OCCHIPINTI: A conservation agenda for Michigans governor

Conservation issues are one area where the governor and state legislators could bring Michiganders back together.

Michiganders are in love with their state. We love our Great Lakes, dunes, forests, rivers, fields and inland lakes. Our sense of identity is tied to our favorite natural places. With that spirit in mind, here are few issues that together would constitute a strong conservation agenda, grow the economy, and unite Michiganders behind a shared sense of place and love for Michigans outdoors.

(1) Increase recycling, reduce littering and waste. Michiganders pay to bury and burn an estimated $435 million of recyclable materials every year, and then we pay to manage landfills after theyre closed. We recycle only about 14.5 percent of our solid waste stream, and only 25 of Michigans 83 counties have convenient access to recycling. The governor wants all Michiganders to gain access to recycling by 2018 and for Michigan to double its recycling rate to about 30 percent. That would represent a significant achievement and would represent a great start. Michigan should shoot to match or surpass high-performing states like Missouri, California, Washington and Oregon, which recycle 50 percent of their solid waste.

(2) Improve local infrastructure and water quality. Leaky septic tanks, municipal and agricultural stormwater runoff, and combined, overflowing and degraded sewer systems are just a few of the major infrastructure issues plaguing Michigans water quality. These problems reached a very visible climax last summer as algal blooms in Lake Erie grew so bad that citizens in Canada and Ohio, including the City of Toledo, were instructed not to drink or recreate in the water. Agricultural phosphorous is the likely culprit in that case, but nutrient sources and stormwater pollution precipitate from cities and suburbs as well.

(3) Learn more about micro-plastics and marine debris in the Great Lakes. An emerging water quality issue that would draw broad, statewide support is reducing marine debris and micro-plastics in the Great Lakes. A recent study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin revealed tiny plastic particles floating throughout the surface water of the Great Lakes, and early evidence points to its consumption by fish. Right now, there are more questions than answers. How does plastic enter the Great Lakes? What types of plastic products are of greatest concern? How does it move around? To what extent does it naturally degrade and what ecological harms does it pose? Michigan has an opportunity to take regional leadership on this issue. Working with local and regional stakeholders, NOAA has outlined a Marine Debris Action Plan for the Great Lakes. With minimal investment, the state could help fund scientific research outlined in this plan to fill critical knowledge gaps. The governor can also support and collaborate with planning efforts coordinating policy and programming responses to prevent and reduce marine debris.

(4) Increase utilization of clean, renewable and efficient energy. Energy efficiency is the cleanest, cheapest and most quickly deployed source of energy available to Michiganders. Everyone from the Christian Coalition to the Sierra Club to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agrees. In fact, the chamber wrote a letter to President Obama and Congress saying, The best source of new energy is the energy we can save every day. We must expand the suite of voluntary programs, mandates and fiscal incentives for greater benefits of energy efficiency. The governor agrees, calling energy efficiency the best example of a no-regrets policy Michigan can have. It makes (energy) more reliable, more affordable and protects our environment. According to the Michigan Public Service Commission, the cost of energy efficiency is about $11 per megawatt-hour. For context, the price of new coal is estimated at $107 per megawatt-hour, and renewables average about $78 per megawatt-hour in Michigan. Unfortunately, Michigans renewable energy and energy-efficiency laws are set to lose their punch as they plateau in 2015. The laws were enacted with bipartisan support in 2008, and there is bipartisan support to extend and strengthen them. Accomplishing this will bring leaders and citizens together in forging a clean, affordable and reliable energy future for Michigan.

(5) Protect and restore public lands and natural spaces. The DNR recently awarded Deer Habitat Improvement Grants for projects designed to produce tangible deer habitat improvement. The DNR knows that deer and herd health improve with more and higher quality habitat. Hunters complain of increasingly limited quality habitat for game species a stunning development given Michigans once mighty forests and natural spaces. Of course, its not just game species that are suffering. Michigans natural areas and public lands are under pressure from climate change, exotic species, sprawling development, mineral, oil and gas, and timber extraction.

Extractive interests represent a real economic good for many Michiganders, but these uses must be balanced with hunting, fishing, recreational and ecosystem services. The DNRs Public Land Management Strategy recognizes that public lands play a critical role in providing ecosystem goods and services such as air pollution removal, water quality protection and storm water management.

And the strategy cites an analysis from the State of New York that, for every $1 invested in securing public ownership of lands, $7 was returned in goods and services. Unfortunately, the strategy does not offer a concrete strategy for incorporating these values into decision-making.

Its easy to understand how much revenue a barrel of oil generates; its much more difficult to value the damages avoided by flood water retention of the local wetland but that value isnt any less real. Elected officials and citizens alike need to better understand these economic values, and the state needs tools to evaluate and include them. The governor should work to establish administrative processes that quantify the value that ecosystem services in order to more fairly weigh and balance them with other uses.

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OCCHIPINTI: A conservation agenda for Michigans governor