The news of massive flooding and evacuation in Midland this week after the breaching of two dams is shocking…. sort of. It was also entirely predictable. That’s because Michigan has a dam problem. The state had 1,059 regulated dams in 2018, according to data from the National Inventory of Dams. Most of those (996) are […]
Posted inAccountability
DTE gets a rate increase, along with more accountability
The Michigan Public Service Commission approved a 4.7% rate increase for DTE customers last week — less than the 9% increase DTE had requested in their June 2019 filing. The decision also requires the utility to propose a system to link its performance with profits and to engage with community stakeholders in its next rate case. Increased […]
Posted inGuides
QUESTION: I’ve heard that COVID-19 is caused by 5G. What’s up with that?
Planet Detroit is pleased to participate in a collaborative journalism effort organized by Outlier Media to help answer your questions about COVID-19. You can use it for free by texting “Detroit” to 73224. QUESTION: I’ve heard that COVID-19 is caused by 5G. What’s up with that? What is 5G? 5G is the newest (fifth-generation) cellular network that […]
Posted inAccountability
Detroit’s Eastside faces ‘two nightmares’ of flooding and COVID-19
Scripps Street on April 3. Photo by Brian Allnutt. On Scripps street in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers Neighborhood, Blake Grannum, 36, has been nervously watching the canal that links her backyard to the Detroit River. She has lived in this house her entire life and has experienced floods before, but this doesn’t make her any less […]
Posted inAccountability
As EPA suspends enforcement, EGLE moves forward with air pollution permits, offers ‘regulatory flexibility’
Theresa Landrum’s neighborhood in the shadow of the Marathon Oil Refinery. Photo courtesy Landrum. Theresa Landrum’s neighborhood in the 48217 zip code is surrounded by polluters like AK Steel and Marathon Petroleum. She says that her community is dealing not only with the rapid spread of the coronavirus, but also a high prevalence of underlying conditions such as […]
Posted inAccountability
Water organizers rush to deliver bottled water to Detroit residents as COVID-19 spreads
Water activists Debra Taylor and Monica Lewis-Patrick instruct volunteers on water delivery protocols on March 21, 2020, at St. Peter’s Episcopal church in Corktown. Photo by Brian Allnutt. On Saturday morning on March 21, around a dozen volunteers wearing gloves and masks were helping unload an Absopure water truck at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in […]
Posted inAccountability
Why the 2020 Census has a big impact on environmental justice in Detroit
In 1982, a landfill was built in a predominantly African American county in North Carolina to bury PCB-laden soil from the majority-white city of Raleigh. The residents in the area responded with massive protests and it became the first time in US history where people were jailed trying to stop a landfill. Although the protestors ultimately […]
Posted inAccountability
Now is it a water emergency?
By CO2 2020/2019 413.05 / 413.37 ppm <<–www.co2.earth/daily-co2 Share Planet Detroit Newsletter METRO DETROIT Washing hands requires water Last week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declined to declare an emergency around Detroit’s water shutoffs, which affected 23,500 customers last year, citing “insufficient data” proving the shutoffs posed a public health risk. Whitmer’s position was backed up by the Detroit […]
Posted inSolutions
These Black environmental activists are leading the way in Detroit
When Detroit environmental activist Charity Hicks passed away in 2014, the loss of her presence was palpable among the local environmental justice activist community. Hicks was counted on to set the tone of gatherings, often invoking the spirits of African ancestors. At the inaugural meeting of the Great Lakes Commons in 2012, Hicks said, “I felt the tension of […]
Posted inGuides
Getting the most out of your ‘COVID Victory Garden’
As COVID-19 forces people to stay home and perhaps look for productive ways to use their time, interest in gardening has grown alongside other pandemic homesteading staples like baking bread and raising chickens. Publications like the New York Times have highlighted the return of the ‘Victory Garden’ as the Garden Resource Program — which provides seeds and transplants (or starter plants) to residents of Detroit, Hamtramck, […]