| The Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition shared the reactions below to the latest state energy legislation, which includes reopening the Palisades nuclear power plant that is dangerously located on the banks of Lake Michigan and has been purchased by Holtec, a national corporation with a poor safety track record. |
| Corporate, investor-owned utility influence in the Michigan Legislature was on full display this year, as Governor Whitmer signed energy legislation that was passed without the input of environmental justice communities and allows fossil fuel companies to continue to endanger our lives with pollution under the guise of ‘clean energy.’Our communities know better. And from the beginning, MEJC and allies were front and center, in open letters, press releases, interviews, and online with a clear message: There can be no win on climate without environmental justice.As we look to 2024 we will continue to organize and advocate as we hold our elected representatives accountable to the communities they serve, not the corporations that fund their campaigns.Here were key moments where we took our voices straight to power in 2023: |
| Our Open Letters |
| Our September 2023 open letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer where we advocated for policies that prioritized: Fair Outage Compensation:Electricity AffordabilityCampaign Finance ReformCumulative Impact Analysis Our April 2023 open letter to Michigan legislature where we advocated for: Prioritizing communities most impacted by climate change and pollution.Combatting environmental injustice and ensure healthy lives for all. Averting climate and environmental catastrophe.Stopping all fossil fuel and polluter handouts.Creating millions of good, safe, union jobs. |
| Bill Analysis: No Climate Win Without Environmental Justice! SB271 allows industries to continue to pollute our communities with fossil fuel energy sources. It sets up a clean energy standard that is totally inadequate to meet the needs of a rapidly changing climate. It also fails to include any environmental justice priority such as outage compensation, cumulative impact analysis, or any move towards breaking the monopoly of DTE and Consumers Energy. Read our full analysis on the climate bills the Michigan legislature passed this year and why we must demand our representatives do better! MEJC policy associate, Roshan Krishnan, provides an in depth walk through of our analysis of the “MI Clean Energy Future” bills. Read more from MEJC: Environmental Justice Communities Warn Against Weakening State Senate: ‘There is no climate win without Environmental Justice’ (Oct. 10) Environmental Justice Communities Disappointed with Passage of Senate Dirty Energy Bills: ‘Legislation passed by the Michigan Senate is ‘betrayal of environmental justice communities’(Oct. 27) Environmental Justice Communities Condemn DTE Rate Increase, Line 5 Approval: Twin approvals a ‘double betrayal,’ show MPSC ‘values lavish treatment from corporate polluters over the voices of Michiganders’ (Dec. 4) |
Our Kitchen Table 