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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Detroit moves to end trash burning — are “green jobs” on the way?

By Eartha Jane Melzer | 07.01.08 | 1:45 pm

Environmentalists seem cautiously optimistic about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s announcement Monday that the city will opt out of buying the incinerator that burns two-thirds of the city’s trash.

Continued -Only 8 percent of the waste in Detroit gets recycled now, and trash burning has been associated with respiratory problems for people living in surrounding neighborhoods. It is also expensive. Councilwoman Joanne Watson and other advocates for shutting down the incinerator claimed that increasing recycling efforts in the city will improve air quality and create new jobs.

Brad Van Guilder, who worked on the issue for the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, told the Detroit Free Press that he wasn’t ready to celebrate. “It’s a positive step, but we don’t know what will happen next,” he said.

According to the Metro Times:

The City Council’s environmental task force reported last year that, if the city were to achieve a 30 percent recycling rate, there would be

Comments

  • Tony Collings

    Dioxin Also studies have shown higher dioxin levels near incinerators, another health hazard.

  • Minehaha Forman

    It’s a smelly affair I live a few blocks away from the incinerator and on a hot afternoon there’s an inescapable smell of rotting burning flesh … it’s sick.

    The Detroit incinerator is the largest trash incinerator in the world, according to Ecocenter.org.

      If they get 800,000 tons of trash per year at a cost of over $170 per ton to Detroit residents in taxes, that means the company that owns the incinerator makes $136 million a year, much of which is from the cit of Detroit (Up to seven times the cost of recycle and landfill services).

    Other fun facts from ecocenter.org:
    -Asthma hospitalization rates in Detroit are 3-4 times the average rate of the state of Michigan. In addition to these staggering figures

    - Detroit is the only city of the 30 largest cities in the United States without any form of curbside recycling.

    Oh yeah, and the city’s decision not to buy the incinerator, well, it’s got a lot to do with money, not the environment, necessarily. As Mayor Kilpatrick said in a statement:
    “We will not exercise the option to purcahse the waste energy facility,” Kilpatrick said in a prepared statement. “The proposed purchase price was beyond what the city was prepared to pay.”

  • Tony Collings

    Dioxin Also studies have shown higher dioxin levels near incinerators, another health hazard.

  • Minehaha Forman

    It's a smelly affair I live a few blocks away from the incinerator and on a hot afternoon there's an inescapable smell of rotting burning flesh … it's sick.

    The Detroit incinerator is the largest trash incinerator in the world, according to Ecocenter.org.

      If they get 800,000 tons of trash per year at a cost of over $170 per ton to Detroit residents in taxes, that means the company that owns the incinerator makes $136 million a year, much of which is from the cit of Detroit (Up to seven times the cost of recycle and landfill services).

    Other fun facts from ecocenter.org:

    -Asthma hospitalization rates in Detroit are 3-4 times the average rate of the state of Michigan. In addition to these staggering figures

    - Detroit is the only city of the 30 largest cities in the United States without any form of curbside recycling.

    Oh yeah, and the city's decision not to buy the incinerator, well, it's got a lot to do with money, not the environment, necessarily. As Mayor Kilpatrick said in a statement:

    “We will not exercise the option to purcahse the waste energy facility,” Kilpatrick said in a prepared statement. “The proposed purchase price was beyond what the city was prepared to pay.”

  • LoRayne Apo-Joynt

    I think that's a follow-up article, Minni Wow, you said a mouthful in that comment!

  • LoRayne Apo-Joynt

    I think that’s a follow-up article, Minni Wow, you said a mouthful in that comment!

Categories & Tags: Environment/Energy| | | |