Tell Michigan to Save the Low-Income Energy Efficiency Fund

We have just learned from our friends at the Sierra Club-Detroit Chapter that the Low-Income Energy Efficiency Fund (LIEEF), a fund distributed across the state to help low-income people prevent heat shut offs, is in dire jeopardy!

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently decided that the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) does not have the authority to administer the fund as it has for more than a decade. The MPSC regulates the rates of natural gas, electricity and telephone utilities in Michigan; and is led by three commissioners appointed by the Governor.

Public comments on this ruling and the impacts it will have on Michigan communities are desperately needed by Monday, August 1, 2011 by 5 p.m. EST.

It is too late to mail your response to Lansing but you can give your comments by e-mail at  mpscedockets@michigan.gov. Your comments should reference Case No. U-16418 . You may also attach a document in Word or PDF format. Please note that all information you submit on this matter will become public information available on the MPSC's website and is subject to disclosure.

You can also reviewed current public comments and documents on this at Case No. U-16418. The entire report on LIEFF is available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mpsc/PSC_Report_on_Low_Income__Energy_Efficiency_Fund_1010_337742_7.pdf

Rhonda Anderson of the Sierra Club-Detroit Chapter tells us: 

"...this money is set aside to use as an emergency fund for people [who] have had their utilities shut off. This [money] often is critical in that it assists them in having them turned back on. Utility shut off is one of the leading causes of homelessness. Considering the unemployment and poverty here in the City of Detroit by cutting this emergency fund out, it will mean so many thousands will be left in the cold and dark, maybe on the streets."

Everyone know that Michigan is a snow state. In the middle of Winter, temperatures can reach into the single digits and below zero degrees. The blistering cold is especially dangerous for low-income families with young children and senior citizens. Yet, every year we know thousands of people across Michigan are at risk of freezing in their homes because they cannot afford or keep up with the high cost of heating bills from for-profit utility companies. Help us reverse this life-threatening decision against Michigan residents.

Join the People's Water Board

The Michigan Sierra Club is convening a Detroit-based coalition to form a People's Water Board. The People's Water Board Mission is:

Water is life. The People's Water Board advocates for access, protection, and conservation of water. We believe water is a human right and all people should have access to clean and affordable water. Water is a commons that should be held in the public trust free of privatization. The People's Water Board promotes awareness of the interconnectedness of all people and resources.

Join Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and many other grassroots groups as we fight against water shut-offs and protect the human right to water!

People's Water Board - Planning Meeting:
Saturday, April 18 from 10am to 1:30pm (refreshments provided) at Metropolitan Center for Technology Room 101A (2727 Second Avenue; Detroit). Free and secure parking is available behind the building; enter through the back door.

As we continue to see water rates increase, water shutoffs in homes, and pollution impacting our drinking water, we believe it is time for us to collectively organize for change and we need your help! Questions? please call 313-965-0055.

Aging Water Infrastructure Results in Water Shut-offs

(Reposted from Great Lakes Town Hall)

By Melissa Damaschke, Sierra Club (Detroit, MI); and
Maureen Taylor, MWRO (Detroit, MI)

The Great Lakes currently provide drinking water to over 42 million people. Yet not everyone in the region can afford this vital resource. Upgrading aging water and sewage infrastructure is placing an unaffordable cost on residents, resulting in water being turned off in thousands of homes in Detroit.

In addition, this aging infrastructure is causing pollution to our Great Lakes. According to the Sierra Legal Defense Fund’s “2006 Great Lakes Sewage Report Card,” cities dumped over 23 billion gallons of raw sewage into the Great Lakes in 2006.

The Detroit Wastewater Treatment Facility is the largest discharger in the Great Lakes basin, processing between 700 million and 1 billion gallons of municipal and industrial wastewater each day. Heavy rainfall events or melting snow often overload the system, causing sewage overflows. The city reported over 200 sewage overflows in 2005, earning it the lowest grade of “D” on the Sierra Legal Defense Fund’s Report Card.

A combined sewage overflow happens during and after wet weather events, when rainwater or melting snow overloads many combined sewer systems. In such instances, large volumes of untreated domestic sewage and industrial wastewater flow directly into local water bodies.

Pollution from combined sewage overflows causes considerable damage, including drinking water contamination, beach closings, algal blooms, basement backups, waterborne illness, closed fishing grounds, loss of tourism, and depressed property values.

The high cost of upgrading and expanding the aging sewage system, among other things, forced the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to raise its water rates numerous times in recent years. Water—a basic human right—became unaffordable to many residents, thousands of whom had their water shut off because of a failure to pay their bills.

The City of Detroit has now adopted the Water Affordability Plan, which when implemented will help protect low income residents from water shutoffs.

This story highlights the connection between sewage infrastructure and drinking water and the critical importance of maintaining both systems and keeping these basic services affordable and available in all Great Lakes cities.

Throughout the week, you will hear more about Detroit’s aging infrastructure and personal stories of people who have had their water shut off in a state that is surrounded by water.

See Great Lakes Town Hall for more stories and to post your thoughts.

(BTW, today is the birthday of Maureen Taylor, MWRO State Chairperson--Happy Birthday!)