Don’t take my word for it. Those are the words of Dr. Howard Tanner, who ran the Michigan DNR under Governor Milliken, speaking tonight at a forum at Benzie Central High School. Dr. Tanner noted that while Michigan used to have an environmental reputation that was second-to-none, our water and air are now getting dirtier, and we’re depriving future generations of the ability to enjoy the lakes and natural resources that are so central to our way of life.

Yet under this legislature, we’re in a state of decline. Instead of laying claim to our proud conservation heritage, this Republican-controlled legislature has sold off our rivers and streams to private companies, blocked legislation that would protect state forest land, done nothing on the green slime that leaves too many Michigan beaches unswimmable, and continues to sit on its hands while trash from as far away as Florida and Maine continues to flood into Michigan at a rate of over 2 million tons a year, making Michigan the number two destination in the country for out-of-state trash.

No wonder Milliken’s DNR director is angry and ashamed. But on November 7, we have the opportunity to elect a conservation-minded legislature that all of us can be proud of.