Michigan U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib - D-Dearborn - is among the advocates urging Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to more actively involve local residents in its decision making.

They want the agency known as EGLE to revise its criteria for public engagement, and inform residents sooner about decisions that affect the environment and public health.

Rep. Tlaib called the current engagement unacceptable at a news conference late last week.

"The public is only brought into EGLE permitting process when they have almost no power to change the outcome," said Tlaib. "And a corporate polluter has a huge head start with months of back and forth with EGLE."

Industries regularly complain about what they describe as excessive environmental regulation, although community groups describe these concerns as - at best - overstated.

EGLE is currently taking public comment on how it engages the public. The deadline to weigh in is today, April 1.

Donele Wilkins is founder and CEO of the Green Door Initiative, a nonprofit that works on environmental causes.

She said EGLE needs to be proactive, transparent and fair. This includes allowing individuals as much time as companies to participate in the permitting process.

"The agency has the ability to become proactive and respect the delegated responsibility given to them to protect Michigan and all of its residents," said Wilkins. "Bring the public in earlier, rather than at the end of a process."

And Simone Sagovac, coalition building and empowerment director for the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, said it's important for EGLE to include measuring current pollution levels in communities before making permit decisions.

"It can't be that the companies control the EGLE process, which is supposed to be about protecting public health," said Sagovac. "We need to know if companies have been accountable to their pollution before they are granted another permit."

As one example, the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant has had permits from EGLE to discharge wastewater that it calls "safe" into Michigan waterways.

However, local environmental advocates argue that these permits were issued without adequately addressing public concerns.




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The new Buffalo Bills stadium may not be the best environmentally but it has some green qualities.

The steel for the stadium is being made locally and climate-consciously, using an electric-arc furnace. Studies show the process emits 75% less carbon than traditional steel manufacturing.

Brian Raff, vice president of sustainability and government relations for the American Institute of Steel Construction, said there are outside benefits to using electric-arc furnace steel.

"The supply chain for EAF steel is just a circular economy," Raff pointed out. "Everything that is waste, considered waste at one point, gets put back into the supply stream, gets shredded, melted down, and then made into new steel over and over and over."

Some downsides to electric-arc furnace steel are higher impurities and inclusions, and uneven heat distribution.

Other environmental benefits of the new stadium include reduced water usage, better stormwater flow, and a modern electrical system. The stadium will have 14% fewer spectators, also reducing other environmental impacts. Highmark Stadium will be completed in 2026.

Beyond the environmental impacts, the new stadium's construction creates 10,000 union labor jobs for western New York, and 60% of the 25,000 tons of the steel used for the stadium will be developed in New York.

Raff emphasized making the steel locally will have an economic ripple effect.

"25,000 tons of steel means millions of man-hours, and so that means it's going to keep those fabrication companies moving," Raff explained. "Cash is coming in the door, which means they're able to pay their employees. All of that money will be saved and spent in the local economies."

The project also creates greater opportunities for minority, women and veteran-owned businesses. An important part of the labor agreement negotiations was having local workers involved in the new stadium's construction.


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Environmental groups say more should be done to protect people's health from what they call toxic, radioactive sludge.

A court granted a temporary restraining order against Austin Master Services, a fracking waste-storage facility in Martin's Ferry, at the request of Ohio Attorney General David Yost.

Ohio has some of the least-restrictive rules on fracking waste, said Jill Hunkler, director of the local advocacy group Ohio Valley Allies. She said this makes communities "dumping grounds" for the byproducts of fracking, and residents are often left to educate themselves on the risks of living near fracking operations and waste sites.

"We can see firsthand how dangerous these facilities were and how poorly they were operating," she said, "and right within 500 feet of the drinking water supply for 5 million people, which is the Ohio River."

At a city council meeting, residents voiced their concerns about water-supply safety and ongoing health risks for neighboring communities.

In a legal complaint, the AG's office said the Martin's Ferry facility has exceeded the amount of waste it's permitted to store by thousands of tons.

Austin Master Services could not be reached for comment. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources maintains there's no evidence the waste has affected public health.

Hunkler said a judge ordered Austin Master Services to clean up the excess waste at a recent hearing, but the company said it didn't have the money to do so.

"It's just a very good example of the failure here to adequately regulate and enforce and protect the communities from this toxic industry," she added.

According to Food and Water Watch, fracking waste contains a mixture of heavy metals, brines, volatile organic compounds, carcinogens and naturally occurring radioactive contaminants. Yale University research has linked exposure to some of these substances to reproductive and developmental problems.


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Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, say they continue to live with health problems, including rashes, nosebleeds and respiratory issues following last year's massive train derailment and chemical spill.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 177 tons of solid waste of solid waste and 68 million gallons of water have been transported out of East Palestine for disposal.

Jess Conard, Appalachia director for the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, said vinyl chloride is a key ingredient in making PVC plastic. She argued the disaster highlighted the need to reduce production of industrial plastic and better regulate all stages of the plastic life cycle. She added residents still do not have the resources needed to stay safe.

"We are also in desperate need of residential indoor and outdoor air monitoring and air assessments for our homes," Conard contended. "There are residents within the past month that have reported detections of vinyl chloride outside of their home."

Norfolk Southern recently agreed to a $600 million settlement in an attempt to resolve a string of lawsuits involving thousands of people.

If it gets approval from all parties, it would resolve all class-action claims by people and businesses who were within a 20-mile radius of the derailment site, and personal injury claims within 10 miles. In a statement on the company's website, the company stressed the settlement does not constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing or fault.

Conard pointed out the settlement will not prevent another train-related environmental disaster from happening. She noted the amount of money in the proposed settlement will hardly leave a dent in the pockets of a company whose profits topped $8 billion last year.

"If the court accepts this settlement, it sets the precedent that there is a corporate price tag for poisoning communities," Conard asserted. "The court must uphold justice for the people."

Congress has stalled on passage of legislation to boost regulations around inspections and fines for railroad companies violating safety standards. Earlier this month, the Biden administration passed a new rule requiring freight operators to have at least two people on board, in an attempt to increase safety.