[CPEO-BIF] Michigan Fund-Shift Editorial

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Cleanup conflict: Funds-shifting adds to voters' distrust of government
State plan to grab money from sewage containment fund to continue 
cleansing brownfield sites is a poor swap

Editorial
Detroit Free Press
August 23. 2010

The state has run out of money for a program that helps municipalities 
convert contaminated plots of ground into sites suitable for new 
development. Some lawmakers want to continue funding these so-called 
"brownfield" cleanups by tapping a $1-billion bond initiative voters 
approved in 2002 for reducing sewage outflows into the Great Lakes. That 
would be a mistake.

Such funds-shifting adds to voters' distrust of government. In addition, 
it's hard to argue the bond program has money to spare when the state's 
natural resources department estimates that 40 billion gallons of raw or 
partially-treated sewage flow each year into Michigan waterways that 
ultimately connect with the Great Lakes.


...

For the entire editorial, see
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100823/OPINION01/8230316/1008/opinion01/Cleanup-conflict--Funds-shifting-adds-to-voters--distrust-of-government

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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