Michigan Politics
Politicians Start To See Green
By George Weeks

When it comes to politics and the environment, promises made have not been promises kept. Pledges to conserve and protect usually ring hollow soon after such hyped rituals as Earth Day and Arbor Day, most recently observed last week.

But there is reason this year for guarded optimism, in large part because there are some Republicans who are not as tone-deaf on the issue as the party has been in Washington and Lansing.

Senator John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, said on Earth Day the nation must "look ahead to the serious threats that confront our environment today. We must have the courage to realistically confront the specter of climate change." Early on, he was endorsed by Republicans for Environmental Protection, a Chicago-based outfit that includes some moderate Michigan Republicans.

Even President George W. Bush, who has not delivered on promises of an infusion of funds for Great Lakes projects, is coming around on recognition of the need to deal with climate change, although the ever-critical New York Times called his mid-April speech a "late-breaking act of atonement, as it were, for seven years of doing nothing…(it) amounted to the same old stuff, gussied up to look new."

But take it from the May-June issue of Sierra, the sprightly magazine of the Sierra Club, "The political climate is changing" on the climate. It notes that McCain in 2003 was the first member of Congress to offer a comprehensive climatechange bill, but also notes much greater cuts on carbon dioxide emissions are called for in a bill backed by Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

While much of the GOP establishment minimizes the peril of global warming, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a vocal conservative, warns in the May 5 issue of Time magazine there's "a real danger" that the party could be headed for another long stretch of being in the minority if it fails to deal with the environment and a national energy strategy.

Gingrich and Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the current speaker, are paired in an odd couple TV commercial calling on "liberals and conservatives" to jointly address climate change. Also odd is pairing in a similar TV spot of the Reverend Al Sharpton, as flaming a liberal as there is on the airwaves, and televangelist Pat Robertson from the far right.

What's so intriguing about participation of Gingrich and Robertson in the spots is that they invite viewers to go to www.wecansolveit. org, a site of The Alliance for Climate Protection, which says it was founded by ex-Vice President Al Gore "to halt global warming."

Great Lakes Scorecard

Last year in this space, ex- Governor Jim Blanchard, early energizer of Hillary Clinton's Michigan campaign, said, "The Great Lakes are deep in the psyche" of Michigan voters, and could be "the third rail" here for candidates who blunder on the issue.

It's too early to see how the nominees will address Great Lakes issues in the general campaign. But McCain, Obama, and Clinton can speak out and cast the right votes when the Senate takes up legislation that the House approved, on a 397-7 vote, last week to regulate ballast water rules for ocean-going vessels entering the Great Lakes.

"Invasive species have devastating effects on our Great Lakes ecosystem and the economies of surrounding communities," Representative Bart Stupak (DMenominee) said of the legislation that as a first step would require ships entering U.S. waters to conduct ballast water exchanges at least 200 miles off the coast, or use existing technologies to treat ballast water by December 31, 2008.

According to Representative Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak), new damaging invasive species arrive in the Great Lakes at a rate of one every eight months.

A more difficult bill to pass will be the pending Clean Water Restoration Act. It clarifies that Congress, in passing the original act 31 years ago, intended to protect all U.S. waters, not just those that flow directly to navigable waters. Stupak is among six Michigan cosponsors of the bill.

Environmental Tourism

To promote ecotourism, the Michigan Energy Office and the Department of Environmental Quality in 2006 started Green Lodging Michigan, a voluntary, non-regulatory certification program to promote lodging facilities that make special efforts to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.

Three of the first six facilities certified were in northern Michigan: Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville, and the Bayshore Resort and the 100-year old Neahtawanta Inn on Grand Traverse Bay. Subsequently six northern facilities were added, and 15 more are applicants.

Among those expected to be certified later this year is Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel, which proudly trumpets that it opens May 2 "celebrating 75 consecutive years of stewardship by the family that has made the hotel the icon that it is today."

That goes back to legendary W. Stewart Woodfill, who in March 1933 in the depths of the Great Depression, was sole bidder in an auction to take the hotel out of receivership. His nephew, Dan Musser II, became president in 1960 and bought it from Woodfill in 1979.

In 1989, President Dan Musser III and Vice President Mimi Musser Cunningham became the third generation in the family to take the helm of the hotel.

I mention the Mussers in the context of ecotourism because in addition to going green at the Grand (including an enviro-friendly air conditioning system, energy-efficient light bulbs, and a compost pile that uses "every single grass clipping, every weed, every flower that is taken from the ground when the growing season is over"), they have been instrumental in the island's aggressive composting of biodegradable waste.

That's worthy of mention as I write this on the final day of the second annual Michigan Conservation Week. Was the week another hyped but hollow ritual?

Not if there is follow-up by the conservationists and business leaders who gathered at the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce at a Conservation Week event to tout legislation that Senator Jason Allen (R-Traverse City), who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism, intends to introduce to create a tax incentive for businesses that make conservation donations.

Allen cited such efforts as those of owner Bob Sutherland of the Glen Arbor-headquartered Cherry Republic, which donates 1% of all sales to environmental and agricultural causes, and Jon Carlson, who protected Bowers Harbor Inn on Old Mission Peninsula by partnering with the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to put a voluntary conservation easement on the property.

As Glen Chown, executive director for the conservancy, noted at the event, a mission of such organizations is to keep "Michigan a special place to live, work and play…by protecting our most strategic natural assets, pristine wetlands, lush forests, majestic dunes, sandy beaches, and working lands."

George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.