Here's one thing Democrats can do to win rural voters: Fight factory farms

Donald Trump is banking on riding his hardline stance on immigration to re-election in 2020. Tough talk of a wall makes headlines, but it’s a less discussed issue that could play a deciding role for voters in swing states and early primary states: the influx of factory farms and the devastating impact they have on people’s water, air and way of life. Democratic presidential hopefuls would be smart to clarify their stance on consolidated corporate agriculture, and soon.

In Iowa – site of the first caucus, and a state that went for President Obama twice and then swung soundly to Trump – more than 750 waterways are impaired. The cause? Chemical fertilizers and factory farm manure.

More ...

Whitmer must shut down Line 5 - by Anne Woiwode, MI Sierra Club Chair

On Earth Day, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s visionary new Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) was born, bringing together the ambitious goals of protecting the Great Lakes, addressing climate change and environmental justice and enacting an agenda to quickly transition to a clean energy future.

But just days earlier, it was reported that Whitmer said she is open to negotiating with Enbridge about allowing its deteriorating 66-year-old crude oil and natural gas liquids Line 5 pipeline to continue to operate, even though it threatens all four of her stated goals, both in the Straits of Mackinac, and along the pipeline’s full 645-mile course.

The potential Whitmer-Enbridge negotiation is ill-advised. It threatens to continue the disastrous direction set by former Gov. Rick Snyder and former Attorney General Bill Schuette.

More ...

###

Enbridge is trying to convince Michiganders that their "way forward" for a Line 5 oil tunnel through the Great Lakes is a good idea. You know it's not true. Come to demonstrate outside Enbridge events next week with a loud and proud message - No Oil Tunnel through the Great Lakes!

PFAS found in Saline during investigation across River Raisin watershed

By Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com

Michigan officials are investigating PFAS contamination in a second watershed that feeds into Lake Erie.

The chemicals were found last summer in Saline, southwest of Ann Arbor, where the city’s wastewater treatment plant was discharging them to a tributary of the River Raisin.

That’s also near a contaminated industrial site, located just steps from the Saline River, that has even higher levels of the unsafe chemicals in groundwater- and they’re possibly moving into the river, officials say.

More ...

Michigan Chapter Update April 21, 2019 - Tell Gov. Whitmer No Oil Tunnel and Shut Down Line 5 Now!

Click here or on the image below to see the newsletter.

African-American farmers make up less than 2 percent of all farmers in the United States

A new report finds that racial discrimination within USDA programs is responsible for this decline.

EMILY MOON

APR 5, 2019

African-American farmers make up less than 2 percent of all farmers in the United States. They helm shrinking operations that are less profitable on average than those owned by their white counterparts—and, according to a new report, this decline is the direct result of discriminatory lending practices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  

Read more ...

Michigan Chapter Update April 7, 2019 - Lobby Day, Line 5 Victories, Coal Plant Update, Upcoming Events

Click here or on the image below to see the newsletter.

Update: Mapping of the Expanding PFAS Crisis

Known Contamination from Toxic Fluorinated Chemicals Keeps Spreading, With No End in Sight

Last fall, Sandy Wynn-Stelt of Plainfield Township, Mich., learned that her well is contaminated with fluorinated industrial chemicals at more than 500 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s “safe” level for drinking water. In January, test results showed she had 750 times the amount of one of those chemicals in her blood as the average American.

More ...