Democrats propose ‘Green Amendment’ to Michigan Constitution, establishing environmental rights

In celebration of Earth Day, a group of Democrats from Michigan’s House and Senate gathered at the Capitol to announce an effort to bring a “Green Amendment” to voters in November.

“Under current law, residents may petition public entities, lobby legislators and attend public hearings, but they have no legal right to demand action in so many cases, especially before pollution and degradation happens,” Sen. Sue Shink (D-Northfield Township) told reporters Wednesday.

The Michigan Green Amendment would establish pure water, clean air, a stable climate and healthy environments as inalienable rights within the state Constitution. In order to make the ballot, the bill must pass by a two-thirds vote in both the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-led House. Afterwards, the amendment would need to receive the approval of a majority of Michigan voters.

Under the state’s current regulations, Shink said companies have been legally permitted to pollute the environment provided they get a permit. She pointed to the Gelman dioxane plume in Ann Arbor as one example.

The plume, which was recently designated as a superfund site, is required to pump and treat contaminated water within the plume, but it is not required to restore the groundwater, allowing the plume to migrate and discharge into the Huron River.

“It’s unfair and unacceptable for people to have to live with the consequences of pollution that they did not create, to suffer cancer for profits in which they did not share, to struggle with asthma for corporate shareholders benefit,” Shink said. “A green amendment would have protected the people in my district a lot sooner, and would have helped so many across our state in rural and urban areas.”

With President Donald Trump’s administration rolling back environmental protections, Shink said Michigan needs to step up and make sure its citizens, lands and waterways are protected.

As low-income communities and communities of color bear the brunt of pollution, Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit), who is leading the introduction of the effort in the House, stressed the importance of protecting those communities from the cumulative impacts.

McKinney, alongside state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), introduced legislation last year to require the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to consider the full impacts of air pollution in a community when weighing environmental permits.

“You cannot breathe these toxins separately,”McKinney said. “You breathe them all together.”

While the resolutions face a tough path to the ballot through Michigan’s politically-split Legislature, Maya van Rossum, Founder of Green Amendments For the Generations noted that New York, Montana and Pennsylvania have already implemented similar amendments.

“Whether we try the legislative process time and time again, or whether we go through the petition process, what I can tell you 100% is that the people of Michigan are going to be coming back year after year after year until they secure their opportunity to vote on this right,” van Rossum said.

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This article, “Democrats propose ‘Green Amendment’ to Michigan Constitution, establishing environmental rights,” has been republished from the Michigan Advance under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.