0282-07 2/15/07 2:44 PM Page 1

Michigan League Update Winter 2006/2007

Michigan League of Conservation Voters ● 213 W. Liberty, Suite 300, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 ● Phone: 734.222.9650 ● Fax: 734.222.9651

Photograph of Michigan’s State Capitol Building by Phillip Hofmeister

High Hopes for the 2007 Michigan Legislative Session

The Energy Issue Renewable energy and regional water protection are high on this year’s priority list.
Christmas came early this year for environmental voters and conservationists in
Michigan. The results of the November elections have Lansing offices, hallways, and
Inside: corridors buzzing with the potential that Michigan voters created at the polls this
past election. We now have an environmental majority in the Michigan House of
New Year & Outlook 2 Representatives, a Governor who understands the importance of leading on envi-
Great Lakes Economy 3 ronmental and public health issues, and a mandate from the people for our state’s
Energy Savers 4 leaders to make bold strides on the issues of renewable energy, Great Lakes water
protections, and the conservation of parkland and natural features across both of
Recent Donors 5 our peninsulas.

Michigan is at a crossroads right now. We are at a place in our state’s history where
we have a chance to embrace newer, cutting-edge, renewable energy
technology that will bring high tech jobs to Michigan while reducing our
dependence on old, dirty, polluting forms of carbon based fossil fuels. Or, we can
continue to do business as usual, by building more outdated coal burning power
plants, which pollute the air we breath, deepen our dependence on the
importation of fossil fuels into the state, and do nothing to bring newer,
technologically advanced jobs to our state. The choice is clear: a new way of
doing business that promotes clean energy and high tech jobs, or the same old way
which will not create new job growth in Michigan but continue to pollute our air,
Make sure to visit our land, and water.
NEW website!:
www.MichiganLCV.org The Michigan LCV Education Fund is working closely with lawmakers and
Www.MichiganLCVEdFund.org environmentalists across the state to push for a strong and reasonable renewable
portfolio standard (RPS) for the state of Michigan. This RPS would for the first time
Learn more about require a specific percentage of our state’s energy to come from renewable
environmental issues energy sources, such as wind and solar. With your help, we will continue to work
with the legislature in Lansing to draft and pass legislation that represents what
people in Michigan have asked for: a bold new vision for Michigan that includes
Find out about innovative energy policies and the establishment of strong standards for protecting
upcoming Michigan our state’s water from the threat of those who would like to ship our water away in
LCV events the name of making a profit.

For the first time in decades, leaders in Lansing appear truly interested in
Discover volunteer re-establishing Michigan as the leader it once was in conservation and stewardship
opportunities with of our natural features. Michigan LCV is looking forward to a new vision for
Michigan LCV Michigan that ties a healthy environment to a healthy economy and plans to
protect the beauty of Michigan for generations to come.
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2006 Michigan LCV

Board of Directors
Happy New Year and Thank You!
Thoughts from our Executive Director Lisa Wozniak
Shari Pollesch
President 2007 is here and we understand we expect broad and
Irene Cahill
have much to look continued protection of our beautiful
Vice President forward to given the state.
November 2006
Mike Newman
Secretary elections! For the first In addition, we work to reach out to
time in a long while the thousands of other Michiganders
Tony Infante there is a renewed who share these values. To this end,
Treasurer
sense that lawmakers we were proud to collaborate with
John Austin in Lansing are ready the Michigan Environmental Council
William Farr
to work for a brighter and many of their member groups on
future for us all. the publication of the 2007-08 Michi-
Marcia Gershenson Many thanks to all of you who helped gan Environmental Briefing Book. This
Elizabeth Goodenough support Michgian LCV’s work agenda-setting document outlines
throughout the fall, work that ensured the environmental and conservation
Michael Griffin that environmental issues were community’s top priorities, which
Dr. Daniel Luria elevated in the context of the include defending the Great Lakes,
elections and that good candidates building a clean energy future for
Robert Matthews
were elected to office! Michigan, and protecting children
Lana Pollack from toxic chemicals. Please take a
In addition to our elections-related peek at:
G. Hans Rentrop
work in 2006, we overhauled and www.MichiganLCVEdFund.org.
William Stough updated our communications system,
beginning with our Michigan LCV and We encourage you to download a
Chris Yates
Michigan LCV Education Fund web- copy or call our office and we’ll mail
Michael Moore sites: www.MichiganLCV.org and you one. Then, make an appoint-
Director Emeritus
www.MichiganLCVEdFund.org. These ment with your elected official to talk
Joan Wolfe new sites provide Michigan legisla- about the key issues. They need to
Director Emeritus tors, media and the general public hear from concerned citizens like
John Carver information on the Michigan’s key en- you, and we’d be more than happy
Director Emeritus vironmental challenges, and provide to help with any of the arrangements.
us with a more effective way to com-
Govenor and Helen Milliken
Honorary Co-Chairs municate with you. Finally, we encourage you to invite
your friends, neighbors, and relatives
Michigan LCV members such as you to join our efforts. With member
2006 Michigan LCV are unique: you understand the support and our improved
Education Fund Board importance of protecting Michigan’s communications methods, we will
water and natural resources and how continue our non-partisan work with
Mark Richardson
President
that protection is directly linked to the legislators in Lansing and work for the
legislative and electoral processes. strongest possible protections of our
James Clift Many of you were raised swimming in air, land, and water. As the mother
Vice President
lakes, fishing in rivers, and exploring of two small boys, I realize daily that
Tony Infante neighborhood streams. You know the good work we do today is essen-
Secretary that the Great Lakes define us as a tial for generations to come.
Tim Eder state and are key to our economic
Treasurer well-being. We work here at
Shari Pollesch
Michigan LCV to ensure that these
values are communicated to our
elected officials and that they
0282-07 2/15/07 2:44 PM Page 3
Recent Brookings Institute Report Focuses on
the Future of the Great Lakes
Brookings Institute Non-Resident Senior Fellow and MI LCV Board Member John
Austin reports on why our region should push for a common economic agenda
The Great Lakes
region—the eight
Mid-western
states that rim the
lakeshores and
line the Ohio and
upper Mississippi
watersheds—
plays a central
role in our nation’s
economy. This
region led America’s agricultural and
industrial revolutions and has
pioneered global, social and
economic innovations—from the
automobile to the Internet—which
have literally changed the world.
With its traditional manufacturing
base now challenged by new global
economic competition, the states of
the Great Lakes region are struggling
in a transition from the industrial era,
in which it dominated, to leadership
in the knowledge age.
The Brookings Institution, joined by
business, civic, education and
philanthropic partners in the region, is
spearheading a Great Lakes
Economic Initiative to promote and
realize a winning economic agenda
for the Great Lakes region. This
cutting edge initiative gives policy
recommendations for the region’s
civic and political leadership,
Governors and Congressional
Delegation, as well as the aspirants
for President in the wide-open 2008
Presidential race, which will be
decided by swing states like ours.
Alongside recommendations that
improve education levels and fuel
innovation and entrepreneurship in
the region, the report notes that our
Michigan LCV and
LCV Education Fund Staff
Brian Beauchamp
Communications and
Campaigns Manager
region is poised to lead the way in Brian@MichiganLCV.org
the clean energy and transportation
Pam Bierzynski
technologies of the world.
Office & Special Projects
Manager
With over one fifth of the world’s Pam@MichiganLCV.org
freshwater captured in the Great
Lakes watershed (an increasingly Jim Carey
scarce and valuable commodity in Financial Systems Analyst
the world) and significant industrial Jimcee66@yahoo.com
infrastructure, the region is also a
sturdy platform for sustainable Joe Coburn
national growth, unlike the fast- Intern
Joe@MichiganLCV.org
growing coastal regions of the U.S.
which are prone to natural disasters, Nell Dority
and many sunbelt areas which are Finance Director
facing serious sustainability issues due Nell@MichiganLCV.org
to lack of water and exurban sprawl.
Kerry Duggan
In addition, the region’s 10,900 miles Program Specialist
of Great Lakes coastline—along with Kerry@MichiganLCV.org
abundant rivers, forests, lakes, and
recreation areas—are significant Sarah Neville
Special Projects Assistant
contributors to the quality of life here
Sarah@MichiganLCV.org
and offer sustainable opportunities
for water-based development. Elizabeth Palazzola
Special Projects Assistant
The Brookings report makes a strong Elizabeth@MichiganLCV.org
economic argument for enhancing
Michigan’s Great Lakes shoreline— Ryan Werder
our “North Coast”—with a federal/ Website Assistant
regional commitment to following Ryan@MichiganLCV.org
through with cleaning the Great
Lisa Wozniak,
Lakes by preserving water, funding
Executive Director
recreation, and protecting natural Lisa@MichiganLCV.org
features and environmental assets.
The bottom line is that Michigan is at
the center of a vital region poised for
growth, and that our economic
growth in many ways hinges on our
commitment to protecting our
region’s precious natural resources.
Board Member Mike New-
man chats with Michigan
The full report is available at LCV member Debra Lord at
www.brookings.edu/metro. a fall fundraiser in Ann Arbor
0282-07 2/15/07 2:44 PM Page 4

Not Your Grandfather’s Kind of Mine

Metallic-sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains is a threat to
Michigan’s water and is just not worth the risk

There is a new kind of mine being Most Michiganders would rather this
proposed in Michigan and it has proposed mine never see the light of
many people very concerned about day. But Kennecott has deep pock-
the threat that it poses to nearby ets and is pushing for a permit that
waterways, the local community, would allow them to move forward
and wildlife populations. with their business plan, which would
likely leave a legacy of pollution in
It has been over three years since an some of Michigan’s most pristine wild Using renewable energy sources
international company named Rio areas in return for a handful of tem- will minimize ugly smokestacks
Tinto via its subsidiary, Kennecott porary jobs. Energy Savers
Mining Company, came to Michigan Make sure your home is
and declared they were eying a You can help! Make your voice correctly insulated by caulk-
nickel deposit embedded in sulfide heard by going to our on-line petition ing windows and doors, in-
ore at the heart of the Upper asking the Michigan DEQ to deny this stalling weather strips and
sweeps, and by investing in
Peninsula. The Michigan Department permit:
new insulation.
of Environmental Quality has recently
moved forward with approval of this http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ Reduce use by unplugging
mine, but local citizens and people nosulfidemining/ unused chargers and appli-
across the Upper and Lower ances and buy Energy Star
Peninsula’s are standing in To learn more about this issue, visit us certified. Turn down your
opposition. You see, metallic-sulfide online at: water heater and vacuum
mining has never been done safely www.MichiganlLCVEdFund.org. your refrigerator coils.
anywhere in the world because it
creates a highly toxic solution known Or, contact our Ann Arbor office for Compact fluorescent light
bulbs consume one quarter
as “Acid-Mine Drainage”, which is the most recent updates on action at
the energy of incandescent
essentially sulfuric acid runoff that the state and local levels.
bulbs, and last about eight
devastates fish populations and kills times as long. Replacing
rivers. 25% of the light bulbs in your
house with compact fluores-
cent bulbs will cut your light-
ing energy bill in half.

Buy recycled products to

close the energy loop! Re-
cycling is not enough if you
don’t buy the end products!

Call your energy provider for

a free energy audit! Most
energy companies will pro-
vide either free audits or
links on their websites to
show you how to conduct
your own.

Find these tips and more:

www.northernoptions.org
A view from the shore of Lake Superior, which lies directly downstream from the proposed mine site www.glrea.org/
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Our Greatest Appreciation to Our Most Recent Donors!

Cathy Allen
Representative Kathy Angerer
John B. Aoun
Jon and Mary Armstrong
Edgar Balcueva
George Ball
Jay Barnhart
Lois DeBacker
Thomas and Sue Blandford
Robert Borak
Richard Borer
Will and Joyce Bottje
Theresa Brennan
Mary and Donald Brown
Kenneth Burchfield
Robert and Patricia Carrico
Fred Charbonneau
Judith Clark
Suzanne Clinton
Michael and Rebecca Cottrell
Ed and Ellie Davidson
Brian Duggan
Wendell Dunbar
Steve and Janine Easter
Jeff and Lou Ann Eder
Robert Eleveld
Obiefune Ezekoye
William and Kay Farr
Molly Flanagan
Barbara and Nelson Fuller
Beverly M.Ghesquiere
Christopher and Elaine Graham
Leigh Greden
Judy Griffin
Chris Grubb
R.E. and Patricia Haan
Noah and Jennifer Hall
Michael P. Hatty
John and Laura Herold
Rick Hoff
Phillip Hoffman, Jr.
John Hunting
Dana Hurst and Jospeh Ziolkowski
Joan Kauffman
William Kemner
Sybil Kolon
LuAnne Kozma
James and Barbara Kurbel
Marlene Leistico
Debra Lord
Dan Luria and Janet Loesche
Robert Matthews
Jeremy McCallion
Hugh McDiarmid Jr.
Fred McLane
Richard and Shirley McNally
Sarah Neville
Joan Newberry
Thomas and Jill Newhouse
Mike Newman
Sharon and Charles Newman
Gerhard and Margaretha Olving
Robert Oneal
Dan and Mary Lee Orr
Elizabeth Palazzola
William and Shirley Patterson
H. Rhett and Jeralyn Pinsky
Lana and Henry Pollack
G. Hans Rentrop
Mark Richardson
Heather Robinson
David and Patricia Rogers
Kenneth Rosenman
June Rusten
Norris and Faith Sanders
Liz Schuh
Mary Stadel
Kate Stewart
David and Alison Swan
Dennis Swanson
Kate VanerVeen Tanner
John and Mary Lou Tanton
Nathan Triplett
Peter M. Wege
Gregory Wetstone
Tom and Anne Woiwode
Warren and Shirley Wolfe
Will and Joan Wolfe
Richard and Constance Zimmermann
0282-07 2/15/07 2:44 PM Page 6

Contact Us! Please become a member of

Ann Arbor Office: Michigan League of Conservation Voters
213 W. Liberty Street
Suite 300
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Phone (734) 222-9650
Fax (734) 222-9651
E-mail:
Info@MichiganLCV.org
Website:
www.MichiganLCV.org
www.MichiganLCVEdFund.org

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