Spring/Summer 
2008 Issue

Click here for PDF
 

 

<— Back to Table of Contents

Online Archives

Commentary

Not Even Close?


June/July Issue, 2004

In your March/April 2004 issue of From the Ground Up, there was an article about landfills in Michigan in which several references were made to the Jackson County Resource Recovery Facility that were not true.

The reference in the first paragraph that incineration “has cost hundreds of millions more in taxpayer dollars” does not depict Jackson County. Only user fees, no tax dollars, have been used to repay the bonds issued for the construction of the facility.

The comment that “the incinerator has been a financial burden on Jackson County and each of its residents” again depicts that all residents are paying for the facility. Only user fees are used for the operation of the facility. It is true that the Resource Recovery Facility originally cost more than anticipated and the County entered into debt when the State of Michigan closed the operation for a year, but over the last eight years the facility has managed to reduce the deficit to a point where it is very possible that by the end of operations in 2004 the debt will be completely eliminated.

The comment that, “Jackson’s fees are expected to keep rising by several dollars per year” is in error. Over the last seven years, the tipping fees were increased in only four of those years. The 2004 tipping fees are the same as the 2003 tipping fees.

The comment that “New federal air pollution control technology requirements taking effect in 2005 are expected to cost the county another $3 million” is incorrect. The statement was taken from a draft report from a consultant. The RRF has budgeted $300,000 for 2004 and 2005 to address and complete the requirements for the new 2005 air pollution controls. That is not even close to the $3 million that you stated.

-- C.J. Taraskiewicz
-- Administrator, Jackson County

Editor’s note: While Chet Taraskiewicz is correct that Jackson County does not finance its incinerator through tax dollars, it is also true that its facility charges more to dispose garbage there than any other solid waste disposal facility in Michigan, except for the Detroit incinerator. In fact, its price is almost NINE TIMES higher than landfill prices in southeast Michigan. In addition, since every waste hauler in the county is required by law to dump trash at the incinerator, every Jackson County household and business is getting socked with outrageous fees for trash disposal. Most good fiscal conservatives would call that a hidden tax, but we’ll let you decide what to call it.

 

Greenbelt Whiplash

The editor of the Ann Arbor Observer, John Hilton, took exception to my assertions in an article in the last issue of FTGU that the Observer’s Feb. 2004 article, “The Green Machine,” “...spilled over with errors of fact” and “belonged in the magazine’s fiction section.” We invited Mr. Hilton to make his case publicly by submitting a letter to From the Ground Up, which is printed below.

After reviewing the matter, we stand by our claim that the article contained significant errors. However, I’d like to be clear that by expressing the opinion that the article “belonged in the magazine’s fiction section,” I did not mean to imply that the article was fabricated, but rather that it was one-sided. Perhaps it would have been clearer to say that it belonged in an opinion section.

-- Mike Garfield
-- Director, Ecology Center

As journalists, we understand that individuals we write about will sometimes disagree with our articles. That’s why the Ann Arbor Observer published four letters from people commenting on aspects of our February story on the “Green Machine,” including one from the Ecology Center’s Mike Garfield. So we were deeply troubled when Mike attacked our integrity in the March/April From the Ground Up, and appreciate his correction in this issue.

Mike wrote that he felt “roughed up” by the article. But it was written and published with the same commitment that more than twenty years ago sent an Observer writer out on an early recycling truck, and later won a Sierra Club award for our reporting on Gelman Sciences. Our commitment to covering environmental issues hasn’t changed since then – but the environmental movement itself has.

Twenty-five years ago, success was borrowing a pickup truck for volunteer recycling runs. Today it’s raising almost a quarter million dollars (in an effort ably staffed by Mike Garfield) to win passage of the Greenbelt. Once an outsider movement, environmentalism is now the city’s most powerful political force. And inevitably, political power involves jockeying for credit, conflicting agendas, and backstage maneuvers.

Our story tracked the Greenbelt campaign from its inception through the final round of TV ads. More importantly, it tried to highlight the choices ahead. It’s easy to agree that recycling makes sense. It’s harder to know the correct environmental response to proposals to allow denser development in already urbanized areas – including the city of Ann Arbor.

Environmentalists need to debate these questions, because the answers will shape the region’s future. We’ll continue to cover that discussion aggressively – and hope that future issues of From the Ground Up will do the same.

-- Michael Betzold and John Hilton
-- Ann Arbor Observer

Editor’s Note: From the Ground Up has covered the debate between urban redevelopment and land preservation in past issues. We even devoted an entire issue to the topic several years ago. It’s an important debate, and one that we will continue to cover.

We’re pleasantly surprised to hear that Michael Betzold and John Hilton consider environmentalism to be the most powerful political force in Ann Arbor. We think that reflects the commitment of the community, as well as the increasing sophistication of the community’s environmental organizations. And thank goodness! Ann Arbor still suffers from high levels of air pollution that violate federal safety standards, low levels of pedestrian and bicyclist transportation, and other environmental problems. We even have low rates of commercial recycling. Like land use questions, each of these matters is very complex. The Ecology Center will be working on these problems, and From the Ground Up will be covering them.

 

From the Ground Up welcomes writing and artwork from the community -- to contribute, please contact us at news@ecocenter.org or 734-761-3186.

BACK TO TOP