Category: MICHIGAN_CN

The Michigan House early Friday morning approved a suite of reforms to address climate change that would fundamentally change how the state gets its energy and require utilities to draw all their power from clean sources by 2040.

In the quest to defend Michigan’s rivers against climate change, government officials and fish advocates are increasingly zeroing in on a simple strategy that can lower temperatures by several degrees, and open up miles of new habitat.

A 10-inch diameter gasoline pipeline running across southern Michigan failed Tuesday evening, releasing more than 8,400 gallons of gasoline in Branch County’s Girard Township between Tekonsha and Coldwater, county Emergency Management Director Bud Norman said in a statement.

In Michigan and across the Midwest, coal plants are shutting down, often without clear plans for what will happen to these sites next. Sometimes, they sit indefinitely as fenced-off brownfields along rivers and lakes. However, there is a once-in-a-generation opportunity here to clean up and transition former coal plant sites into public park lands, solar energy generation, and energy storage development projects.

Holtec International announced Tuesday the signing of a long-term power purchase agreement between its Palisades Energy subsidiary and Wolverine Power Cooperative, which provides energy to rural communities across Michigan.

Several coal-based power plants in Michigan are scheduled to close in the next few years, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center knows what to do with them.

Climate change is threatening the future of Michigan’s forests, fish and wildlife, and Michigan must act now to bolster nature against a warming world.

The University of Michigan has been awarded $5 million dollars by the National Science Foundation and other funding agencies from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Michigan’s House Bill 4961 would, if enacted, establish an environmental literary task force charged with developing an environmental literacy model curriculum that would, inter alia, “[p]repare students for understanding environmental challenges of this state and the United States, including the relationship of the environment to … climate change.” “Climate change” is also listed among the “definitions for key terms that must be addressed in the environmental literacy model curriculum.” Sponsored by Julie M. Rogers (D-District 41) and thirty of her colleagues, the bill was introduced on September 7, 2023, and referred to the Committee on Education.

Michigan’s infrastructure is crumbling — literally. Michigan has witnessed a troubling decline in the condition of its aging infrastructure, including its roads, water, and energy systems, and the tangible effects of climate change through increased flooding, heatwaves, and severe storms have placed additional stress on these already fragile systems. Addressing the interplay between deteriorating infrastructure and the impact of climate change has become a pressing issue for residents and policymakers alike. These challenges raise urgent questions about how to modernize and fortify critical infrastructure in the face of an evolving climate landscape.