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News
Michigan Takes a Stand Against Lead
in Children’s Products
By Mike Shriberg
In a major victory for the Ecology Center, our partners in the Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health (MNCEH), and for parents and children across the state, Governor Granholm signed a series of bills that limit lead in children’s products just prior to the holidays. The protection comes amid public furor over recalls of children’s toys because of high lead levels and just weeks after the Ecology Center, the MNCEH, and partner organizations launched HealthyToys.org, the first consumer action guide to toxic chemicals in toys. The new Michigan standards protect children from high lead levels in products including toys, childcare articles, lunchboxes, and children’s jewelry.
The state action is necessary because of the virtual lack of any federal regulation to protect children from toxics. According to The New York Times, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) only has one full-time person to test all toys that are imported into the country. Moreover, existing federal laws on lead apply only to lead levels in paint while the Michigan laws apply to lead in any component of a product.
There is no safe level of lead exposure for children, and there is no need for lead in children’s products. Lead is a dangerous neurotoxicant that can permanently damage the brains, internal organs, and nervous systems of children. Michigan has the 6th highest rate of childhood lead poisoning in the nation. The Michigan bills (SB 174, HB 4132 & 4399) outlaw the sale or manufacture of toys and childcare articles, jewelry, or lunchboxes that contain lead at levels above 600 parts per million (ppm).
House Bill HB 4936, which reconstitutes the Michigan Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Control Commission, also became law as part of this package of bills. This bill requires the Lead Commission, by March 31, 2008, to assess the 600-ppm standard for children’s products and determine if it is protective enough for Michigan’s children. This is significant because while these bills are a useful first step, health experts say a truly protective limit must be lower; 600 ppm is merely the standard used for recalls by the CPSC for lead in paint. This level fails to account for newer research on the hazards that lead poses even at very low levels. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently recommended that children’s products should contain no more than 40 ppm of lead.
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Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, co-sponsored a “Take Your Kids’ Toys to Work Day” for Michigan Legislators with the Ecology Center. Rep. Barb Byrum, D-Lansing, attended. |
The Ecology Center and the MNCEH were critical in shaping these bills through testimony, legislative outreach, and activating our vast network of grassroots supporters. We will continue these efforts to ensure that the lead thresholds get lowered to the one recommended by the AAP.
Of course, lead in toys is but one example of hazards from toxics that face Michigan’s children. While these bills represent a step forward, they are only the first of several steps needed to truly protect children from a wide array of toxics in products.
For more information about the efforts of the Ecology Center and its partners to protect Michigan’s children from toxic chemicals, visit www.ecocenter.org or www.mnceh.org.
Mike Shriberg is Policy Director for the Ecology Center.
back to topNew Year Brings Clean Energy Victory!
Ecology Center Plays Role in Historic Passage of New Fuel Economy Standards
By Monica Patel
The Ecology Center celebrated a major clean energy victory just before the holidays when Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, providing the first new increase in vehicle fuel economy in over 32 years. The Ecology Center was a leader in helping find ways to break the impasse between tough new standards and concerns over potential economic impacts on Detroit’s Big 3. In 2005, the Ecology Center launched the Green Machines Tour to call attention to the need for both stronger standards and investments in the nation’s largest manufacturing industry. The new Energy Independence and Security Act helps to accomplish just that.
For example, the new fuel economy provisions require automakers to meet an industry-wide average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for cars and light trucks — about a 40% increase — while also adding protections to keep the production of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles in the U.S. In addition, Congress authorized up to $25 billion in loan guarantees to help domestic automakers retool their factories to build new fuel-saving vehicles and components. Moreover, the Energy Independence Act provides funding to encourage the development of next generation electric-drive vehicles in America.
Energy Bill HighlightsVehicle mileage: Green jobs: Renewable fuels: Light bulbs and appliances: Green federal buildings: Geothermal power: |
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 Congressman John Dingell |
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The landmark legislation was in part made possible when a compromise was reached between Michigan’s senior Congressman, John Dingell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The new language provided more flexibility and support for domestic manufacturers than an earlier Senate version, while also maintaining, and even strengthening, the requirements for the 35-mpg target. The UAW also played an important role in bringing the two sides together, insisting that both strong environmental goals and economic progress could be achieved at the same time. Even the auto companies endorsed the final package, acknowledging that the additional flexibility would help them meet the tough new standards.
The legislation also sets new standards for the use of advanced biofuels and energy efficiency in buildings and appliances. It requires an increase in the total amount of biofuels sold (both ethanol and biodiesel) to 36 billion gallons by 2022 (from 4.7 billion gallons in 2007). Of this 36 billion, at least 21 billion gallons must come from advanced (non corn-based) sources that provide significant climate benefits. The new lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction standards, for the first time ever, will require that all biofuels provide some level of greenhouse gas reductions, while also mandating that land-use changes be considered, and safeguards for sensitive land be put in place. If carefully implemented, the renewable fuel provisions in the bill will encourage the most efficient use of land for producing the fuels to meet the Renewable Fuel Standards.
The law will also boost America’s clean energy economy with its two key provisions that improve the energy efficiency of buildings and industry across America and provide $125 million annually to support training for “green-collar” jobs and prepare low-income workers for emerging opportunities in the clean energy economy. On the negative side, the Senate removed House-passed provisions that would have required utility companies to produce a certain amount of energy from renewable sources, and would have eliminated $21.8 billion in tax subsidies for oil companies that would have funded incentive plans for alternative technologies. These and other new requirements to mandate greenhouse gas emission limits for all industry sectors will have to be taken up when Congress returns to business this year.
One of the next steps for the Ecology Center and the Green Machines Tour will be to work at the state level to encourage more climate-friendly policies — in particular, a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). While the new Renewable Fuels Standards require a certain percentage of new fuels be made from renewable sources, LCFS would ensure a specific reduction in fuel-related greenhouse gas emissions by setting a target for the carbon-content of fuels sold. The LCFS would thus promote lower-carbon bio-energy, not just more of it.
“The new fuel economy rules are a game-changer for the auto industry, a major step toward both protecting the climate system and ensuring a more competitive industry in the era of $100-a-barrel oil,” stated Charles Griffith, Clean Car Campaign Director for the Ecology Center. “Now it’s time to make sure that other industries, like the utilities, do their share to reduce energy use and emissions of greenhouse gases.”
Sign up to receive all the latest information and updates from the Green Machines Tour by visiting: www.greenmachinestour.org/list.shtml.
Monica Patel is Research Analyst and Advocate for the Ecology Center’s Clean Car Campaign.
What People Are Saying
The Apollo Alliance hailed the passage of the Energy bill as “a major milestone on America’s path to a clean energy economy.”
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said, “UAW members want to save fuel and protect the environment — and we also want to preserve good-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs. The new CAFE [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] rules accomplish all of these objectives.”
Karen Wayland, legislative director at the Natural Resources Defense Council: “We handed Congress an ambitious agenda for clean energy at the beginning of this year, and this bill represents real progress in achieving cleaner cars, fuels, and appliances. We will continue to fight for the rest of our clean energy agenda when Congress returns, starting first with incentives for renewable electricity.”
‘Apollo’s Fire’
Don’t forget to check out Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks’ book, “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy,” which features the Ecology Center’s Green Machines Tour in its chapter about the Future Automobile (available at the Ecology Center online bookstore). The authors argue, citing examples of numerous current technological solutions, that the Apollo space project is a good model of the type of innovation possible in the field of clean energy. Former President Bill Clinton described the book as, “true to America’s competitive spirit, but it is capitalism with a conscience.” In April 2005, when he was Executive Director of the Apollo Alliance, Bracken Hendricks keynoted the Annual Meeting of the Ecology Center, which is active in the Michigan Apollo Alliance, a statewide coalition of labor, environmental and community organizations working for a clean energy economy.
Governor Takes ‘Critical Step’
Toward Environmental Justice
By Ted Sylvester
For the people of Southwest Detroit, the concept of environmental justice in state government cannot become a reality soon enough. Home to Michigan’s only oil refinery, three steel mills, one of the largest sewage/sludge incinerators in the U.S., the city’s water treatment plant, a salt mine, and the Ford Rouge Complex, the community hosts more than its share of the region’s polluting facilities. It also suffers from more than its share of their deleterious effects.
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U.S. Steel’s Zug Island complex dominates the landscape of Southwest Detroit’s Del Ray neighborhood. Photo: Lex Bozek |
For these people, and others in similar communities around the state, mostly poor, mostly black and Latino, Governor Jennifer Granholm’s recently signed Executive Directive Promoting Environmental Justice represents the best hope for relief from pollution related burdens no single community should be forced to bear.
The governor’s directive, signed on Nov. 21, 2007, explicitly recognizes that “state government has an obligation to advance policies that foster environmental justice, social well-being, and economic progress,” and charges the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to “develop and implement a state environmental justice plan to promote environmental justice in Michigan.”
“‘Environmental justice,’” according to the document, “means the fair, non-discriminatory treatment and meaningful involvement of Michigan residents regarding the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies by this state.”
For environmental justice activists around the state, including Ecology Center community organizer Brad van Guilder, the governor’s directive is a critical step forward. Optimistically, says van Guilder, it could mean that residents of places like Southwest Detroit will have a new weapon to fight the excessive pollution that is part of their daily lives.
Currently, a facility is granted a permit from the state on its own merits, based on whether or not it will pollute within acceptable levels. “Up to now the state has largely looked at every facility individually as if no other facilities existed,” says van Guilder. The governor’s directive, if fully implemented, could require the state to consider whether siting a facility would place a “disproportionate negative impact” on a community. The concept is at the heart of environmental justice, says van Guilder. It forces the state and industry to consider upfront the cumulative impact that existing polluting facilities already have on a community when assessing the environmental impact of a proposed facility.
“With that in mind,” says van Guilder, “applying environmental justice standards to a project should be a positive tool for industry to work with in building sustainable business practices that reflect economic, environmental and social justice concerns.”
Environmental justice activists have for years advocated for such a change to state policy. The Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, which includes the Ecology Center, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ), the Sierra Club, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), the Sugar Law Center, the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC), and many others, was formed over a decade ago, during the reign of Gov. John Engler, a virulent opponent of environmental justice principles. The MEJC, in turn, created the Campaign for State Action on Environmental Justice (CSAEJ) to advance the idea that the state should seek to prevent any group of people, and particularly any group identifiable by race, color, national origin, or income, from having to bear a disproportionate share of negative environmental consequences.
“Applying environmental justice standards to a project should be a positive tool for industry to work with in building sustainable business practices that reflect economic, environmental and social justice concerns.” Ecology Center community organizer Brad van Guilder |
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The concept for the governor's environmental justice directive is the direct result of years of grassroots campaigning by CSAEJ and others in the state, while the language of the document is largely derived from the MDEQ's Environmental Advisory Council’s (EAC) February 2006, “Recommendations for an Environmental Justice Policy for Michigan.” That document was created from a deliberative process that officially began in May 2005, when EAC, a group of representatives from business, industry, local government, academia, and the environmental community, began a series of public meetings to consider environmental justice policy. The meetings involved presentations by experts and discussions, and included directors of various state agencies and representatives of citizen organizations concerned with environmental justice.
While EAC’s recommendations amounted to a draft of the executive directive, they actually reflected the essence of an October 2004, “Executive Order” draft for “State Actions to Address Environmental Justice In Minority and Low-Income Populations,” which was written by activist and attorney, Tom Stephens, who presented the document to MDEQ Director Steven Chester in December 2004.
The history of the executive directive is notable, van Guilder points out, because the document signed by the governor lacks what many environmental justice advocates consider key provisions. For example, the 2004 draft and EAC’s 2006 recommendations both included a call for the creation of an inter-agency working group to pursue the planning, implementation, and enforcement of environmental justice policy in the state. Instead, the governor put the responsibility solely in the hands of the MDEQ, which is the state’s most under-funded agency.
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The domed building houses People’s Community Services, one of the few social service agencies in Southwest Detroit’s Del Ray neighborhood. Photo: Melissa Sutton |
Also included in preliminary drafts, but lacking from the governor’s final directive, is a direct resident petition process for affected communities, a mechanism that would have guaranteed meaningful citizen involvement in state deliberations, another pillar of the environmental justice concept.
Despite these shortcomings, environmental justice activists are appreciative of the governor’s actions and hopeful for a successful outcome. The directive calls for the MDEQ to establish an environmental justice working group of state officials and members of the public and to make a report on its progress by July 1, 2008.
“It will be very important in the coming months,” says van Guilder, “for citizens and activist organizations to pressure the MDEQ for a thorough implementation of the governor’s directive. Bringing environmental justice into the workings of state government will not only improve the quality of life for people in communities like Southwest Detroit, it will actually benefit all residents of a region, including those living in places like Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, who are breathing much the same polluted air despite being miles from its concentrated source.”
L I N K S:
- Executive Directive No. 2007-23, Promoting Environmental Justice.
- Recommendations of the MDEQ EAC on Environmental Justice (pdf).
- State Actions to Address Environmental Justice In Minority and Low-Income Populations, Proposed Executive Order (pdf).
The Cranky Consumer
Step Away From the Vintage Vespa!
By Brigit Macomber
So being a good enviro, you’ve made your New Year’s resolution to use less energy this year. Of course cutting down on gasoline consumption, for example, seems like a great way to do that. Ergo, anything that gets better mileage than your auto, say 60 or more miles to the gallon, must be a good choice right? Wrong! And for God’s sake, don’t answer that ad for the cool vintage Vespa.
Scooters, mainstays of overseas commuting and increasingly popular in this country, are mostly powered with 2-stroke engines. I won’t go into a technical explanation (I recommend an internet search for fun moving diagrams). But 2-stroke design limitations require that oil be mixed with every gallon of gas. Of this noxious mix, about 30% doesn’t even combust and gets spewed as hydrocarbons into the environment (thus the oily sheen in the wake of 2-stroke boat motors).
Hydrocarbons, one of which is benzene, a known carcinogen, react with nitrogen oxides and sunlight to form ozone, the main ingredient in smog. Ozone damages lungs and aggravates respiratory problems. Two-stroke scooters emit 10-20 times the amount of hydrocarbons per mile as the average car.
The remaining 2-stroke exhaust contains carbon monoxide (the reason you shouldn’t run any combustion engine in a closed garage) at about 7 times the amount that a car puts out per mile. There’s also nitrogen oxides (which helps to create smog), and carbon dioxide (which is the “greenhouse gas” causing the largest contribution to global warming). Vehicle emissions are estimated to produce 14% of this gas annually. Carbon dioxide is the one area where scooters outperform most cars mile-for-mile because CO2 output is tied to miles per gallon. But let me finish before you rush out to buy that scooter.
I should add here that 2-strokes power a huge number of snowmobiles, boats, ATVs, leaf blowers, chainsaws, and lawn mowers. Their infamous polluting qualities are behind the attempt to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone, the actual ban of 2-stroke boat motors from some lakes, and finally, after years of industry resistance, a focus on regulating them into compliance or out of existence.
This is the rare case where more may be less. Four-stroke engines do not require oil and gas mixing, and have much lower emissions and 30-50% better fuel efficiency than traditional 2-strokes. |
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There will be many sad aficionados who love the power and whine that comes from the 2-stroke hedonistic use of resources. I for one wish there was an open season on them during which I could take out our neighborhood leaf blowers with ground-to-ground missiles (note to self: better check the emissions on those.)
To be fair, there have been recent technological advances, such as fuel injection systems for 2-strokes, which improve their performance. But these are hard to find even on new machines. Granted, you’re not likely to put the 12K miles/year on a scooter that most people put on their cars. But when you take into account that 2-stroke scooter emissions are many times worse than the average auto, and like auto emissions, they get exhausted directly into the communities we live and breath in, they hardly seem worth it. But don’t give up on that New Years’ resolution just yet.
This is the rare case where more may be less. Four-stroke engines do not require oil and gas mixing, and have much lower emissions and 30-50% better fuel efficiency than traditional 2-strokes. It is now possible to get a 4-stroke engine in just about any piece of powered equipment. An added benefit is that they last longer. The disadvantages of 4-strokes, such as larger size and weight, are being successfully reduced now that 2-stroke regulations are providing incentives for design improvements.
Two-strokes are also a rare case where disposal is better than reuse. Generally speaking, any older machine with a 2-stroke engine should be retired. The older the truer, as 2-stroke engines wear out quickly and pollute more with age. And remember, if you’re still reluctant to spend money on new equipment, it’s probably you or a family member in the middle of that noxious blue cloud of particulates and pollution trailing your old leaf blower or lawn mower.
When shopping for machines, look for electrically powered ones that will do the job (and no, I’m not going to give you the lecture about never using powered recreational machines anytime ever; you can imagine that part). True, power plants emit pollution too, but it is considered to be less overall than so-called mobile sources such as vehicles and power equipment. They are also regularly monitored and regulated for emissions and aren’t usually right in your yard (a topic for another time). Better yet, recharge those batteries with solar panels like our energy guy, David Wright, does with his lawnmower (also a topic for another time).
If the power of a gas engine is needed, do buy a 4-stroke powered machine, preferably one with fuel injection and a catalytic converter. Also, buy a new one — to take advantage of recent improvements. Shop carefully for the most efficient and least polluting ones you can find. And when Uncle Vinnie generously offers you his old 2-stroke leaf blower, do take it, and dispose of it immediately so he doesn’t sell it to some unsuspecting neighbor of yours, or mine.
Brigit Macomber is Finance Manager for the Ecology Center.
back to topIntroducing Monica Patel
By Lauren Darmanin
Living near the Ecology Center as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Monica Patel always wondered what was inside. “I knew from the outside that it was a nonprofit environmental organization,” said Monica, “but I didn’t know the depth of programs or issues the Ecology Center worked on.”
Monica went on to law school in Portland, Oregon, where she was assigned to research environmental justice issues for a class. Surprisingly, the Ecology Center’s name consistently surfaced in her online searches for environmental justice topics in the Midwest. Of particular interest to her was Lead-Free Wheels, a project of the Ecology Center’s Clean Car Campaign.
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Monica & Ian
(fiance') at Columbia Gorge |
“Lead wheel weights create an interesting issue for a number of reasons,” Monica said. “First of all, they are used to balance vehicle tires and fall off surprisingly often. From the roadside, they break down and, among other things, contaminate neighboring groundwater. There are a number of comparable alternatives that don’t pose an environmental health risk, but the problem is so pervasive that it’s going to be difficult to resolve so late in the overall timeline.”
This further fueled her interest in the Ecology Center, and in November she became the new Research Analyst and Advocate for the Auto Project, researching auto industry developments and policy ideas. In this position, Monica will be using her law background to add a legal perspective to the Clean Car Campaign and the Green Machines Tour project.
In her spare time, Monica works with the Agrarian Adventure, a nonprofit organization currently based at Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor, where she is a board member. “This is a great organization that works with schools to connect students with food, health, community, and agriculture,” said Monica. “We work on a wide range of projects — from having events where students harvest, prepare and serve the vegetables they have helped grow to promoting the use of locally grown foods in school cafeterias. We also try to integrate food and garden-related lessons into school curriculum, and have developed an after-school program where students learn about organic gardening, food preparation, and activism.”
Monica is originally from Morton Grove, Illinois, and enjoys watercolor painting and going to the Michigan Theater as often as possible. An area outside her own projects that interests her is the Ecology Center’s land preservation campaign, “particularly empowering local communities to acquire land or development rights.” When asked what people should do to help protect the environment, her advice to consumers was to “shop local and use canvas bags whenever possible.”
Lauren Darmanin is an Ecology Center work-study intern.
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EcoLink — February 2008
An online publication of the Ecology Center
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