And we’ll show you two ways to help. Together, we can be a voice for change and protect Michigan’s land, air, water, public health, and democracy.
October 15th, 2019
Governor Whitmer has made collaboration with other Midwest and Great Lakes Governors a priority in her approach on environmental issues. Issues impacting Michigan’s air, land, and water don’t stop at political borders, nor should the work to address them. Below we briefly document a set of actions demonstrating this effort:
-March 13, 2019 Governor Whitmer issued a joint statement with Ohio Governor DeWine, Wisconsin Governor Evers, Pennsylvania Governor Wolf, and Illinois Governor Pritzker opposing the Trump administration’s proposed 90 percent budget cut to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
-April 16, 2019 Governor Whitmer joined Great Lakes Governors Tom Wolf, Tim Walz, Tony Evers, and J. B. Pritzker, opposing President Trump’s April 10, 2019 executive order on Harmful Water Quality Certifications. The governors wrote to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler, that it is their responsibility to protect the Great Lakes and it’s watersheds within their boundaries, and states need the authority to certify, revoke, or revise federal permits of discharges into waters of the United States per Section 401 Clean Water Act.
-June 14, 2019 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, and Rod Phillips, Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, pledged their commitment to the goals of the Western Basin of Lake Erie Collaborative Agreement and their intention to reduce phosphorus inputs to the Western Lake Erie Basin by 40 percent by 2025, with an interim goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2020.
-On Oct. 15 Governor Whitmer led a bipartisan coalition of Great Lakes governors to protect America’s wildlife. Governors DeWine (R-OH), Evers (D-WI), Wolf (D-PA), Pritzker (D-IL), and Walz (D-MN), sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources voicing their support for the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), will help conserve and recover our nation’s fish and wildlife by dedicating $1.3 billion for state-level conservation and $97.5 million to Tribal nations to recover and sustain healthy fish and wildlife populations. The funds will be used to accelerate the recovery of the more than 12,000 species of greatest conservation need across the country by implementing the strategies identified in each state’s Congressionally-mandated State Wildlife Action Plan.