Founded in 1970, the Ecology Center serves one purpose: protecting healthy people and a healthy planet. We believe that the central question of our time is how human beings are going to thrive in the world without destroying the earth's ability to sustain us. This can only be achieved with your support.
Non-partisan groups ask lawmakers to prioritize funding for clean transportation, whole home retrofits, clean energy law implementation
LANSING, Mich. – Today, on Earth Day, a coalition of non-partisan Michigan groups asked lawmakers to harness the state budget to make critical investments to protect our air, land and water for the future of our state.
The coalition highlighted priority investments for more affordable energy, clean buildings, clean mobility and transportation, along with implementing the state’s historic 100% clean energy standard.
“We must improve the quality, safety and affordability of existing attainable and low-income housing so it is free of pollutants, residents are staying warm through the winters and homes are resilient to the effects we’re experiencing here in Michigan due to climate change,” said Carlee Knott, Energy and Climate Policy Coordinator for the Michigan Environmental Council. “Weatherization and energy efficiency puts money back into people’s pockets, saving on monthly utility bills. With high inflation, this is a golden opportunity to lower costs for families and protect our air, land and water.”
“Converting state and municipal fleet vehicles to cleaner fuels, along with upgrading our infrastructure to support them, is critically important to reducing the emissions from the transportation sector in our communities,” said Jane McCurry, Executive Director for Clean Fuels Michigan. “With the global shift toward clean and advanced mobility, Michigan must continue to lead in this pivotal moment.”
"The historic clean energy legislation that passed last year must be matched with investments in the state budget," said Derrell Slaughter, Michigan Policy Director, Climate and Energy at NRDC. “The funding will empower the public service commission to efficiently and equitably transition to renewable and other clean energy sources, ensuring all Michiganders fully benefit.”
“It is critical to maintain and improve local buses in communities across Michigan – because let’s face it – not everyone can drive or afford a car, and we all need reliable ways of getting to work, doctor’s appointments, school and more,” said Megan Owens, Executive Director for Transportation Riders United. “This investment will make it easier for more Michiganders to use clean, healthy, affordable alternatives to driving, as both the MI Healthy Climate Plan and the Growing Michigan Together Council said we need.”
“The Michigan budget is a reflection of how we view our state and what we prioritize,” said Chris Semrinec, State Government Affairs Manager for Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “That is why it’s so critical for Michigan lawmakers to support Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget recommendations in these areas and the additional priorities we’ve laid out here today.”
“Transportation is now higher than any other sector driving climate change and is a leading source of pollution causing asthma and other health impacts,” said Charles Griffith, Director of Climate and Energy Program for the Ecology Center. “A Michigan Vehicle Rebate Program that incentivizes zero-emission vehicles for those who need it most would go a long way toward making EVs more accessible to all Michiganders.”
The comprehensive budget asks included:
Michigan’s 100% clean energy standard
$6 million to hire 30 full-time employees to the Michigan Public Service Commission
Clean Buildings
$100 million in whole home retrofits to cover needed investments in low-income housing for weatherization, minor home repair, safety upgrades, toxin remediation, adding energy efficient electric appliances, installation of roof-top solar and residential battery back-up systems
Optimize the 15% Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program allocation to the Weatherization Assistance Program
Support and expand energy efficiency and building electrification workforce development across the state with $30 million in state and federal funds
Clean mobility and transportation
$50 million to provide grants to municipalities, transit authorities and ports to replace medium and heavy-duty fleet vehicles with emission-free alternatives such as EVs
$2 million for the state of Michigan to transition to electric vehicles
$65 million in funding to build out the state’s EV charging infrastructure in under-invested locations
$120 million in the budget for the Michigan Department of Transportation
$60 million for Local Bus Operating
$30 million for rail operations and infrastructure
$30 million for the Transportation Alternatives Program
A new report from the Ecology Center and partners points to the urgency of increased public awareness and education on Oscoda’s beaches
With twenty miles of sandy beaches, thousands of acres of wetlands and wildlife reserves, and renowned trout fishing on the Au Sable River, Oscoda, Michigan, is a beloved destination for summer vacationers. Tragically, within this watery haven lies a tragic, toxic secret: PFAS contamination.
For beach lovers, the news is even more grim. The shores of Oscoda can be full of lake foam, and some of this foam may be toxic. Surface water foam can contain up to 5,000 times greater concentrations of PFAS than the surrounding water. And without ample monitoring or public advisories to avoid the Lake Huron foam, people may be unwittingly exposed to toxic PFAS.
To address this urgent concern, Need Our Water (NOW), the Ecology Center, and the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center developed a community-based monitoring project. Oscoda community members collected lakeshore foam for analysis to better understand the scale of the contamination and use the data to advocate for stronger state regulations and awareness.
Between 2022 and 2023 , NOW volunteers collected foam samples in four different areas along Lake Huron near Oscoda. All four samples contained PFAS, though Tawas Point State Park had the highest concentrations at 7,900 ppt. PFOS and PFUnA were found in every sample, among others.
Based on the results, the community and environmental partners developed two recommendations to protect the health of residents and visitors. First, the group is asking Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to develop health-protective policies for Lake Huron foam. These include publicly available test data, foam advisories on Lake Huron, and increased public education. They are also asking for permanent signage on Lake Huron’s high-use beaches and shorelines to educate the public on visual indications of PFAS foam and alert them about the dangers of touching it.
"Since 2017 we've noticed significant foam events on Lake Huron. Repeatedly we asked EGLE to test the foam for PFAS and they repeatedly refused. We felt gaslighted when they told us the foam was a “natural” type of foam, so we tested the foam ourselves. We found there is nothing natural about the PFAS foam in Lake Huron." - Cathy Wusterbarth, NOW Co-Leader and member of Great Lakes PFAS Action Network
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of thousands of chemicals widely used in manufacturing and consumer products. PFOS and PFOA were phased out but continue to pollute our environment, along with newer PFAS.
EGLE first detected PFAS in the groundwater and water bodies in Oscoda in 2010. They issued “Do Not Eat” advisories for fish and wildlife, and warned residents not to touch the shaving cream-like foam oozing up on the shores of Van Etten Lake, which borders the contaminated Wurtsmith Air Force Base. However, EGLE declined to conduct more extensive testing or monitoring of foam on Lake Huron, noting the state has no standard for surface water foam.
The community grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of state action being taken to monitor and address PFAS pollution on Lake Huron. In 2017, Oscoda residents formed the grassroots group Need Our Water (NOW) to engage residents in fighting for clean water and protecting wildlife and human health. In 2021, NOW joined the Ecology Center, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters to form the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network (GLPAN). This community-driven coalition has developed community-based science monitoring projects for PFAS and a series of policy recommendations for elected officials to turn off the tap on PFAS pollution.
Community members and fellow advocates concerned about PFAS pollution can get involved with the GLPAN. View the website to learn about our policy recommendations, and sign up for the newsletter to learn about upcoming events and ways to get involved.
Michigan PSC Approves Rate Increase, Calls for Measurable Improvements on Grid Equity
Lansing, MI – On Friday, March 1st, 2024, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) released its final decision in the Consumers Energy 2024 rate case. In its decision, the MPSC approved a rate increase of just over $92 million, less than half of Consumers Energy’s originally requested $216 million. The MPSC approved a return on equity of 9.9% and rate of return of 5.86%.
The Clean Energy Organizations (CEOs), consisting of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Ecology Center, Vote Solar, and Union of Concerned Scientists commend the Commission’s mandate for measurable grid equity assessments, and summaries of environmental justice and equity considerations in future rate cases. However, the CEOs advocate for further addressing affordability by shifting focus to return on equity, which remains at 9.9%, one of the highest return on equities in the Midwest.
One of the key decisions of the case is the Commission’s directive for the Company to perform innovative energy justice and reliability analyses in future rate cases as recommended by the CEO and MPSC staff. These analyses, similarly required by the MPSC’s decision in DTE’s 2023 rate case, offer an improved approach to understanding grid equity within the utilities’ service territory. The methods include the use of regression analysis, a tool used in social science that can aid understanding and assessment of how utility reliability performance affects customers differently.
The Commission also directed the Company to file a comprehensive transportation electrification plan later this year as part of its ongoing electric vehicle programs, in addition to other analyses of EV charging loads to evaluate whether current rate structures are appropriate for different types of charging infrastructure. The transportation electrification plan will need to evaluate the costs and benefits to the Company of increased EV adoption, which will help to determine how much spending on infrastructure might be warranted to help facilitate a transition to EVs.
Other important additions to future rate cases include more detailed environmental justice analyses on community vulnerability, facilitating access to GIS system data, and mandating engagement with local communities and stakeholders in distribution grid planning. These measures will allow the MPSC, stakeholders, and the public to better evaluate utility proposals in future rate cases on critical topics such as environmental justice, grid equity, and reliability.
Will Kenworthy, Midwest Regulatory Director at Vote Solar, said:
“All customers, regardless of where they live, deserve safe, reliable, and affordable electric service. The Commission’s action today adopts important recommendations regarding the advancement of grid equity. The analysis of reliability in environmental justice communities requires an apples-to-apples comparison that takes into account differences around the type of grid that serves each community. This analysis will help Consumers Energy to plan their investments and operations in a way that ensures that grid modernization and reliability improvements serve all customers equitably.”
Daniel Abrams, Associate Attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said:
“CEO applauds the steps the Commission took today to advance environmental justice and grid equity in Michigan. In particular, we welcome the Commision’s directive to track the impact of spending on low-income customers.”
James Gignac, Midwest Senior Policy Manager at Union of Concerned Scientists, said:
“Under today’s order, the MPSC is demonstrating its ongoing commitment to require utilities to better integrate data and analysis of how their electric grid plans and investment proposals can serve customers more equitably. Based on the expert testimony in this case, the Commission ordered a robust set of measures aimed at improving the safety, reliability, and security of electric service for all customers, including lower-income households and medically vulnerable customers.”
Charles Griffith, Climate and Energy Program Director at the Ecology Center, said:
“With transportation now a leading source of emissions in the state and country, it is imperative that our utilities engage in planning to ensure our grid is prepared for the EV transition, and that their investments help to speed up that transition rather than slow it down. We applaud the Commission for ordering a comprehensive transportation electrification plan be completed early this summer, along with additional analyses of consumer EV charging use to ensure the Company has the right programs and rate structures in place to encourage a transition to clean, electric transportation.”
Ecology Center Environmental Health Advocate Melissa Cooper Sargent and Research Director Jeff Gearhart worked with our Detroit partners and U-M School of Public Health to complete a study of the impacts of a scrap metal processor in southwest Detroit. These types of facilities, which generate fugitive dust (and the truck traffic associated with them), significantly impact the quality of life and health of nearby neighborhoods.
The study found iron in road dust and sediment samples at levels above national public health guidelines near the Fort Iron and Metal scrap yard, as well as other metals and contaminants.
A new video series uplifts community leaders calling for better processes to protect human health and the environment
“When Michigan’s regulators monitor pollution right now, they look at industries separately. They monitor pollution from Ford separately from the steel mill, separately from the slag company,” said Samra’a Luqman, Concerned Residents for South Dearborn, in the From Air Pollution to Solutions video series. “But that’s not how our families experience it. We get exposed to all the stuff, all together, all at once. And that’s how regulators should measure the harm that is being done to us.”
In a new video series uplifting impacted community members' voices, Samra’a calls on elected officials to implement a cumulative impact policy, a proposed regulatory shift to better protect the health of people living in communities overburdened by pollution. The policy, which can be implemented on the municipal or state level, requires environmental regulators to assess allsources of pollution, as well as factors that make a community more vulnerable to pollution, when determining pollution impact or siting a new facility. These policies can help prevent additional pollution burdens from harming a community and reverse the disproportionate impacts of legacy pollution on disadvantaged communities.
Recent studies have shown Black Americans are exposed to more pollution from every type of source, including industry, agriculture, and transportation, than white Americans. Detroiters and other southeast Michiganders suffer more from poor air quality and higher rates of asthma than other Michigan communities. Residents are exposed to elevated levels of pollutants from many sources, including a wide range of industrial facilities and vehicular traffic.
In response, for more than a decade, environmental justice leaders in Michigan have been advocating for cumulative impact policies to halt the harm. The Ecology Center supports these efforts and our partner organizations who lead the charge on these vital policies.
Produced by Clear the Air, a coalition of organizations working for clean air in Detroit and Wayne County. Rooted in the conviction that breathing healthy air is a basic human right, Clear the Air partners are working together to advance policies that protect that right.
MPSC clean energy implementation, weatherization, clean mobility amongst highlights
Lansing, Mich. – As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer laid out her state budget priorities today, a diverse coalition of nonprofit organizations advocated for the inclusion of funding for the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to implement the 100% clean energy standard by 2040, along with investments in home energy efficiency and clean vehicle fleets and urged the Legislature to support them.
As Michigan is now a national leader in clean energy, the groups said funding for the MPSC is key in implementing the new laws.
“The Michigan Public Service Commission is positioned to advance energy justice and affordability by holding the utilities accountable in reaching the 100% clean energy standard,” said John Freeman, executive director of the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. “Fully funding the commission will ensure Michigan retains its position as a national leader while helping to address the reliability of our grid so Michigan families and small businesses are finally free from paying the highest electric rates in the Midwest for poor service. We appreciate Gov. Whitmer for including this funding in her budget proposal.”
The governor’s budget also lays out ways Michigan can take full advantage of federal funding available for energy efficiency and renewable energy through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
This includes $1.4 billion to build or rehabilitate almost 10,000 homes across Michigan so there is more affordable and energy efficient housing available.
“The majority of Michigan’s housing lacks energy efficient upgrades and insulation that would truly help residents save money every month,” said Alexis Bizman, legislative and policy director for the Ecology Center. “Investing in whole-home retrofits will improve our housing stock and allow people to live in safer and more comfortable homes. The governor’s inclusion of $1.4 billion for this type of work is vital to our state.”
In her budget presentation, the governor called on the Legislature to provide support for a number of Clean Mobility initiatives, including those for electric vehicles and EV charging infrastructure.
“Gov. Whitmer has been a strong supporter of our Clean Mobility sector, and her proposed vehicle purchase rebates, Clean Fleet, and EV charging infrastructure programs would continue to benefit Michigan’s economy, environment and our residents health in the transition to electric vehicles and cleaner transportation,” said Jane McCurry, executive director of Clean Fuels Michigan. “Clean mobility is critical to the future of Michigan, which is why it’s great to see more than $100 million included in this year’s budget proposal. We urge lawmakers to support these provisions as they finalize the budget in the coming months, and look forward to further refining the proposals to ensure they maximize environmental benefits and help those most in need.”
The groups plan to work with legislators and policymakers and ask them to provide more robust funding for local public transit, which the governor’s budget did not include.
“The Growing Michigan Together report and MI Healthy Climate Plan both said expanding transit is essential. We’re disappointed that the Governor’s budget doesn’t provide the increased transit investments Michigan needs,” said Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United. “We are working with the newly-formed Transit Legislative Caucus and other lawmakers to ensure local public transit gets the support it deserves so all Michiganders can get to work, doctors, grocery stores, and elsewhere, even if they don’t drive.”
How the Ecology Center's work on sustainable, accountable government procurement policies reduces toxic chemicals from entering the environment, supports communities, and addresses climate change.
When the government goes shopping, the shopping bags are big. And when governments purchase clean products that have been responsibly sourced and do not contain harmful chemicals, they can play a major role in reducing GHG emissions and toxic waste, thus protecting our health, our communities, and the environment.
You might do this already: Choose local apples over those that have traveled thousands of miles. Buy things with reusable or recyclable packaging. Or even invest your retirement account in environmentally or socially responsible funds. Collectively, responsible spending makes a big difference. For example, a recent study from Harvard University found that after safer furniture was purchased, levels of toxic chemicals in interior dust decreased, reducing occupants' exposure.
We understand the impact purchasing can have on social change, which is why the Ecology Center and our partners have targeted some of the biggest purchasers of all – governments – as an intervention point. In Fiscal Year 2022, agencies of the United States federal government spent $259 billion buying products. State and local governments spend a great deal on procurement, too–about $1.3 trillion each year. On the shopping list are pens, staplers, computers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, construction materials, furnishings, vehicles, medical devices, playground equipment, carpet and flooring, and more.
In the last few years, our hard work on sustainable procurement has been paying off.
Our first win was in the Ecology Center’s hometown of Ann Arbor. In 2019, we worked with the City to create a sustainable procurement policy explicitly listing PFAS and other hazardous chemicals to avoid in city purchasing. This policy has been a model for other small- and mid-sized cities looking to create non-toxic purchasing policies.
Though our focus has been helping Great Lakes communities transition to sustainable purchasing, we share our lessons learned with any interested municipality. That’s how we helped Anchorage, AK, and Providence, RI, pass resolutions to move their sustainable procurement policies forward in 2020. We continue working with cities across the region, including the cities of Dayton and Toledo, OH, and Toronto, Canada to help implement sustainable purchasing practices.
We formalized our work with cities regionally through the Great Lakes Climate Adaptation Network (GLCAN) procurement group, an information-sharing peer network for sustainable purchasing. Through the network, municipal employees, university faculty and staff, and environmental health experts share knowledge and support each other as they work to implement sustainable purchasing in their communities.
For example, in 2022, we helped the City of Lansing create a model equitable, non-toxic, and climate-friendly procurement policy. The policy bans purchasing products containing PFAS, phthalates, and single-use plastics, and outlines climate-friendly and equitable purchasing guidelines. In addition, the policy encourages seeking out minority-owned, locally-owned, small businesses, and unionized vendors, as well as those using fair labor practices.
"The Ecology Center and GLCAN provide much-needed information and resources that helped Lansing adopt an effective green purchasing policy," said Lori Welch, Sustainability Manager for the City of Lansing – Public Service Department. "Their continued support is helping to ensure City employees are prepared to procure goods and services that are safer and more sustainable."
At the state level, we worked with Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, a community-driven advocacy group, to successfully advocate for Michigan to sign the first PFAS-free procurement policy in the nation. This groundbreaking executive directive, signed into law in October 2021, directed state purchasers to avoid all products containing every type of PFAS. Many other states are following suit, including Maine, New York, and Colorado.
Also, in 2021, the Biden Administration released an improved framework for assessing the environmental performance standards for federal purchasing. In addition to outlining an ambitious path to achieving net-zero emissions from federal procurement, the plan also advises avoiding products containing PFAS. For example, furniture, cutlery, dishware, containers, insulation, paint, carpet and flooring, adhesives, cleaning solutions, dishwasher detergents, soaps, and many other products contain the compounds. Due to the policy, the government will no longer purchase any of this stuff if they’re laced with PFAS. Not only will that reduce individual exposure to hazardous chemicals, but it will also encourage manufacturers to stop using PFAS altogether if they want to sell to the government.
The Ecology Center helped advocate for the executive order. We also worked with national partners and PFAS-impacted community members to provide comments and resources on how the government should implement the order. Additionally, we have provided guidance, tools, and suggestions to analysts helping the Department of Defense figure out how to comply with their new PFAS-free procurement mandates.
Most recently, we developed a modular powerpoint presentation to help sustainability and purchasing staff make the case for sustainable purchasing to decision-makers (such as mayors, councils, and administrators), created a sustainable purchasing training program for municipal staff, and developed a series of fact sheets covering high volume product categories for municipal purchasers. We are currently developing guidance to embed sustainable purchasing in Zero Waste and Climate plans.
If you are interested in helping your local government adopt a sustainable purchasing policy, the Ecology Center and our partners have many resources available on the Ecology Center website. We welcome municipalities and institutions to join us as we continue to advance sustainable procurement efforts across the Great Lakes and the country.
Non-toxic camp tents? Such will be the case in Michigan by February, thanks to a new bill signed into law last November, removing an outdated fire standard requiring manufacturers to treat tent material with toxic flame retardants.
The new law will remove one of the last remaining roadblocks to assuring all tents in the US are produced without flame retardants. Michigan was one of six states (California, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York) with antiquated 1970s-era standards still on the books. In 2023, Michigan joined California in successfully reforming these laws to pave the way for non-toxic tents to be available nationally.
The previous standard was a holdover from when tents were made of wax- or oil-coated cotton. Decades later, tents are now made of much different material. Studies have shown flame retardants do little to reduce flammability but produce toxic fumes when burned.
The Ecology Center has been working to remove unnecessary flame retardants from stuff and the material economy for many decades. Most flame retardants are not strongly bound to the material they are applied to, so they easily migrate out and become airborne via dust. Flame retardants bioaccumulate within the body and can disrupt hormone function and cause cancer.
Michigan State Senator Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) introduced the policy change in early 2023.
"We know that the [previous] requirements don't make lightweight tents significantly more fire resistant, and we know that the chemicals used to meet the old standard are harmful to people and wildlife," said Sen. Irwin in a press release in May 2023. "You should be able to go camping in Pure Michigan without being exposed to persistent, bioaccumulative poisons."
The Ecology Center applauds this important step in protecting Michiganders from unnecessary exposures to hazardous flame retardants, though there are still many sources of these chemicals in commonly-used products. Still, this bill marks an important achievement in removing toxic chemicals from the products we use.
Above: Bunyan Bryant receiving the Ecology Center’s annual award for environmental activism, 2008, presented by staffers Jeff Gearhart, Tracey Easthope, Charles Griffith, and Mike Garfield, all former students of Dr. Bryant.
“Looking back, I can see that my story was an unpredictable one. Yet I also know that I am far from unique. There are millions of Black youngsters who come from humble backgrounds who need to be nurtured and mentored as I was. Like them, I suffered from a lack of opportunities and the persistent impact of racism. I made it onto the right path with the help of some good fortune…Along the way, I was encouraged by both Blacks and whites who wanted me to succeed.”
– Bunyan Bryant, Jr.
Last year, Bunyan Bryant, Jr. published, “Educator and Activist: My Life and Times in the Quest for Environmental Justice,” a vivid narrative of his life journey from growing up in a poor neighborhood in Arkansas to becoming a world-renowned pioneer in environmental justice. As a former board member, professor to many staff, and a founder of the national environmental justice movement, Bunyan was a spark that helped ignite the Ecology Center’s 53-year legacy in environmental activism. To celebrate the release of his most recent book and his impact on our organization, we wanted to reflect on the remarkable ways in which he influenced our work, and the world.
As a professor at the University of Michigan, Bunyan participated in the very first Teach-In on the Environment in March 1970, which led to the national teach-in we now recognize as Earth Day and the formation of the Ecology Center.
He served as a board member during the early 1970s, soon after the Ecology Center’s formation. But more profoundly, Bunyan’s influence is deeply embedded in the fabric of the Ecology Center through his role as mentor, teacher, and collaborator with most of the long-term staff at the Ecology Center. Current and former staff members working to address environmental justice, air pollution, climate change, and toxics in consumer goods and the environment were students of Bunyan, or worked on projects with Bunyan.
Bunyan believes in empowerment education – that students can and should direct their own learning, follow their interests and passions, and see themselves as full actors in the world, with the ability and agency to both see what is around them and change things for the better. That thinking helped shape the Ecology Center’s approach to environmental advocacy and justice. Communities should be full participants in the decisions that affect them. As an organization fighting for change, the Ecology Center believes we must fight alongside those most impacted, guided by their agenda and their needs.
Bunyan Bryant, colleagues, and students at the Michigan Conference on Race and Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time for Discourse, the first academic conference of mainly Black scholars to discuss the disproportionate effects of environmental hazards on marginalized populations.
Photo from Educator and Activist: My Life and Times in the Quest for Environmental Justice by Bunyan Bryant Jr. Published 2022 by Rivertowns Books. Courtesy of the publisher.
Bunyan’s influence on our organization dates back to the first executive director of the Ecology Center, Mike Schechtman.
Mike recalled Bunyan’s outstanding first impression. As part of the hiring process to become faculty for the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment (then called the School of Natural Resources [SNR], now called the School for Environment and Sustainability [SEAS]), Bunyan delivered a lecture, “The Myth of Value Free Research.”
Noted Mike:
“Bunyan’s lecture was hugely attended – especially by SNR faculty members who prided themselves on the caliber of their research methodologies and publications. Bunyan highlighted how everyone brings their worldview to their research, the lens of their own race, class, and ethnicity that frames how issues are identified and defined. This influences choices regarding data to be gathered, audiences to be engaged, voices to be heard, and literature to be reviewed. It was a mind-blowing lecture with people talking intensively in the following days.
Needless to say, Bunyan received the faculty appointment, and that summer, Bunyan and Jim Crowfoot began the development of SNR’s Environmental Advocacy Program.”
By his own admission, in his memoir, “Educator and Activist: My Life and Times in the Quest for Environmental Justice,” Bunyan had not been interested in the environment. Writes Bunyan, “I knew nothing about natural resources or the environment, nor was I interested in these topics.” However, his transition to this new environmental advocacy program at the University of Michigan fundamentally shifted the environmental movement and greatly impacted the Ecology Center’s work and legacy.
Bunyan was educated as a social worker and started his career as a youth counselor at the Fresh Air Camp, a treatment and research program for severely traumatized children. He later worked as a social worker at Michigan Children’s Institute. He quickly noticed the discrepancies in treatment between white and Black children and took action to address these differences.
After experiencing housing discrimination, he helped advocate for a fair housing ordinance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of the first such ordinances in the state. He later became an advocate with the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE), a racial justice organization that emerged from his work on fair housing. He also participated in the Guild House Campus Ministry, an ecumenical Christian organization at U-M that provided space for students, faculty, and staff to raise questions about discriminatory policies.
In 1970, Bunyan participated in the Teach-In on the Environment, a vanguard event in environmental activism that precipitated a national movement of ecological stewardship along with a sweeping set of federal policy laws passed to better preserve the environment. The teach-in also caused a prompt increase in student interest in environmentalism, particularly around the intersection of environment and social justice.
The high demand for education led to the formation of U-M’s Environmental Advocacy Program, and in 1972, the university asked Bunyan if he would join the new school’s faculty. He accepted and, alongside Jim Crowfoot, Bill Stapp, and Peter Sandman, built the Environmental Advocacy Program program that continues today, renamed the Environmental Justice Program in 1990. Unbeknownst to him then, he would also help inspire a global movement, hundreds of U-M students, local, state, federal, and national governments, resident activists, grassroots movements, non-profit organizations, and the Ecology Center staff.
The first and, for a time, only Black professor at the School of Natural Resources, Bunyan found himself marginalized. There, though poorly resourced, the school left him alone, and he found himself able to do what he liked and shape the program as he thought necessary to teach students how to organize communities around environmental issues.
And shape it, he did. Bunyan taught creatively, bringing his students on mini-retreats, environmental justice tours, and field trips, practicing role-playing and small discussions in his classrooms, and empowering students to apply their unique worldviews to problem-solving and critical thinking. With his long-time collaborator Paul Mohai, he hosted the Michigan Conference on Race and Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time for Discourse, the first academic conference of mainly Black scholars to discuss the disproportionate effects of environmental hazards on marginalized populations, from which a seminal book of the same name was published, featuring the work of the conference presenters. The group’s work encouraged the EPA to address environmental justice and form the Environmental Equity Work Group in 1992.
A portrait of Bunyan Bryant. Photo from Educator and Activist: My Life and Times in the Quest for Environmental Justice by Bunyan Bryant Jr. Published 2022 by Rivertowns Books. Courtesy of the publisher.
Tracey Easthope, the Ecology Center’s senior strategist, attended one of the program’s first events which introduced the idea of environmental justice.
“As an academic, he was a spark. But at the center of it, he emanated this beautiful, accepting, calming, loving spirit,” said Tracey. “He was so welcoming, so generous to everyone and so nonjudgmental. He really believed in students, and you could feel it. He respected students immensely, and believed in their power and agency and idealism - and he supported us in real world projects to address injustice. He believed young people could change the world, so we believed it too.”
The Ecology Center’s Director, Mike Garfield, recalled, “I was Bunyan’s student in the early 1980s. He was unlike any teacher or professor I’d ever had and left an indelible impression. He found remarkable ways to prepare us to take on powerful economic and political forces, and make real change in the world. He inspired his students to stand proudly and humbly in the struggle for justice.”
Bunyan Bryant was indeed a light illuminating the path of countless activists, communities, and movements, both here in Michigan and across the globe, toward a brighter, more equitable future. The creativity and inventiveness that he applied in his pedagogy inspired his students to believe they could change the world and he equipped them with the tools to do so. An example of this is the inspiration he had on the Ecology Center. His work touches everything we have done and everything we do. His impact is a testament to the divinity of bringing your whole self to your work, including the parts society may have marginalized you for, and knowing these qualities are an asset, not a detriment.
Bunyan explains it best in his 2022 memoir on his life of activism and the legacy he has given to so many of us:
“I didn’t choose this. It chose me… I believe those eloquent words speak for most of us in the environmental justice movement. As I look back on my life and work, I can see that I didn’t become an environmental advocate, researcher, educator, activist, and mentor because of some well-thought-out career path… It happened because of the challenges I faced as a Black male in a society that puts barriers in the path of Black males – barriers that made me ask tough questions about my place in the world, and drove me to work harder than I otherwise might have to overcome the roadblocks in the way.”
We are endlessly grateful for Bunyan’s work and impact on our organization. Thank you, Bunyan, for your lifelong dedication to environmental justice and your steadfast commitment to always being a teacher, reminding each of us of our own power to make the world more just, and of the importance of lifting others up to be their own advocates for justice.
Michigan Public Service Commission approves business as usual on spending and return on equity, but orders the Company to broaden consideration of energy justice in its business process, and expands innovative electric bus procurement model and low-income EV rebates
Lansing, MI– On Friday, December 1, 2023, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) released its final order in utility giant DTE Electric Company’s 2023 rate case. In its order, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a rate increase of $368 million, a little more than half of DTE’s requested $619 million.
The Clean Energy Organizations (CEOs) – the Ecology Center, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Vote Solar, and Union of Concerned Scientists – are disappointed that the Commission authorized such a significant rate increase for DTE which will raise residential rates by roughly 6.38% while also holding one of the highest return on equities in the Midwest at 9.9%. The Commission sent the message to the Company that bottom quartile performance was worthy of a continued rich reward through its return on equity.
Despite the CEO disappointment regarding some of the top line issues in the cases, there were at least three notable positives that came out of the Commission order that related directly to the important advocacy work of the Clean Energy Organizations.
First, the Commission ordered the Company to perform important energy justice and reliability analyses in future rate cases as recommended by the CEO and MPSC staff. Among these important additions to future rate cases are: more detailed environmental justice analysis on community vulnerability, better data on customer interruptions, better availability of GIS data, and climate resiliency planning in future distribution grid plans.
James Gignac, Midwest Senior Policy Manager at Union of Concerned Scientists, said:
“Under today’s order, DTE will be required to provide important information going forward on how its grid planning affects environmental justice communities. Based on expert testimony and recommendations of MPSC Staff, DTE will now need to be more transparent and better assess how vulnerable customers experience the costs and benefits of DTE’s electricity system.”
Second, and relatedly, the Commission ordered the Company to use a robust method for understanding the differential reliability experience of customers in environmental justice communities in future grid plans. This recommendation was spurred by the excellent testimony of Vote Solar’s Boratha Tan, Midwest Regulatory Manager, and Will Kenworthy, who demonstrated the important relationship between duration of outages and race, income, and population density.
Will Kenworthy, Midwest Regulatory Director at Vote Solar, said:
“In our testimony, the CEOs demonstrated that there are clear and meaningful differences in reliability experiences of customers in environmental justice communities. The Commission adopted many of our recommendations to understand existing disparities and to address them through improved, more transparent, and robust planning processes. We were particularly pleased that the Commission singled out our innovative approach to using regression analysis to more accurately understand the relationship between equity and reliability.”
Third, the Commission approved the expansion of the Company’s eFleet battery pilot into a permanent program. This program allows the utility to finance the upfront costs of electric batteries for buses for school districts and transit authorities who may not be able to afford these high costs. This will benefit all Michiganders by spurring electrification and taking dirty diesel engines off the road.
Charles Griffith, Climate and Energy Program Director at the Ecology Center, said:
“We’re pleased the Commission’s Order approved the Company’s eFleet battery program as well as low-income EV purchase rebates. However, it could have gone further to approve other pilots that would provide more equitable access to charging infrastructure, such as the proposed Community Chargers program. While a rebate program will help low-income households afford the purchase of an EV, without a place to charge them, EVs will remain unattainable for many.”
The Commission also acknowledged the need to improve transparency in the Company’s distribution system planning process, including more thorough, robust, and transparent application of the Company’s Global Prioritization model. While it declined to require contested cases in the distribution grid plans, the Commission admonished DTE to lend serious consideration to incorporating Staff and stakeholder feedback into its distribution plan process.
Going forward, the CEO will continue to engage across the many dockets which these issues of equity and justice in electrical regulation are considered. While we are heartened by the positive steps taken by the Commission today, we remain committed to achieving grid equity and creating a just and equitable clean energy transition.
