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.
Legislation has been introduced in both houses of Congress to regulate the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, to mine natural gas deposits, in order to protect water supplies from contamination.
The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and in the Senate by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Hydrofracking is a technique that uses large amounts of water mixed with toxic chemicals to fracture geological deposits and release natural gas trapped in the rock matrix. Because that liquid cannot all be reclaimed after being used, environmentalists say that it contaminates ground and surface waters.
In 2005, Congress exempted hydrofracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. A press release from the environmental group Earth Justice lauded the proposed legislation:
“Our country is in the midst of an unprecedented drilling boom. And states in the path of this gas rush have found that they simply aren’t equipped to protect their drinking water supplies. They need backup from the federal government. That’s where these important bills from Congresswoman DeGette, Congressmen Hinchey and Polis and Senators Casey and Schumer come in.
They are proposing a simple fix to a serious problem: close the loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act and allow this law to get back to work protecting people from chemicals and hazardous waste in their drinking water. Congress needs to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, and soon. The millions of Americans whose health and drinking water supplies are at stake don’t have time to waste.”
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