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 [...]
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.
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.
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.
The wetlands program proposed by Republican State Sen. Patty Birkholz of Saugatuck Township last week would give the quasi governmental Michigan Economic Development Corporation a role in permit decisions, eliminate public hearings, and put the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to work scouting land for development by the cranberry industry, according to Great Lakes Blogger, Dave Dempsey.
Dempsey has been sorting through the bill, SB785, and has identified several troubling provisions.
As part of the plan to begin issuing “general” permits for some wetland activities, the bill describes what Dempsey calls “a new model for public participation.”
Before authorizing a specific project to proceed under a general permit, the department shall not provide notice or hold a public hearing and shall not typically require a site inspection.
The bill also requires DEQ to consult with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation on permit decisions.
The department’s determination of feasible and prudent alternatives under subsections (2)(b) and (4)(b) with respect to a permit for a commercial or agricultural activity shall be made after review by a deputy director. The deputy directors review shall include or be preceded by consultation with the Michigan economic development corporation and applicable regional and local economic development authorities.
And then there is this, oddly specific, provision which Dempsey calls, “The Ocean Spray Amendment.”
Within 180 days after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section, the department in consultation with the department of agriculture shall identify at least 2,500 acres of land suitable for cranberry production activities.
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