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.
Officials in Calhoun County are trying to figure out how to negotiate with Enbridge for funds to pay for a long term study of the health effects of last year’s oil spill.
Last July, a rupture on an Enbridge oil pipeline near Marshall spilled an estimated 843,000 gallons of Canadian tar sands crude into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.
Hundreds of people who live and work in the nearby area experienced headaches, trouble breathing, and nausea or vomiting in the weeks following the spill, according to a Michigan Dept. of Community Health report on the acute health effects of the spill.
The Battle Creek Enquirer reports:
“We don’t know exactly what to expect so we need to strike while the iron is hot,” Calhoun County Board of Health Chairman Rick Tsoumas said Monday during the board’s regular monthly meeting.
The money could go toward long-term studies of the oil spill’s effect on human health and the environment. It also could be used to compensate victims.
Local health officials said the request for funding could mirror what happened after BP’s off-shore oil rig polluted the Gulf of Mexico last year. The British oil company complied with President Barack Obama’s demand that it set aside $40 billion to pay for cleanup and litigation.
Local Health Officer Jim Rutherford said the county would need to hire an environmental or legal consultant to negotiate with Enbridge on future expenses.
Locals insist that long term health monitoring is necessary.
The MDCH report noted that because health care providers may fail to associate symptoms with oil exposure, it is very likely that there was a significant amount of under-reporting by clinicians. It also acknowledged that oil spills elsewhere have been shown to cause lingering anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
A thirty mile long stretch of the river remains closed for cleanup.
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