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Welcome to the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club!
The Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club is your statewide voice for the nation's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Our members are some 20,000 of your Michigan friends and neighbors. Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet. Our current conservation priorities include:
Stopping the Michigan Coal Rush
At least 7 new or expanded coal fired power plants are being proposed in Michigan today, making our Great Lakes State one of the coal industry’s top targets. Unfortunately, Michigan is going the wrong way: more than 60 proposed coal fired power plants around the country have been denied or withdrawn in the past few years as scientists, investors and state officials have recognized the enormous environmental and financial risks posed by these proposals. You can download our Winter 2007 and Spring 2008 Mackinac newsletters here, that focused on these issues.
Weak regulations and expected federal limits on the emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide have led to a rush to get coal plants approved in Michigan now, even though the state doesn’t need any additional electric generating capacity for many years to come. Coal fired power plants are the largest single source in Michigan of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming. Coal plant emissions add mercury to our fish, cause asthma, and increase acid rain. And coal mining has devastating impacts on communities, habitat and water quality.
Sierra Club is working to stop all of the currently proposed new and expanded coal fired plants in Michigan. Contact Lee Sprague to volunteer to help.
Moving to a Clean Energy Future
Twenty-five states now require renewable electricity generation, but Michigan lags behind them. Legislation that passed the Michigan House in April requires electric providers to produce at least 10% of their energy from designated renewable energy sources by 2015, and to increase energy efficiency by 1% per year through conservation. Not only will these requirements help reduce demand for new coal or nuclear plants, they’ll keep our energy costs down, help fight global warming, and create more jobs in Michigan.
Now it’s up to the Michigan Senate to do the right thing. Your help is needed to see strong clean energy legislation passed this spring – contact Jan O'Connell to find out more.
Cleaning our Water, Protecting our Communities
Our Great Lakes State has a lot at stake when it comes to water quality. Right now Sierra Club’s Michigan Water Sentinels are working on two of the biggest threats to our waters, and you can help with these efforts.
1) Large scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs or factory farms) are hurting the water quality of Michigan’s lakes and streams, including the Great Lakes. These massive factory farms produce more sewage than small cities, but they don’t have to follow the same clean up rules. Sierra Club is working to both document pollution violations and get enforcement of current laws to stop the toxic waste from these operations. We’re also trying to strengthen the law so we can prevent pollution from these facilities. You can help Sierra Club clean up CAFOs in Michigan and track the pollution from these facilities – contact CAFO Water Sentinel Lynn Henning or Rita Jack to find out more.
2) Metallic mining is making a resurgence in the Upper Peninsula, and Sierra Club’s Michigan Water Sentinel volunteers are monitoring water quality in streams near the sites of proposed mines to provide critical documentation of current clean water quality. (Defending precious resources from contamination depends on knowing what’s at stake.) You can help with this vital effort – contact Rita Jack to learn more.
Safeguarding Wild Places
Michigan has the largest State Forest system in the country. And recently the Department of Natural Resources started developing plans that will determine what lands are protected, how habitat is managed, where to locate recreational areas, and how much logging occurs (and where). With the timber industry demanding increased logging, the growing idea of wood for biomass energy, and competing pressures on the land for recreational and economic development activities, Michigan’s state forests are facing a critical crossroads.
Your knowledge and concern for Michigan’s public forests can help move our forests in the right direction and protect our natural heritage. Do you know a special place on Michigan’s state forest lands that deserves special protection? You can help to nominate and work to protect high conservation value forests by contacting Sierra Club Forest Policy Specialist Marvin Roberson here.
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