Michigan Environmental Council

10/14/2026

Join us for our next Climate Conversation on Post Election, Friday November 13th.

Join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84982011078

10/13/2026

Governor Whitmer just announced $65 million in state funding through the Infrastructure Projects Authority Fund to build, expand and restore public transportation systems across Michigan. Originating from last year’s landmark road funding plan, these investments are designed to reconnect communities that lost transit access, eliminate county-line service gaps and modernize local operations state-wide.

Alongside this funding, the state is establishing a dedicated transit and rail position within MDOT. This new leadership role will streamline multimodal transportation across state government, ensuring transit networks are better integrated, easier to navigate and built to connect Michiganders directly to essential jobs, healthcare and education.

"We’re excited to see these public transit dollars deployed that will make a real difference for real people across Michigan" says our transit policy expert, Ross Gavin. "Transportation is a major expense for families, and expanding clean, reliable options is essential to lowering household costs. Creating this dedicated transit position within MDOT shows true state leadership, and this investment moves us in the right direction toward an affordable, connected future."

Congrats to our member organizations who helped make this funding possible!

10/08/2026

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is planning to propose rolling back the 2024 Methane Rule that was designed to hold fossil fuel companies accountable by requiring them to eliminate routine flaring, replace outdated equipment with zero-polluting technology, fix leaky wells and use satellite tracking to quickly catch massive super-emitter events across all operations.

Rolling back these standards strips away vital public health protections, locking in prolonged exposure to dangerous air pollution forfrontline communities andgiving corporations a free pass to leave low-producing wells unmonitored—even though they drive half of all climate-accelerating methane emissions.

In a statement from our Energy & Climate Policy Manager, Carlee Knott shared:

"With over 13,000 oil and gas wells statewide in Michigan, many residents living nearby have been breathing in unnecessary pollution for their whole lives. This decision will greatly impact our Michigan families, who must continue to face the health effects of this pollution, such as suffering from respiratory issues and asthma. Michiganders deserve to breathe clean air and this decision moves us in the wrong direction."

10/06/2026

Last week, state leaders announced the launch of ‘Reclaim the Rivers,’ a new partnership between the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and Michigan Department of Natural Resources that will direct $89 million in proceeds from a settlement with Monsanto to address longstanding toxic contamination from PCBs across the state.

The initiative includes a major investment in the Detroit River, where $50 million will be dedicated to contaminated sediment remediation. That state funding will also position Michigan to leverage additional federal cleanup dollars, dramatically scaling the impact of the original settlement.

For generations, industrial pollution has left toxic sediment beneath portions of the Detroit River, contributing to fishing restrictions, habitat loss and poor water quality. Cleaning up that legacy contamination is a critical final hurdle in a decades-long effort to restore the river. Most recently, the Environmental Protection Agency and EGLE announced a $10 million joint cleanup effort. Both investments are crucial, given that total projected costs to fully remediate the Detroit River could cost as much as one billion dollars.

The initiative will also support continued PCB cleanup and restoration along the Kalamazoo River and other waterways impacted by these chemicals. PCBs were widely used in industrial and commercial products before being banned nationally in 1979. The chemicals persist in our environment and build up in fish and wildlife, leaving Michigan communities to contend with contamination for decades.

09/29/2026

We missed Septic Smart Week, but it's never too late to take a deep dive into Michigan's messy septics situation 🚽

Michigan’s water and public health are threatened by an estimated 3...

09/26/2026

New environmental voter resource now available 🗳️🌱

From data centers and energy affordability to PFAS and toxins in our water, environmental issues are directly on the ballot this November. Every day, Michiganders live with the real costs of bad decisions passed down to their families, homes, and communities.

Ahead of the election, our team—alongside partners Groundwork Center, Ecology Center and Huron River Watershed Council—launched The Cost of MI Vote, a comprehensive environmental voter resource.

We hope this tool gives Michiganders a practical way to evaluate candidate proposals, see past the talking points, and assess who will truly protect our communities and lower downstream costs.

🔗 Explore the resource here:

get the checklist Every decision our lawmakers make has a price tag.Right now, we are living with the costs of bad decisions that have raised our energy bills, polluted the waters where our children swim, left our homes and communities vulnerable, and put our beloved natural resources at risk. But t...

09/25/2026

Just removing PFAS from the water isn’t enough. According to Adedamola Adenekan, one of our previous PFAS research scholars, we need to focus more on fully eliminating it from the water all together.

Check out the full conversation with our leading PFAS advocates, as we close out Michigan’s first PFAS Awareness week.

🎥 https://youtu.be/B8FrQEWLAj4

09/24/2026

Every decision our lawmakers make comes with a price tag—and right now, we’re paying for it.

Higher energy bills. Polluted waters. Vulnerable communities. At-risk natural resources.

This November, we can elect leaders who actually fight downstream costs and protect our state. But making that impact starts with the upcoming primaries.

To help you vote with the environment in mind, the Environmental Council and our allies at Huron River Watershed Council, Ecology Center and Groundwork Center built a new enviro-voter resource!

Inside, you’ll find:

-A checklist for evaluating candidate plans

-Candidate voter guides

-Key issue breakdowns from trusted state outlets

Check it out in full here: https://environmentalcouncil.org/take-action/the-cost-of-mi-vote/

09/23/2026

For over a decade, ozone pollution in Detroit has consistently exceeded safe air quality standards. When pollution reaches levels this high, state regulators are legally required under the Clean Air Act to take immediate action and roll out a clear plan to clean up our air.

Yet, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) still hasn't delivered the required action plan.

Living with unaddressed ozone pollution directly fuels Detroit’s skyrocketing asthma rates, hitting our families, children and vulnerable community members the hardest. We cannot afford to let state officials ignore the air we breathe every day.

It's time to hold state regulators accountable.

➡️Take 2 minutes to send a direct message to EGLE now: Demand that they stop ignoring Detroit’s ozone crisis and enforce the clean air protections we are legally owed!

Click here to take action with Michigan Environmental Council:

For the past decade, ozone pollution in Detroit has consistently been above the air quality standard. When ozone pollution is above the air quality standard, state regulators are required to spring to action and develop plans to lower ozone pollution. But our top environmental regulator, the Michiga...

09/22/2026

PFAS—known as "forever chemicals"—persist in our environment, our water and our bodies long after they are released.

In honor of Michigan’s first-ever PFAS Awareness Week, we’re bringing you an exclusive look into how local leaders and scientists are confronting these dangerous pollutants head-on.

Join our Water Policy Director, Megan Tinsley, as she hosts an expert panel exploring the real-world impacts on our communities—from the now infamous Wolverine Worldwide contamination along the Rogue River to the policy solutions that will keep our water safe moving forward.

Watch the roundtable here: https://youtu.be/B8FrQEWLAj4