FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, September 9, 2021
Contact:
Christy McGillivray, 808-726-5325
christy.mcgillivray@
Sierra Club calls for EGLE reforms in support of Benton Harbor Community Water Council Petition to EPA
Lansing, MI - A petition to the federal Environmental Protection Agency calling for emergency action on lead-contaminated drinking water in Benton Harbor highlights the need for immediate reforms at the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).
“State regulators have been rubber stamping too much for too long,” said Rhonda Anderson with Sierra Club. “We need reform, and the cost for failing to do so is the impact on far too many whose health and lives have been compromised.”
Anderson continued, “EGLE staff who failed to protect the health of Benton Harbor residents from lead contamination for more than three years by failing to meet the requirements in Michigan’s Lead and Copper Rule should be held accountable. There is a pattern and practice within our state environmental agency of failures, and those failures have gone on for far too long. It’s time for Gov. Whitmer to take personal responsibility for EGLE’s failed leadership and clean house.”
Today’s petition to the EPA was filed by the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, in partnership with Natural Resources Defense Council, at the direction of the Benton Harbor Community Water Council. Allegations in the petition, which was endorsed by Sierra Club, focus on the ongoing public health crisis in Benton Harbor because of drinking water contaminated by lead. Problems identified in the petition, however, reflect a persistent culture of disregard and negligence at EGLE that disproportionately impacts low-income Black communities in Michigan.
Since 1991, when former Governor Engler removed citizen oversight of the Department of Environmental Quality, (formerly DEQ, now EGLE), Sierra Club has vocally decried the lack of transparency, poor responsiveness to public concerns, and continued negligence that violates basic human rights from the state agency tasked with protecting public health by protecting air, land, and water. The rejected 2009 DEQ Environmental Justice plan, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission Report in the wake of the Flint water crisis, and the EPA petition submitted today, make it clear that demands for reform at EGLE have yet to be met. The consequence of failing to meet these demands are ongoing public health emergencies, particularly in communities of color. To that end, Sierra Club supports the petition to EPA submitted today, as well as the demand that EGLE fully implement and fund its commitment to environmental justice as spelled out in the creation of the office of Environmental Justice in 2019. EGLE must be held accountable to follow the law and protect public health.
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.8 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
