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.
CMS Energy announced yesterday that it is putting plans for a new coal plant on hold for economic reasons, but the results of the votes on two shareholder resolutions presented at the company’s annual shareholders meeting last week show that many shareholders are concerned about environmental aspects of coal power.
According to the Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission a proposal requesting, “quantitative goals, based on current technologies, for reducing total greenhouse gas emissions from CMS Energy’s products and operations drew 53 million yes votes and 98 million no votes.
Another resolution that requested a “report on CMS Energy’s efforts, above and beyond current compliance, to reduce environmental and health hazards associated with coal combustion waste, and how those efforts may reduce legal, reputation and other risks” got 65 million yes votes and 86 million no votes.
While neither environment resolution passed, backers of the proposals say that the level of support that they received was much higher than expected.
“This vote sends a very strong message to CMS that shareholders are concerned about how the company is dealing with coal ash contamination of Saginaw Bay and also how it is managing risks at all its facilities to avoid future contamination and cleanup costs,“ Amy Galland, research director of the San Fransisco-based investment group As You Sow, said in a statement. “Shareholders at utilities nationwide are demanding answers about risks to their investments.”
Coal ash is a byproduct of coal‐fired power plants that contains arsenic, mercury, and lead. Toxins from coal ash dumps around CMS Energy’s Karn-Weadock complex have contaminated area groundwater and leached into Lake Huron.
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