Ecology Center

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At the Ecology Center

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March 2002

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Features

Is Harding Covering Up for Dow?
Gregory V. Button

For a Clean and Safe Detroit: Close the Country's Largest Incinerator
Mary Beth Doyle and Brad Van Guilder

Westland Activist Cheryl Graunstadt
Monica Heger

Columns

Letters to the Editor

Book Review
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles ... Bikes and Ferries, Too
Gregory V. Button reviews Jim Motavalli's "Breaking Gridlock"

Science for the People
ADHD Levels May Be Higher; PCBs and Infant Development; Men With PCBs Likely to Father Boys; Flame Retardant in the Environment

At the Ecology Center
Annual Meeting; Profile of Jeff Gearhart; New Website; Open Space Zoning Conference; Hybrid Car and Fuel Cell Announcements

Events

Wish List

Recycle Ann Arbor
Calculating Your Eco Footprint

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“Outstanding Environmentalists” Honored at Annual Meeting of the Ecology Center

Our annual meeting this year was held January 27 at Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Even though it was one of the most beautiful weekend days of the winter, we had a large turnout. Board President Margaret Weber honored board members Julie Griess, Jeannine Palms, and Mary Schroer for their contributions as their terms end and welcomed new board members Mary LaFrance, Alma Lowry, and Mike Wallad.

Also honored were Outstanding Environmentalists of the Year Karen Kavanaugh, Brian McKenna, and the Milan Area Concerned Citizens. In the words of Ecology Center Director Michael Gar€eld, the award recipients were chosen for their “exceptional efforts to protect the environment and the health and well-being of Michigan residents.”

Karen Kavanaugh

Planning director for the Southwest Detroit Business Association for almost two years, Karen Kavanaugh is co-chair of Communities for a Better Rail Alternative, a coalition of nearly 50 organizations and 800 individuals €ghting to stop the Michigan Department of Transportation’s planned expansion of Junction Rail Yard in Southwest Detroit. An outgrowth of NAFTA-based trade liberalization, the proposal would destroy occupied homes and local businesses in several neighborhoods and increase local truck traf€c by eight times over what it is now. She has led a powerful neighborhood movement to confront state of€cials, their consultants, and the railroad companies in public forums and private meetings.

Brian McKenna

For three years, Brian McKenna worked for the Ingham County Health Department, researching environmental health problems in the county. When his €nal report identi€ed serious health problems, county of€cials suppressed the report. Last year, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility published his report on its national website. As a result of Brian’s persistence and courage, the county’s attempt to cover up important health data was exposed. Brian continues to bring important issues in the Lansing area to light through his column in the alternative weekly newspaper, City Pulse.

Milan Area Concerned Citizens

In the Milan area, MACC successfully stopped General Motors and the Ann Arbor Railroad from constructing what would have been one of the country’s largest rail/car yards to store new vehicles before distribution. The project would have destroyed thousands of acres of the area’s €nest farmland. Members of MACC have also worked with other Milan-area environmental groups to address major groundwater, air pollution, and land preservation problems there. Aretta Schils accepted the award on behalf of MACC.

Jeff Surfus

Since 1997, Jeff Surfus, of Dexter, has led Michigan activists in opposing the shipment of waste into Michigan from Toronto, other parts of Canada, and other states. He has almost single-handedly raised the pro€le of this issue, and has successfully pressured City of Toronto of€cials to adopt a plan to create what would be North America’s best recycling program.

The awards ceremony was followed by presentations from two experts on alternative energy. The €rst speaker, Harvey Wasserman, is well known as senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. His most recent book is The Last Energy War: The Battle Over Utility Deregulation (Seven Stories Press, 2000). He spoke about the need for alternative energy and the dangers of nuclear power especially in light of world events since 9/11.

Harvey was followed by Steve Smiley, head of a 20-year old energy analysis €rm specializing in ef€ciency and renewable energy. His €rm provides analysis and design consulting services for wind power, passive and active solar, biogas, and other alternative energy systems. Steve drew on his considerable expertise to discuss the feasibility of wind power as a viable source of alternative energy.

Staff Profile: Jeff Gearhart

Editor’s Note: With this issue, we begin a series of pro€les of Ecology Center staff and board members. Our next issue will profile board president Margaret Weber.

Jeff Gearhart grew up on a farm in western Michigan. At the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, he earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and a master’s in environmental advocacy. During his undergraduate years, he developed a strong commitment to social change issues, a commitment still central to his life and work.

After Jeff completed his studies, he moved to Iowa, where he gained valuable experience working with local farmers as a community organizer. Next, he worked on housing issues in southwest Michigan. He returned to Ann Arbor in 1994 and continued working on low-income housing & homelessness issues.

Jeff has been working with the Ecology Center since 1996. He currently directs our Auto Project Campaign, but, like all the staff, he does much more than his title implies. Along with Charles Grif€th, Jeff co-coordinates the national Clean Car Campaign (CCC), including maintaining the campaign’s website; he has primarily responsibility for the redesign of the Center’s new website as well. In addition to these tasks, he assists community members on a number of technical issues relating to air quality.

Currently, Jeff is very involved in the CCC’s mercury cleanup campaign and the controversy surrounding the proposed GM plant in East Lansing. In these campaigns, Jeff assumes many roles: community organizer, “lawyer,” environmentalist, and “engineer.” Peers around the state recognize his competence in technical areas such as permit process analysis, especially as it applies to toxic emissions and air pollution.

Ecology Center Director Michael Gar€eld gives Jeff principle credit for winning major air quality improvements at the Ford Rouge complex in Dearborn, the Holcim cement plant in Dundee, a General Motors plant in Lansing, and at other facilities. Says Michael, “Jeff works tirelessly with local, state and federal bureaucrats and community members to €ght what ares often odorous, invisible pollutants.” As the letter below testi€es, Jeff is keenly appreciated by community members with whom he works. This appreciation is matched by that of his fellow workers, who view his contributions as invaluable to the Center’s mission.

Check Out Our New Website!

Be sure and check out our new website: www.ecocenter.org, where you can do several new things. For example, you can make online donations to the Ecology Center with one push of the button through Helping.Org.

You can also check out our latest press releases and read up-to-date information on our current campaigns. For instance, now you can read for yourself the redacted FOIA documents on the MDEQ’s dioxin policy mentioned in this issue’s feature article.

There has never been a better, quicker way to find out what we are up to and how to become involved. You can now place yourself on our email alert list and take direct action on our campaigns just by going to our website.

The website will enable us to be in closer contact with our members and environmentalists around the state. In part, it will serve as our electronic newsletter. (Because of the time needed to produce, print, and mail From the Ground Up, it is difficult to rely solely on our newsletter to get you the latest information on an issue in a timely manner.)

Now we have another way of staying in touch. We like to think of it as the electronic part of our two-pronged communication campaign to stay in touch with our members. So keep in touch and turn to us on the web for the very latest information affecting you and your community.

Ecology Center Holds Workshop on Open Space Zoning

On January 30, more than 50 elected officials and planning commissioners from all parts of Washtenaw County braved the worst storm of winter to participate in an Ecology Center-sponsored workshop on open space zoning ordinances. Organized as a followup to our land use conference last fall, the event took on added importance in December after Governor Engler signed bipartisan legislation requiring townships to enact open space ordinances this year.

Although such ordinances can differ in the details, open space zoning (also known as conservation design) generally allows more houses on a site than traditional zoning. However, it requires that the houses be clustered and the site’s natural, undeveloped areas protected with a permanent conservation easement.

Open space zoning preserves natural areas while allowing developers to build more houses. Because the homes are clustered, each one’s cost for infrastructure (sewer service, electric lines, etc.) is lower than in traditional new subdivisions. And the nearby natural areas is a major selling point. For all these reasons, homebuilders often support open space zoning. That’s the case in our state: the Michigan Home Builders Association supported the recently enacted state legislation, as did environmental organizations such as the Michigan Environmental Council.

The January workshop featured Hamburg Township Supervisor Howard Dillman, Ann Arbor Township Trustee John Allison, and two home builders who’ve made extensive use of the technique: Bill Collins of Wexford Homes and Jim Haeussler of Peters Building Company.

Dillman described Hamburg’s ten-year experience with open space zoning, which has preserved more than 1,500 acres of natural areas. He emphasized the need to develop good maintenance programs for the protected lands.

Allison described Ann Arbor Township’s efforts to draft an open space zoning ordinance. Its Natural Features Committee deliberated the proposal for more than a year before referring it to the Planning Commission, which passed it unanimously on February 4. The new ordinance gives developers a choice between ordinary ten-acre-minimum plots and clustered 1/2- to 5-acre plots that preserve 65% of a subdivision’s space.

The workshop was cosponsored by the Home Builders Association of Washtenaw County. For more information, contact Michael Garfield (734/761-3186 x104 or michaelg@ecocenter.org).

New Hybrid and Fuel Cell Announcements at Detroit Auto Show

Although the hype surrounding this year’s Detroit auto show would never suggest it, there was at least one important showing with relevance to those interested in buying a cleaner car in 2002. No, we’re not talking about GM’s new “Autonomy” fuel cell concept, conservatively projected to be ready for consumers by 2020. And no, we’re not talking about the companion announcement by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that hailed the new “Freedom CAR” fuel cell research partnership.

Rather, we’re talking about Honda’s new 50-mpg gas-electric hybrid Civic, slated for showroom floors in early April. Building on the success of the two-seat Insight, the Civic hybrid will be the first popular mass-produced hybrid. This notable step brings the appeal of hybrids even more into the mainstream. With an expected price range of around $20,000, the Civic hybrid will cost about $2,000 more than the conventional high-end models. Honda is projecting sales of about 2,000 cars a month.

Ford also repeated promises to offer a hybrid-electric version of its popular small SUV, the Escape, in 2003. DaimlerChrysler says it will offer a hybrid in 2003 as well. Toyota plans to increase sales of its Prius hybrid by 40% and sell 300,000 hybrid vehicles per year worldwide by 2005.

While these new hybrid-electric offerings are good news, “fuel economy” fleetwide stands at a 20-year low, with truck sales now outpacing cars for the first time. Without new policies to increase overall fuel economy, our progress in bringing new hybrids to market may be offset by the introduction of still more gas guzzlers. The energy debate scheduled for the U.S. Senate this month will be a key opportunity to advance new fuel economy standards and provide incentives for advanced technologies such as hybrid-electric vehicles.

The fuel cell program the Energy Department announced in January may help in the future, but it will do nothing to counter the environmental impact of 150 million new automobiles sold over the next decade. The program it replaces, the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), was also flawed, though it did at least have a performance target. During its eight-year history, the only companies to produce high-mileage hybrid vehicles for the U.S. market were ones that were excluded from the program. It is time for lawmakers, and the auto industry, to make commitments to near-term improvements in overall fuel economy.

The Clean Car Campaign is a joint project of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Ecology Center, Environmental Defense, Great Lakes United, the Michigan Environmental Council, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.