U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow To Headline Event Honoring Michigan Sierra Club’s Pioneering Leader Anne Woiwode

NEWS MEDIA ADVISORY 

For Saturday, January 23, 2016

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow To Headline Event Honoring Michigan Sierra Club’s Pioneering Leader Anne Woiwode

Media Contact:   David Holtz 313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org

Senator Debbie Stabenow will join other prominent environmental and public officials Saturday from 4pm to 6pm in Lansing for an event honoring Anne Woiwode, the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Director who is retiring after 35 years of pioneering major environmental achievements for the Great Lakes State.

Who:         Sen. Debbie Stabenow, state Sen. Curtis Hertel, Sen. Gary Peters (staff), Michigan Sierra Club  and other environmental leaders and Honoree Anne Woiwode

What:        Special Reception celebrating Anne Woiwode’s historic career with Sierra Club and her accomplishments, including establishing Michigan’s 90,000 acres of wilderness under the Michigan Wilderness Act 

When:       Event begins at 4pm to 6pm with speakers scheduled at 4:45pm

Where:      Greater Lansing Housing Coalition, 600 West Maple Street, Lansing, MI

Background

After serving as Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter Director since 1985, Anne Woiwode retired this month.  A former Meridian Township trustee, Woiwode was instrumental in the establishment of 90,000 acres of wilderness under the Michigan Wilderness Heritage Act in 1987.  Woiwode, who received national recognition in 2014 for her work, spearheaded Sierra Club’s efforts to protect rural families and farms from industrial agricultural pollution and is a nationally recognized expert on environmental policy and law.  She has testified on hundreds of environmental bills and is the foremost expert in Michigan on natural resource issues.   In recent years, Woiwode led the Sierra Club’s successful fight to halt the construction of nine proposed coal-fired plants in Michigan and to move the state away from reliance on polluting fossil fuels and toward clean energy.  Woiwode began her environmental work in Michigan as a Sierra Club volunteer leader in 1980.  On Saturday she will return to that volunteer role when she is expected to be appointed Sierra Club Michigan Chapter’s Conservation Committee Chair.