By Margrethe Kearney and Kate Madigan -

Four expert witnesses just weighed in with the Michigan Public Service Commission about whether Enbridge should be allowed to build an oil tunnel beneath the Great Lakes. They used climate data to study the project’s environmental impact, a first under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. 

Making Sure Michigan Has a Strong Climate Plan

Michigan can and should be a leader in solving the climate crisis to prevent the climate impacts we're now seeing from getting much worse. Yet the state's draft climate plan released in mid-January doesn't get us where we need to be to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. We need a plan that reflects the urgency that science demands - and we have less than a month to fix it. 

Along with leading climate organizations and hundreds of Michigan citizens, we have called on the state to urge they craft a stronger MI Healthy Climate Plan. 

Over 800 of you added your name to our letter, calling for a bolder and more equitable plan. The draft plan is now being reworked to take into account your comments and suggestions and is set to reach the governor's desk for final approval by Earth Day 2022.

Background Information

The science is clear that to avoid climate impacts - like the flooding of our homes and the wildfires out west - from getting much worse, we must reduce global climate emissions to zero by 2050, and cut emissions 50% by 2030.¹ This means moving rapidly off fossil fuels. Not only will this slow climate impacts, but climate solutions like more efficient homes, electric vehicles, and solar power create jobs and make healthier communities in the process.

In 2020, Michigan became one of the leading states in taking climate action when Governor Whitmer committed our state to be carbon neutral by 2050 with an executive order and directive.

This means all energy sources in Michigan will be powered by zero-carbon sources, including electricity, buildings, and transportation.

These goals are ambitious, but necessary, and achievable if we immediately get to work. 

Michigan Needs a Strong Action Plan

For the past year the State of Michigan, the Council on Climate Solutions, and five Workgroups have been working to develop the plan detailing how we can achieve these goals. This is the most ambitious undertaking in Michigan to address the climate crisis and it is critical that we get it right. 

The draft plan was just released and it does not get us to where we need to be. We now have until March 14th to fix it. 

More than 400 people signed onto our letter in December 2021, outlining what needs to be included in a strong climate plan. Now, we're collecting signatures to tell the state they need to edit the draft plan in specific, science-backed ways.

We need strong public comment right now to make sure the MI Healthy Climate Plan is as strong as possible so we can reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which science tells us is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. 

How Can Michigan Achieve Carbon Neutrality?

According to modeling by Rocky Mountain Institute, for Michigan to limit warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, by 2030 we must: 

• Reduce transportation sector emissions by 35-40% relative to 2005 levels,
• Reduce electricity generation emissions by 90% relative to 2005 levels, 
• And reduce building sector emissions by 50% relative to 2005 levels.

In short, to reach our 2050 goals we must make major changes very soon. Those changes should focus on efforts to decarbonize our electricity and electrify everything. We have the technology now to decarbonize our power sector and decarbonizing other sectors depends on achieving zero-carbon power generation. Currently, less than 15% of Michigan's electricity comes from renewable sources.

Sources:

[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC 1.5C Report: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/

[2] Carbon offsets can lead to increased pollution in frontline communities, double counting and increasing climate emissions overall, and other problems. There are some limited ways to truly offset carbon emissions, and those must be designed well and reserved for the most difficult sectors to decarbonize. See this comprehensive article from Vox.

Governor Whitmer, along with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Attorney General Dana Nessel, have revoked the easement that allowed Enbridge to operate Line 5 in the Great Lakes. This is historic. If ultimately successful, this would be the first time an operating pipeline has ever been shut down.

It is rare that a politician has the guts to stand up to the most powerful industry on the planet. Please join us in thanking Governor Gretchen Whitmer for taking a politically risky stance on behalf of all Michiganders, and for doing what must be done to protect future generations.

We'll send your name and comments as a thank you card.

The need for justice is urgent. Everywhere we look we see the compounding effects of racism in our culture and our policies. The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of over 500,000 people in our country, with a quarter of those lives lost being Black Americans – a number that is disproportionately high because of environmental injustice, social injustice, and racism.

Communities of color are experiencing greater impacts from climate change like flooding and heatwaves, greater harm from the pollution from the burning of fossil fuels that is causing life-threatening conditions like severe asthma and cancer, and disproportionately high deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. The climate crisis, environmental justice crisis, and health crisis are racial injustice crises that are all connected and rooted in systemic injustice.

We cannot solve the climate crisis without addressing the systemic racism and oppression that continues to plague our culture, our history, and our laws. The Michigan Climate Action Network is committed to building a racially diverse network, supporting BIPOC-led movements and frontline communities, making sure people of color and those most impacted are at the table where decisions are made, and to making justice and equity central to our work.

As part of MiCAN's journey to become a more just, diverse, and inclusive network, at our 2017 annual meeting we adopted the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. These principles were created in 1996 during a meeting hosted by the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice "with the intention of hammering out common misunderstandings between participants from different cultures, politics, and organizations." Each principle has an important description that you can read in the full document. 

       Image: Kentucky Interfaith Power & Light

Thank you for taking action and standing up for climate protection.

The Michigan Climate Action Network (MICAN) is a rapidly growing group of organizations, businesses, and individuals that have come together to prevent the worst effects of a changing climate in Michigan. To us, there is nothing more important than working toward solutions that reduce greenhouse gases to promote a livable planet, protect our beautiful state, and allow us to participate in the coming clean energy economy.

Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts through the end of 2017 will be matched! Your $25 becomes $50, your $100 becomes $200.

Payments are PayPal processed on behalf of MICAN by Michigan Environmental Council.

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