Eartha Jane Melzer

Conyers responds to questions about involvement with Romulus injection well

U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit has responded to questions about why he changed his position on a controversial hazardous waste injection well that is operated by a man who made payments to his wife, Monica Conyers, who resigned from the Detroit City Council this week after entering a guilty plea on conspiracy to commit [...]

Gun rights supporters pair weekend family picnic with weaponry

TRAVERSE CITY — Around 50 people, many of them men openly carrying loaded handguns, gathered in a local park over the weekend for a cookout billed as educational outreach on gun owners’ rights. Participants in the “Open Carry Picnic” ate hot dogs and chips while wearing holstered hand guns at Sunset Park off the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. As children played on the merry-go-round and tourists cruised the lakefront, the gathering was quiet but showed some signs of tension.

U.S. House passes $475 million Great Lakes cleanup bill

The U.S. House has approved an appropriations bill that designates $475 million for efforts to clean up pollution and stop invasive species in the Great Lakes.
The Detroit News reports that the bill includes:

Saginaw River E.coli levels prompt health advisory

Saginaw County health officials are warning against recreational use of the Saginaw River after massive rain induced sewage overflows brought E.coli levels to more than three times the level considered safe.
Any recreational use of the river may result in health hazards, including gastrointestinal or dermatological illnesses, the Saginaw County Health Department warned Friday.

State budget may hit tourism promotion

Michigan spent $30 million dollars this year publicizing its value as a vacation destination, largely through the “Pure Michigan” media campaign.
Lawmakers, especially those from the tourism-dependent North, say the money was well spent.

NMU cancels plans for coal-fired power plant

Northern Michigan University has asked the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to cancel its permit to build a 10-megawatt coal-fired power plant at its Marquette campus. The planned cogeneration plant was granted a permit last spring but construction was on hold in part because of a lawsuit by the Sierra Club of Michigan which opposes burning coal.

Full park access in Benton Harbor will now cost $75

Benton Harbor residents will need to pay $75 to view Lake Michigan from atop the dunes in the city’s lake front Jean Klock Park.
WJSM news reports that a panel that oversees policy at the Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course now partially built in the public park has approved a fee schedule for use of the [...]

Legislature moves to combine DNR, DEQ, but Cherry’s streamlining agenda remains unclear

Four months after Gov. Jennifer Granholm publicly tasked her No. 2, John Cherry, with leading an effort to streamline government, Michigan’s official unemployment rate has hit 14.1 percent, the state is undergoing the steepest decline in revenue in at least a half century, and the state legislature is moving ahead with plans to combine two departments, Natural Resources and Environmental Quality.

Mich. House passes appropriation bill to combine DEQ, DNR

Michigan House lawmakers passed an appropriations bill on Thursday aimed at combining the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality.
Rep. Mike Lahti, a Democrat from Hancock who is the primary sponsor of the bill, said that combining the department’s facilities and administration could save the state up to $2 million dollars a year and he [...]

EPA officials pledge transparency with long-term dioxin cleanup plans

SAGINAW — At a community meeting on dioxin contamination in the Saginaw River watershed, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials Wednesday night committed to sampling local municipal water systems for dioxin and posting up-to-date fish consumption advisory signs — two key and immediate community concerns that have been examined in depth by Michigan Messenger.