Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed budget includes a lot of money for climate change projects. Although one environmental group is disappointed with some aspects of the governor’s budget.
The Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) represents several environmental groups all around the state.
“This budget has much less focus on environmental issues —outside of climate — than other budgets,” said Charlotte Jameson, Chief Policy Officer for the MEC.
While the budget funds some of the major climate related issues, the MEC said it underfunds housing retrofits for energy efficiency, and provides no funding to clean up contaminated sediment in rivers, among other things.
“We see a $40 million cut from last year’s budget to transportation,” Jameson added.
The group also opposes an additional $150 million for putting the closed Palisades nuclear plant in operation again. The federal government is reportedly planning to give the company that currently owns the plant $1.5 billion soon.
“There’s still a lot of really great stuff in here and really good investments, but it does not prioritize environmental issues as much as other budgets that we’ve seen from her and her team,” Jameson said about the governor’s proposal.
The MEC plans to work with the Legislature on the issues it has flagged for them.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
