environmental quality

Report: World Heading In Wrong Direction – Climate Change Will Be Devastating

GENEVA, Switzerland - Climate science is clear: we are heading in the wrong direction, according to a new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, which highlights the huge gap between aspirations and reality. Without much more ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change will be increasingly devastating, it warns. The

By |2022-09-13T19:32:39-04:00September 13th, 2022|Featured, Science|

Whitmer’s Next Move Unclear After Senate Overturns Executive Order On DEQ Restructuring

LANSING - By midday Thursday Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer was faced with a challenge not placed before an occupant of the governor's office in more than a generation: full rejection of an executive order. The Senate's 22-16 party-line vote in the Republican-controlled Senate on HCR 1, rejecting the governor's proposed restructuring of the Department of Environmental Quality and

By |2019-02-15T16:01:43-05:00February 15th, 2019|Politics, Politics/Government|

Michigan DEQ To Study Public Drinking Water For Cancer-Causing PFAS Contaminants

LANSING - The Department of Environmental Quality will be studying samples from the public water systems in the state looking for traces of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the department announced Friday. The study is among the efforts of the PFAS Action Response Team to track and address the emerging contaminant. Filmmakers Seek Help In Sounding

By |2018-05-21T19:28:26-04:00May 21st, 2018|Clean Update, Featured|

Michigan Senate Republicans Ask Snyder To Rein In Permit Process At Environmental Quality Department

LANSING - Michigan Senate Republicans expressed frustration with operations within the Department of Environmental Quality earlier this month in a letter to Governor Rick Snyder asking for his office to restore a mindset of being more responsive to customers to the agency. Nearly all 27 Senate Republicans signed on to the September 6 letter to Snyder, in

By |2017-09-29T10:08:19-04:00September 29th, 2017|Politics|

Michigan House Dems Propose Air, Water Testing In Schools

LANSING - Some House Democrats on Monday announced legislation they said would aid in creating healthy school environments to help students learn and the creation of a Better Classroom Caucus to address environmental and health factors in schools. Rep. Robert Wittenberg (D-Oak Park) will chair the new caucus, a statement said. Mr. Wittenberg along with Rep. Stephanie

By |2017-09-21T19:53:25-04:00September 19th, 2017|Politics|

Choice Of Longtime Oil Lobbyist As DEQ Chief Lambasted By Environmentalists

LANSING - Environmental groups and Democrats were quick Thursday to deride Gov. Rick Snyder’s choice of Heidi Grether to head the Department of Environmental Quality because of her background lobbying for BP America. Grether is currently deputy director of the Michigan Agency for Energy, where she led state efforts to comply with new federal carbon

By |2016-07-15T14:36:45-04:00July 15th, 2016|Clean Update, Politics|

Environmental, Conservation Groups Call For Permanent DEQ Director With Public Health, Environmental Background

LANSING - Members of environmental and conservation groups on Thursday called for Governor Rick Snyder to appoint a permanent Department of Environmental Quality director who has environmental and public health expertise to shake up the "culture of complacency" at the department, they said. "The department is charged with protecting our state from hazards to human

By |2016-02-26T11:24:37-05:00February 26th, 2016|Clean Update, Politics|

Legislative Democrats Call For Restoration Of Environmental Quality Citizen Oversight Commissions

LANSING - The Flint water crisis galvanized Democrats in the Michigan House and Senate joined on Wednesday to discuss legislation they plan to introduce that would restore Department of Environmental Quality citizen oversight commissions, which were eliminated in 1991 by executive order by then-Republican Governor John Engler. The Democrats said at a press conference that

By |2016-02-25T18:42:14-05:00February 25th, 2016|Clean Update, Politics|

Congress Roasts Both EPA And Michigan Department Of Environmental Quality Over Mismanagement Of Flint Water Crisis

WASHINGTON DC - Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards and Flint resident LeeAnne Walters told a U.S. House committee Wednesday that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality engaged in a cover-up to prevent its failure to enforce drinking water laws in Flint from coming to light, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was complicit in that

By |2016-02-04T14:34:43-05:00February 4th, 2016|Clean Update, Featured, Politics|