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Judging the 1990s against Michigan's tradition of leadership on the environment is like comparing a
common moth to a monarch butterfly.
From 1970 to 1990, Michigan set the standard nationally for effective action to safeguard natural resources.
Laws were enacted to protect sand dunes, rivers, wildlife, wetlands, lakes, and streams. From 1990 to 1998 the
state stepped back from that commitment. The warning signs that have emerged fit a telling pattern:
•Some parts of southeast Michigan are regularly inundated by flood waters, the result of rain-absorbing
wetlands being filled and paved over for development.
•Fecal contamination caused by the flooding regularly closes public beaches on Lake St. Clair, a primary
recreation resource for more than one million people.
•Northern Michigan's once-intact blanket of forest is now laced with thousands of clearings for one of the
nation's largest natural gas development zones.
•Across the state new roads, subdivisions, strip malls, and schools have sprawled over nearly one million
acres of forest and farmland this decade.
•State regulators have been reluctant to enforce environmental and human health protection laws, saying such
actions amount to "takings," or seizures of private property. They cite lower court rulings to support this point
of view, while ignoring a series of Michigan Supreme Court decisions that overturned the lower courts and
confirmed the authority of the state to enforce the laws.
The Governor's Philosophy
The roots of this situation took hold in the 1990 election, when John Engler campaigned for governor on a set
of "core principles." He believed that environmental regulations were too complex, often causing more harm
than benefit, and were based on outdated or insufficient scientific data. He said the state was wasting money to
address environmental problems that really weren't all that important, as in the case of the slow and expensive
program to thoroughly clean up toxic waste.
Since his election, the Governor has used the emerging field of "relative risk" science to set priorities and
inform state action. He has directed his appointees to rewrite regulations to make compliance easier. He places
a priority on private property rights, and believes government should not enforce laws that intrude on them.
And he holds that the best way to prevent pollution is through voluntary measures instead of laws and regula-
tions.
"Gov. Engler believes that the principles of pollution prevention, sound science, and relative risk need to
be strictly adhered to. If you start to violate those core principles, you do a disservice to the people of
Michigan and to the environment," said David Ladd, the Governor's environmental advisor. "Government has
limited means, and in the modern day you can only accomplish so much. If you stick to your core principles,
you then maximize what government does best for the health, safety, and welfare of the people of this state
and for the environment."
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