101st District candidate wants action after garbage washes up on Lake Michigan shore
LUDINGTON – State House candidate Dan Scripps today called for change to protect local beaches and the tourism dollars they generate after hundreds of pounds of trash washed up on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Manistee and Mason counties this week.
“An influx of trash is a growing problem in Northwest Michigan and across the state,” said Scripps, a candidate for the 101st House District. “We must strengthen our polluter pay laws in Michigan to increase accountability and ensure that polluters pay their fair share when they harm our land, air and water. Anyone who pollutes our Great Lakes and endangers the beaches where our children play should not get off with a slap on the wrist.”
According to a July 15 Associated Press article, the garbage that washed onto a 10-mile stretch of Lake Michigan beaches overnight Sunday included medical waste such as prescription drug bottles and hypodermic syringes. Officials in Manistee County were forced to close a beach where some junk piles had reached 8 inches high. Officials are working to determine where the trash originated.
Scripps today also called on the State Senate to take action on a plan passed by the State House over a year ago, which increases the state’s paltry dumping charge to the highest in the Midwest. At 21 cents per ton, Michigan currently has the lowest dumping charge of any state in the Great Lakes region. This low dumping charge acts as a magnet for Canadian and out-of-state trash. Garbage from Wisconsin, Canada, Ohio, Indiana, and as far away as New Jersey and Florida comes to Michigan so companies can cash in on bargain basement disposal rates. The House plan also bans new landfills and strictly limits the expansion of existing landfills until 2012.
“One of the largest industries in northwestern Michigan – tourism – is completely dependent on keeping our air, land and water clean and healthy,” said Scripps, who has made protecting Michigan’s precious natural resources a hallmark of his campaign. “Michigan is a beautiful place to fish, hunt and enjoy the outdoors, and we need to keep it that way. It’s time to end the trash industry’s free ride in our state.”
The 101st District includes Mason, Manistee, Benzie, and Leelanau counties. The Inside Michigan Politics Newsletter lists it as a “Toss Up” and it is also one of the “Top 10 State House Seats to Watch,” according to the Michigan Information and Research Service.
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One Comment
Dear Mr. Scripps:
As a class project for our government class we were ask to write a letter to a legislator in our state. I chose you because I followed your campaign through the election process. One of the reason I liked you so much is because your face is always in the community, your very sincere when you talk to the people, and you personally visited my home in Manistee during the election. By the way, you were the only one I saw, the rest I just saw their campaign workers. That was very important to me to talk with you and hear from you exactly what you were going to do when you were in office.
The one thing that really made an impact on me and was the reason you got my vote was how important the environment is to you. Living just a few blocks from Lake Michigan my kids and I have enjoyed riding our bikes to the beach everyday. So for me keeping our beaches safe and clean is very important. I think as a state we are very fortunate to have the Great Lakes natural resources surrounding us. My questions to you are, where do we stand with dumping charges/fines for illegal dumping? Were the person’s involved in the medical waste dumping during the summer of ’08 ever charged? That was pretty scary to me and made me very leery of visiting the beaches the rest of that summer. This is something I found on one of your blogs; “An influx of trash is a growing problem in Northwest Michigan and across the state,” said Scripps, a candidate for the 101st House District. “We must strengthen our polluter pay laws in Michigan to increase accountability and ensure that polluters pay their fair share when they harm our land, air and water. Anyone who pollutes our Great Lakes and endangers the beaches where our children play should not get off with a slap on the wrist.” Where do we stand with this statement you made?
Also, I know that my children’s school is involved in a beach clean-up day at the beginning of the school year. I think that we should have all the schools in Manistee County that enjoy the beaches in Manistee involved in something like this is the spring. If we get the kids involved in cleaning up the trash and hold an information session about the environment my hope is they will be less likely to pollute the Great Lakes if they have been part of the clean up process.
The Great Lakes are so very important to our economy and our livelihood I hope that this is still at the top of your list of protecting.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Johnson