MI Clean and Green: A Plan to Save our Planet and Rebuild our Infrastructure 

 

Summary

I’ve been working to protect the environment and punish polluters within our community for most of my life. When US Ecology pushed to expand a facility dedicated to storing hazardous waste within the City, I stood with Rep. Isaac Robinson to fight against the project, working tirelessly to organize our community to speak out against the expansion. In much of the same way, I spoke out against the Detroit Incinerator until it was shut down and the blight and air pollution it caused were removed from our community. When Republicans and even some Democratic politicians defended Enbridge’s corroded and dangerous Line 5 pipeline, I spoke out against its continued use, demanding action from the state to protect the Great Lakes. My belief in the need for Green Infrastructure and structural improvements to the Detroit water distribution system earned me the endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders, the Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement Detroit.

If elected in November, you can expect the same level of dedication to environmental issues and community welfare. Below you’ll find a number of policy proposals I plan to implement once elected. These proposals work to fight against polluters, ensure water rights for all Detroiters, and build up infrastructure that is good for both the environment and local residents.

Proposals:

  1. Affordable Access to Quality Water

    • Detroit currently faces an unprecedented water crisis. Even before the onset of COVID-19, a large number of Detroiters were forced to make the impossible decision of choosing to pay their rent, or pay their water bill. When these families opted to keep a roof over their heads and forgo paying the city for water, they found themselves cut off from city water supplies in just two months. These water shutoffs have left over 27,000 households without access to drinking water, the majority of which are home to Black and brown Detroiters. This is unacceptable. Water is a basic human right, and no family should be forced to decide between sheltering their children and providing them with access to water.

    • In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right. To support this right, the UN Development Program (UNDP) has advised nations to hold water prices to 3 percent of a household’s income. I will propose legislation implementing this advice, and requiring water utilities within Detroit and throughout Michigan vary the cost of clean and drinkable water based on the income of a particular household. Under this plan, the absolute maximum amount a household would be required to pay for water utilities would be 3 percent of household earnings. This plan will eliminate the need for families to face thirst and water shortage simply so they can afford rent.

  2. Prevent Corporate Exploitation of Water Resources

    • While it’s important to ensure that families and individuals have access to clean and affordable water, large corporations should not receive the same treatment. Last year, a Michigan court ruled that Nestle could continue to remove 576,000 gallons a day from two Northern Michigan streams. Nestle then packages this water and sells it back to the same communities from which it was taken. This exploitation of Michigan resources threatens to dry up the water supplies so desperately needed by individuals and families. Because the court system refuses to halt this corporate overreach, it’s up to us to take action and protect our state’s most valuable natural resource.

    • I propose legislation that would require community approval from local governing units prior to the grant of any permit or license to a company seeking to extract large quantities of water from Michigan bodies of water. This would include removal from streams, rivers, lakes and underwater aquifers. Under the current system, Nestle received its permits to extract millions of gallons of water from the Snyder administration. As the failure to defeat Nestle in court demonstrates, this state government led approach to water removal fails to address the needs and desires of individual communities. Local communities need a means of stopping this extraction, or at the very least negotiating with corporations to determine a reasonable quantity and price for the water corporations utilize.

  3. Invest in Green Infrastructure

    • The Flint Water Crisis showed us just how badly our physical infrastructure is suffering from neglect and mismanagement. It’s time to both fix our crumbling pipes and roads, and ensure that new construction benefits the environment. We can accomplish this by providing high paying unionized jobs to Michiganders through Green infrastructure projects. In communities where lead pipes threaten the lives of residents, we should heavily invest in modernizing water infrastructure, ensuring that the new water transportation systems are safe and stable for years to come. Investing in Green infrastructure also means providing incentives for manufacturers of renewable energy systems such as solar panels and windmills. Providing economic benefits to these industries will place Michigan on the forefront of Green Energy, all while bringing high paying jobs into our communities.

    • I will support legislation designed to fund statewide Green infrastructure projects, including here in Hamtramck and Detroit. Additionally, I will pressure the Governor, the city of Detroit, and other members of the legislature to offer economic incentives for Green industries to move their manufacturing operations here to Michigan.

  4. Pollute and Pay

    • If you pollute Michigan air or Michigan water, you’ll pay to clean it up. It’s as simple as that. Dirty industries located in low-income Michigan towns and cities have caused spikes in dangerous health conditions in kids and other local residents. For example, as a result of the Detroit Incinerator, otherwise healthy children have faced asthma and other breathing issues for years. That’s why I have repeatedly spoken out against pollution, ultimately working with members of our community to close the Detrot Incinerator last year. It’s clear that we must work to further disincentivize polluters from setting up shop within Michigan communities.

    • In order to punish polluters and help to fund Green infrastructure initiatives, I propose taxing both carbon emissions and other harmful pollution created by current Michigan industries. In addition, I would support legislation making it easier for Michigan residents to file lawsuits against polluters when damage has been done either to community air quality or water resources. These initiatives will show polluters that their actions have consequences, and that any new industry must work towards carbon neutrality and against harming our communities.

  5. Ban New Emissions

    • In addition to penalizing current industries that pollute Michigan air and water resources, I propose a complete ban on new CO2 emissions from both new and current Michigan companies. We should be working to ensure that the jobs that enter Michigan’s economy are found in industries that don’t devastate the environment. That means that companies will be forced to adopt new technologies designed to minimize carbon footprints and reduce emissions below their current levels. By adopting this ban, we can do our part in the fight against climate change and work to protect Michigan residents from harmful industries that pollute our water and air.

  6. Keep Polluters Out of Low-Income Neighborhoods

    • The Detroit incinerator and US Ecology toxic waste storage facility have a lot in common. They’re both located in low-income areas of Detroit, in communities composed mostly of Black and brown families. Those families had no say in decisions made by the City and state to allow harmful and blighting industries into residential areas. That needs to change. It’s clear to most that placing an incinerator or toxic waste dump next to someone’s home will devastate the value of their property. However, while declining property values are extremely harmful to families, losing a loved one or child to health conditions caused by these industries is even worse. We need to offer communities the opportunity to say no to potentially dangerous industries when they seek to set up shop next door.

    • I propose legislation that would require direct approval from community members before an industry dealing in toxic or dangerous substances is allowed to relocate into or near to their residential area. Industries would be forced to demonstrate to local residents that their plans for expansions or additional dangerous activity would not adversely affect either the property values or health of community members. Where companies fail to do so, they will be barred from receiving permits or licenses to set up shop in the area. By adopting this measure, we will be telling industries that they can no longer rely on the lack of representation found in low-income areas to further corporate agendas. Instead, companies will work directly with the people they plan to impact, who in turn will hold them accountable.