As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an OpEd in today’s Detroit News suggests that Michigan has much to gain in the emerging green economy. Kevin Parker, the global head of Deutsche Bank’s asset management division, highlights the connection between protecting our environment and creating the clean energy jobs of the future. Where [...]
Category Archives: Investment
New Energy for Michigan
September 18, 2008 – 12:28 pm
(Part 6 in an 11-week economic plan to get Michigan moving again and get our people back to work) This week’s installment of our plan to get Michigan moving again focuses squarely on renewable energy issues and their potential to help get Michigan’s economy back on track. I know I’ve covered much of this before, [...]
Where We are Different
September 17, 2008 – 2:44 pm
For the past 2 years, legislators in Lansing have been dragging their feet about whether or not to pass the renewable energy portfolio standard. C’mon already! Time and time again I have highlighted the importance of Michigan’s investment in renewable energy. The faster we pass this legislation; the sooner companies will be given the go-ahead [...]
Yes, Michigan! Promoting Michigan Tourism to Grow Our Economy
August 28, 2008 – 2:13 pm
(Part 3 in an 11-week economic plan to get Michigan moving again and get our people back to work) Over the last two weeks we’ve focused on the importance of fundamentals and promoting Michigan’s competitive advantages to get Michigan moving again. This week I’m highlighting the need for greater investment in tourism promotion as a [...]
As rural America struggles, federal Rural Development funds go to wealthy suburbs and metro centers
April 7, 2007 – 11:44 am
The Washington Post had a story yesterday on the fact that a large percentage of the USDA Rural Development funds have been sent instead to America’s metropolitan areas. As the Post points out, “more than three times as much money went to metropolitan areas with populations of 50,000 or more ($30.3 billion) as to poor [...]
21st Century Energy Plan already out of date
February 1, 2007 – 12:13 pm
Yesterday, Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) Chairman J. Peter Lark presented Governor Granholm with the MPSC’s much-anticipated (and overdue) 21st Century Energy Plan. Despite the official fanfare, however, the plan, with its call for watered-down renewable portfolio standards and the immediate construction of new coal-fired power plants, seems better suited to the 19th-century than to [...]
An economic plan that puts local people first
October 17, 2006 – 9:39 am
Tonight at the Manistee County forum hosted by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians I laid out an eight-point economic plan that builds on our strengths and puts local people first. If we’re going to turn our state around, it’s crucial that we have local-based representatives that are willing to stand up to the [...]
Two more steps on the road to the new Michigan economy
August 29, 2006 – 10:23 am
Two announcements this week helped move Michigan forward on the path to leading the country in alternative energy innovation, production, and distribution. Yesterday, Governor Granholm announced $500,000 in grants to convert 1,000 Michigan fuel pumps to bio-diesel or ethanol by 2008. And on Monday the governor announced that The Venture Michigan Fund I has $200 [...]
Energy Fair Offers Promise of Growth for Northwest Michigan
June 15, 2006 – 11:18 am
In 1925, Henry Ford predicted that cars rolling off his assembly lines would someday be fueled by vegetation “like that sumach out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust – almost anything.” [1] Nearly a century later, renewable, plant-based fuel is on its way to becoming a large-scale reality. This weekend, the Michigan Energy [...]
A 7-Point Plan for Michigan’s Future
June 12, 2006 – 11:25 am
On Monday, June 12, we held press conferences in Elmwood Township and Scottville announcing our 7-point to Fight for Michigan’s Future. Twenty other press conferences were held across the state as part of our coordinated campaign to retake the State Legislature. While we have many issues that we will highlight over the course of the [...]
