, is tackling the unfair playing field created by taxpayer subsidies and working to shift support away from polluting factory farms to sustainable agriculture. 

This is a long-term solution, but our government could take a big step right now by declaring Lake Erie an “impaired watershed” for nutrients like phosphorus. This federal designation would set a quantitative standard called a Total Maximum Daily Load that could be consistently measured, and regulations could be created and enforced to meet this standard. Michigan currently has phosphorus standards for industry and wastewater treatment plants but none for agriculture.

Join us in calling for action on Lake Erie today! Call or email U.S. EPA Region 5 (Great Lakes Region) Director Robert A. Kaplan and urge him to declare Lake Erie "impaired." Call or email TODAY: (312) 886-3000 or kaplan.robert@epa.gov