SUBSCRIBE TO MICHIGAN CLIMATE NEWS! In 2014, the City of Detroit cut off water service to more than 20,000 customers for nonpayment. This left scores of poor, primarily Black households without the necessities for safe and sanitary daily life. “People cannot drink. They cannot cook. They cannot flush toilets or maintain sanitation,” said Rev. Kenita […]
Posted inUncategorized
Is Michigan’s climate plan in danger?
CO2 2022/2021 417.84 ppm / 418.05 ppm TAKE OUR READER SURVEY HERE! Is Michigan’s climate plan in danger? A potential Supreme Court ruling to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants could threaten Michigan’s climate plan, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The court recently heard a […]
Posted inAccountability
‘A moral crisis’: Metro Detroit faith leaders call for end to water shutoffs, adoption of income-based rates
The call comes amid rising service rates as the city’s water department embarks on door-knocking campaign to get customers on payment plans The Rev. Kenita Harris has long witnessed many Detroit families struggle to pay for a basic life necessity: water. In the minister’s eyes, lacking access to clean, safe, and affordable water robs families […]
Posted inAccountability
SEC proposes far-reaching climate disclosure rules for companies – here’s where the rules may be vulnerable to legal challenges
The Conversation By: Daniel E Walters, William M Manson The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released its long-awaited proposal to require companies to disclose their climate risks to investors, and it’s arguably the most significant action on climate change yet under the Biden administration. SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee called it a “watershed moment for investors and financial markets.” It is […]
Posted inAccountability
Environmental group pushes to ban controversial chemical
By ARYA DARACapital News Service LANSING — The recent discovery of a dangerous family of chemicals in Michigan cattle has a statewide environmental group renewing its efforts to ban the controversial substance. The chemicals are called per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS for short. You may have heard of the more common chemicals in this family, […]
Posted inSolutions
Experts weigh in on how to fix and pay for Detroit’s flooding problems
The Great Lakes Water Authority has said it could take anywhere $5 billion to $20 billion to upgrade the regional stormwater system enough to reduce basement flooding. In 1972, Milwaukee had the good fortune to be sued by the state of Illinois. At the time, Milwaukee and several nearby cities were sending an estimated 200 million gallons […]
Posted inAccountability
Lights Out: DTE Energy shut off electricity to homes hundreds of thousands of times
This story was originally published by ProPublica Lights Out: Profitable Utility Company Shut Off Electricity to Homes Hundreds of Thousands of Times by Sarah Alvarez, Outlier Media, with data analysis by Agnel Philip, ProPublica ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in […]
Posted inUncategorized
From the headlines – March 14-18, 2022
Structural discrimination: The Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) will investigate Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) after residents living near the Jeep plant on Detroit’s east side filed a discrimination complaint. When EGLE issued the permit for the plant in a highly polluted and predominantly Black part of Detroit, Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler) was required […]
Posted inCommunity
Planet Detroit welcomes journalism fellow Eleanore Catolico
Planet Detroit is thrilled to welcome Eleanore Catolico as our 2022 Detroit Energy and Environment Reporting Fellow. The fellowship, a partnership between Planet Detroit, Energy News Network’s (ENN), and the Detroit Equity Action Lab helps support critical journalism on climate change and clean energy in under-resourced communities in southeast Michigan. Having grown up in the suburbs of […]
Posted inAccountability
Pollen season is getting longer and more intense with climate change – here’s what allergy sufferers can expect in the future
The Conversation By Beth Daley Brace yourselves, allergy suffers – new research shows pollen season is going to get a lot longer and more intense with climate change. Our latest study finds that the U.S. will face up to a 200% increase in total pollen this century if the world continues producing carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, […]