Michigan

Sun, 03/15/2009 - 20:41 — Gary Wilson

Richard Baumer: Coming Into Harbor ~Enlarge

Times are tough everywhere and Michigan is faring worse than most of the rest of the country. 

It can be depressing to open the online edition of the Detroit Free Press. So many stories are about the collapse of the auto industry and related job loss, environmental and infrastructure degradation, and political corruption. 

Before I comment further, full disclosure. 

I was raised in the downriver area of Detroit and Michigan will always be a major part of who I am. Though I’ve lived in Chicago for the last 25 years and love it, Illinois will never be able to replace Michigan as my home state. 

I’ve seen others look at Michigan’s plight and say, “oh well.” Implied but not spoken is that Michigan brought its situation on itself. I also sense that the rest of the country has written Michigan off.

I can’t do that, not yet. 

While I haven’t given up I am struggling to be optimistic. Michigan’s problems are broader than a tough economy. Its leaders seem to lack a certain vision and will to deal with the new economic and environmental realities. 

Historically, Michigan has had two great resources – assets if you want to try to quantify them – the auto industry and its natural resources led by water. The travails of the auto industry have played out on the national stage so I won’t chronicle them here. 

But Michigan’s recent lack of regard for its abundant but finite water is most troubling. Here’s what I mean. 

-          A few years ago, over the objections of local citizens, Michigan facilitated Nestle’s water taking operation in Mecosta. This in exchange for what, a few jobs? The convenient logic was it’s only a few bottles of water in a water rich state. That’s today – what about 10, 20, or 100 years from now. 

-          In 2007 Michigan’s Supreme Court gutted the Michigan Environmental Protection Act by ignoring language in the law that allows “any person” to bring a lawsuit to protect natural resources. The action crippled citizen efforts to protect the environment. 

-          Even in passing the Great Lakes Compact, the Michigan legislature set a poor example by implementing it with relatively weak standards. This was accomplished by letting regressive thinkers in the Senate prevail -- those who wanted to cling to tired economic/environmental models.

-          Now, Michigan Governor Granholm wants to abandon management of Michigan’s wetlands in order to save $2 million in the budget. This despite the fact that the program is nationally known as a good example of conservation stewardship. It’s like selling a kidney in order to reduce the household budget by literally a few dollars. That logic doesn’t make sense, except in Michigan. 

-          Toss in Michigan’s seeming willingness to approve environmentally dangerous sulfide mining in its pristine Upper Peninsula – again for very few short-term jobs – and you start to see a pattern. 

Michigan’s natural resources are for sale. 

A few years ago, the Brookings Institution released a report detailing how environmental protection and restoration of the Great Lakes region was key to revitalizing the economy and providing a good quality of life for its citizens. But Michigan’s leaders can’t make that link. 

When I meet people in Chicago there is usually a where are you from question. Increasingly I talk with mid-life professionals who have relocated from Michigan. Yes, they mention the economy as having contributed to their decision to leave, but the primary reason is they don’t see a positive future for Michigan. 

I’m not sure why this is the case and I’d love to hear from Michigan residents and also those who left.

One thing I am sure of though, selling off its natural resources will only hasten Michigan’s decline.

gw

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