GOP Seeks to Reinstate Corporate Control of Enviro Regs

February 6, 2019

Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org

MICHIGAN — Progress Michigan released the following statement regarding Republican legislative efforts to undermine Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent environmental executive order, which in part abolished boards where business and industry interests had the power to control the rules that regulate their industry. The move made by Whitmer was an effort to protect Michigan’s air, water, public health and combat climate change.

“Gov. Whitmer kicked the fox out of the hen house and now Republicans are going to bat for the fox. Eliminating boards that gave corporate interests power over our state’s ability to protect our air, water, and public health was the right move — and now Lee Chatfield, Mike Shirkey and their right-wing colleagues in the legislature are trying to undo that progress,” said Sam Inglot, deputy communications director at Progress Michigan. “Families across this state have suffered because of a laissez faire attitude about environmental protections and it needs to end. We cannot allow a profit-motivated ideology to be the gauge for how we decide to protect our air and water. We need to put the health of our families, communities, and planet first. We applaud Gretchen Whitmer for asking for a legal opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel on this matter and hope the efforts of the GOP are reversed. As for the Republicans, they’ve shown whose side they’re on.”

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