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Monday, January 29, 2018

Community residents in Dearborn celebrate a win against big pollutors

We breathe a bit easier today

Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, January 29, 2018
Community residents celebrate a win against big pollutors as CMS Energy cancels its plan to expand its "Natural" Gas Powerplant in S. Dearborn. 
Click here for Free Press story.

Today CMS Energy announced that they will be pulling the permit proposal which would have expanded their methane gas powerplant in the South end of Dearborn, MI. The methane gas power facility, run by Dearborn Industrial Generation or DIG, proposed the expansion to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality late last year. They cited additional capacity for energy generation at peak heating periods and indicated at least part of this energy would be exported on the energy grid.
On January 16, community residents came out in the hundreds to voice their concerns. Residents explained that it was already difficult to breathe in S. Dearborn and adjacent SW Detroit-- and this plant would be an additional burden of air pollution.
Not only would the plant cause an undue burden on people, but the company failed to provide due diligence in modeling air pollution and overestimated costs for pollution controls. We never even saw an Environmental Justice analysis.

US Representative Debbie Dingell [D-Dearborn] told the FreePress: "We need to ensure that we can provide reliable, affordable energy to all Michiganders, but the need for clean air for our communities is equally important." The real thanks is due to all the countless people who worked tirelessly to put pressure on MDEQ and Consumers to say NO to more unfair contamination! 

Read More

Friday, January 26, 2018

60 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump


Since taking office in January, President Trump has made eliminating federal regulations a priority. His administration — with help from Republicans in Congress — has often targeted environmental rules it sees as overly burdensome to the fossil fuel industry, including major Obama-era policies aimed at fighting climate change.
To date, the Trump administration has sought to reverse at least 60 environmental rules, according to a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School’s Environmental Regulation Rollback Tracker, Columbia Law School’s Climate Tracker and other sources.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Metro-Detroit candidate training!

Registration is open for our full Metro-Detroit candidate training! This program is longer and will go deeper than the trainings we did in November and December. 

Please help us spread the word to any progressives or environmentalists interested in running for office or managing campaigns.

Mike Berkowitz
Legislative & Political Director
Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

 

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Dear Movement Politician,
If this year has taught us anything, it’s that business as usual politics got us into this mess, and it will not get us out. The vast majority of political campaigns are run in a way that serves the 1%: vacuous platforms, campaign and policy priorities dictated by big donors, money spent on TV instead of talking to people, savior candidates unrepresentative of constituents, and almost every important campaign decision made by consultants who couldn’t care less about building a long-term movement.

That’s because business as usual politics is based on the premise that the next election day is all that matters. Movement politics is based on a different premise: the next Election Day is the nearest punctuation mark in a very long sentence of building a people-powered movement.

This means that our political revolution is happening one voter, one conversation at a time. It is led by people of color, women, immigrants and working class people. It is fueled with our money. It is armed with a bold agenda of racial and economic justice.

And to succeed, we must invest in ourselves. Michigan People’s Campaign, Sierra Club and People’s Action have partnered to launch an ambitious training program for movement candidates, campaign staff, and volunteer throw-downers. In 2018, our team of local and national trainers will train 150 movement politicians in 4 regions across Michigan, spanning 33 hours of classroom instruction time, supplemented with webinars and homework.

We want to be clear. We aren’t interested in simply adding more people with progressive values to the candidate pool. The Movement Politics Academy is an engine of a political movement contesting for governing power for the 99%. Together, we are all members of a collective that encompasses hundreds of thousands of volunteers, organizers and candidates across the country.

People are hungry for a bold issue agenda that calls for a transformed political and economic system- one that puts people and planet first, while dismantling structural sexism and white supremacy.  We agree- no more quick fixes that only tinker with the status quo. Let’s build a new world for ourselves and our loved ones.

Join us.

 
Click Here To Apply 
Registration closes on January 15th, 2018. 
 
Dates for the 1st Cohort: 
January 26-27,2018
Feburary 2-4, 2018
February 9-10, 2018 
 
* the 33 hours is split between these dates, participants are expected to be present at all sessions. 
 
Location: Metro-Detroit 
 
 
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