Trucks abound in residential neighborhoods. Photo by Rosa Maria Zamarron

Will Detroit take action on trucking and dust?

A significant question for Detroiters plagued by truck traffic will be whether the city will enact a truck-route ordinance or add protections against fugitive dust from facilities like scrap yards and bulk storage facilities. We expected Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero to introduce a truck route ordinance by the end of the year, but that hasn’t happened. However, she did put forward an ordinance to reduce dust that would strengthen city codes, mandate new reporting requirements for facilities, add new fines for violations, and create a Fugitive Dust Division within the city government.  (Planet Detroit, Bridge Detroit)

Will water remain unaffordable for many Michiganders?

Detroit resumed shutting off residents’ water for non-payment this year. The city of Detroit continued to implement the LifeLine Plan for water assistance, but the program is only funded through 2025. Some residents have said the plan requires water rationing. State Sen. Stephanie Chang helped introduce legislation that could provide more long-term water affordability by creating a statewide fund with a $2 monthly charge for ratepayers and mandating income-based caps on water bills for low-income residents. However, some advocates said this program isn’t adequately funded to ensure true affordability and that water utilities could undermine the program. Yet, affordability and shutoffs could continue to be an issue without a statewide program. Michigan water rates have increased 40% since 2010, and Benton Harbor’s water system could see 20% rate increases yearly for the next nine years. (Outlier, Bridge Detroit Planet Detroit, MetroTimes)

Will wildfire smoke continue to test air quality rules?

Canadian wildfires helped bring some of the world’s worst air quality to Detroit this summer. State regulators issued 22 air quality alerts, the most since 1999. The smoke will return at some point, with experts predicting that this year’s fire weather will likely recur every 20-25 years. And more smoke could undermine Michigan’s air quality regulations because “exceptional event” days affected by wildfires can be excluded from monitoring. Earlier this year, Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy obtained approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to exclude ozone monitoring data from 2022 that it said was influenced by wildfire smoke. Had the data been included, polluters in southeast Michigan would have been subject to stricter emission rules. A Sierra Club’s appeal of the decision could show if regulators are ready to better account for wildfire smoke when looking at air quality. (NPR, Planet Detroit)

Will the new year bring new power outages?

Many Michiganders went days or weeks without power in 2023 because of poorly maintained infrastructure, a winter ice storm, and powerful summer storms. With climate-related extreme weather events increasing, Michiganders could see more blackouts in 2024. Following the February ice storm, the Michigan Public Service Commission discussed moving to performance-based regulation, which adds incentives and penalties based on criteria like reliability, affordability and emissions reduction. At that hearing, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy representatives also discussed moving to a 7-year tree trimming cycle to prevent outages. However, that still falls short of the industry standard 5-year trim cycle. MPSC chair Dan Scripps said this month that a mild winter forecast and changes made by utility companies meant the state is better positioned for the year ahead, but he added, “We’re clearly not out of the woods.”  (AP, Planet Detroit, Energy News Network)

Will heat and flooding test the city?

Detroit has taken tentative steps to address extreme weather, like rolling out its Basement Backup Protection Program and opening a resilience hub in Jefferson Chalmers, where residents can find air conditioning and resources during heatwaves, power outages, and floods. Yet, extreme rainfall and heat events like the one that flooded basements in June 2021 could continue to stress city residents. Detroit was partially affected by a heat dome over the country’s center this summer; experts predict these events could inch northward in the future. Such an event could be amplified by the heat island that covers Detroit and many inner-ring suburbs, stressing a city where many residents lack air conditioning. (Planet Detroit)

Where will Michigan’s industrial legacy bubble up next?

In recent years, Michigan has seen green ooze spill out onto I-696, hexavalent chromium threaten Ann Arbor’s drinking water supply, and a site where uranium was processed for the Manhattan Project collapse into the Detroit River. Climate-driven flooding and high water levels on lakes and rivers could make such problems more likely, and they could continue dredging up the ghosts of Michigan’s industrial past (and present) in 2024. New polluter pay legislation could help prevent more contamination and efforts like cleaning up toxic sediment in the Detroit River may help address existing pollution. Still, profound changes will be needed to address Michigan’s roughly 24,000 contaminated sites. (BBC, Planet Detroit, Bridge Michigan)

Will democracy (and climate progress) survive in 2024?

2024 is likely to be another fraught election year. If Donald Trump wins the nomination and election, he promises not to be a dictator “except for day one,” noting, “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” In addition to imperiling the nation’s already tenuous grasp on democracy, a Trump victory could be catastrophic for climate action. According to the Project 2025 plan put together by the far-right Heritage Foundation, conservatives want a second Trump administration, or that of any Republican president, to block wind and solar power from being connected to the electrical grid, largely defund the Environmental Protection Agency, eliminate the Department of Energy’s renewable energy offices, and prevent states from adopting California’s vehicle emissions standards. (Brooking, NBC News, Inside Climate News)

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Brian Allnutt is a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit. He covers the climate crisis, environmental justice, politics and open space.