Who pays for climate change? Water levels on the Great Lakes and in the canals of Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood are declining for now, but experts expect they will rise again with increased frequency as the climate crisis continues. So the question remains about how to pay for seawalls and infrastructure to protect a community where the median […]
Posted inAccountability
Finally: Detroit with opportunity to be a player in regional water issues
For well more than a decade at Great Lakes conferences an unspoken question was, where’s Detroit? The city was conspicuously absent as the region was gathering to address common problems and use its combined clout to advocate in Washington. But that could change as Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced last September that the city was […]
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From the Headlines – Week of 3/22/21
UM divests: The University of Michigan’s Board of Regents adopted a measure Thursday to disinvest its roughly $14 billion portfolio from fossil fuels, making it the first public university to do so. Student activists had been pushing for divestment for years. The move means that the university will no longer invest in companies engaged in oil or coal extraction or […]
Posted inAccountability
DTE Energy, other Michigan utilities capture pandemic windfall
The pandemic at first seemed to present a serious threat to utilities’ bottom lines — consumption from their largest industrial and commercial consumers plummeted in March, just as millions of residential customers lost their jobs. But as utilities braced for profound revenue loss in a failing economy, something unexpected happened instead — they ended up reaping […]
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From the Headlines – Week of 3/15/2021
‘Hoodstead’: “I have yet to come across an account that highlights the realities of owning a home as a Black person in the city of Detroit,” reads a social media post from Dakarai Carter and Kamaria Gray, who recently purchased a large home in Detroit’s Osborn Neighborhood with three lots. Adapting the homesteading movement for a Detroit audience, the couple runs […]
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School siting report, Marathon consent order address concerns about pollution in schools
Between 2017 and 2020, Detroit’s Marathon Petroleum Company refinery repeatedly exceeded state and federal air quality rules and regulations. In early February, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Air Quality Division announced it had finalized a consent order with Marathon. It calls for the company to upgrade the air handling and […]
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From the Headlines – Week of March 8, 2021
Duggan’s priorities: Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan addressed a few environmental concerns in his yearly State of the City address, saying that the city has renovated 148 parks in the last five years and that 80 new busses have been added to help Detroiters get to them. Duggan made the interesting choice of highlighting a commitment by the Moroun family–who owns […]
Posted inCommunity
First five Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund grantees finalize land purchases
Willie Patmon, 86, plans to more than double his six lot farm with seven new lots on Detroit’s east side. Five of the 30 Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund grantees recently completed deals to purchase properties from the City of Detroit, ushering in what funders hope to be a major uptick in land ownership for […]
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From the Headlines – Week of March 1, 2021
Uncharted waters: Detroit’s Charter Commission proposed changes to the city charter that would affect government accountability, housing, water, and transportation. Among other measures, the commission is recommending a new water rate system and low-income fare plan for buses. “Every human being deserves true quality of life, and your historic efforts will enshrine these rights in the city’s constitution,” […]
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Planet Detroit’s first intern Jena Brooker moving on to greener environmental reporting pastures
Brooker will begin a fellowship this month with national environmental publication Grist Regular Planet Detroit contributor Jena Brooker is saying goodbye to Planet Detroit (for now). Jena will be moving on to a fellowship with Grist, an online environmental newsroom that calls itself “a beacon in the smog.” She’ll report on climate change and environmental […]