CONYERS, KILDEE, and LAWRENCE Reintroduces Bill To Stop Emergency Managers: Three Years After Disastrous Flint Water Switch

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representatives John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Dan Kildee (D-MI), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), and 17 cosponsors, today reintroduced the Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act to address unchecked decision-making powers that appointed emergency financial managers have in financially distressed cities. Last week marks three years since the disastrous water switch that resulted in lead contamination in Flint, Michigan.  

Recently, Congressman Conyers, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Cedric Richmond, sent a letter to President Trump questioning the Administration’s commitment to the Flint area in light of proposed budget cuts to EPA and other agencies.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“Three years later, the people of Flint continue to suffer from the misguided and disastrous choices of an emergency financial manager they did not elect to represent them. We cannot undo the damage already done by the lead-poisoned water in Flint or fix the harm already caused by the hazardous conditions in Detroit’s public schools.  But we must continue to stand together and make sure the unaccountable emergency financial managers responsible for these disasters – and the legal system that empowered them – are not permitted to inflict further harm on our citizens or our constitutional rights. I will continue to introduce the Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act until its passage. We must ensure that what happened in Flint, will never happen again.” said Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13).

“Our state’s emergency financial manager law has hurt Flint and families throughout Michigan,” Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) said. 

“Unelected emergency financial managers made the decisions that led to the Flint water crisis. Their failed governing philosophy is solely focused on the bottom-line and cutting cost, often at the expense of people. Michigan families and their elected officials – not appointed and unaccountable emergency financial managers – should be in charge in the communities that they live in. This bill will help ensure what happened in Flint does not happen to other communities.”

“The Flint Water Crisis was a man-made disaster, and the people of Flint needed strong and responsible leadership to do their job and work in the best interest of the community they serve.  This never happened.  The people suffered, and they continue to suffer; while the leaders who caused this disaster hold no accountability for their actions.  This is shameful for the state of Michigan and shameful for America. It is imperative that the citizens of this great country are not denied their right to have a government that is elected and accountable.  We need immediate reform of the lack of accountability with emergency financial managers and we simply cannot allow a tragedy like this to ever happen again,” said Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI-14).

There are many cities in financial distress across our nation still struggling to recover from the Great Recession.  While most states work cooperatively with their cities to foster economic stability and growth, others such as the state of Michigan, use draconian, autocratic laws that usurp local elected officials and replace them with unaccountable political appointees – typically known as emergency financial managers – who, through their vast powers, can jeopardize the health and safety of those who live and work in these struggling cities. 

For example, Atlantic City, New Jersey, which is also in financial distress, is now dealing with similar issues as it struggles under the control of an unaccountable state appointed overseer with powers similar to those available to Michigan’s emergency financial managers.  Last month, that city’s police union filed a lawsuit in response to the state’s announced intention to slash pay and benefit cuts in violation of the police union’s contract, claiming that these “cuts could harm public safety and the state takeover law is unconstitutional because it impairs their contract rights.

Earlier this year, the state also proposed a 25 percent reduction in compensation for that city’s firefighters’ union members.

The Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act would authorize the U.S. Attorney General to withhold five percent of the law enforcement funds that would otherwise be allocated to a state under the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program (Byrne-JAG) if the Attorney General determines that the state-appointed emergency financial manager fails to protect against the following six abuses: discriminatory impact on voting, conflicts of interest, mismanagement, and abuse of discretion, harm to public health, unilateral rejection of other contracts, and lack of notice to affected communities who cannot provide comment.

The objective of the legislation is not to deny Byrne-JAG grant funds, but rather to incentivize the states to protect their citizens against these risks and abuses when emergency financial managers are appointed.  However, if in the event the funds are withheld, they are directly reallocated to the local government for which an emergency financial manager is appointed. 

The Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act was introduced with support from the following original cosponsors: Representatives Brenda Lawrence (D-MI); Dan Kildee (D-MI); Karen Bass (D-CA), Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Gerald Connolly (D-VA), Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Eddie Bernice  Johnson (D-TX), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Marc Veasey (D-TX), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

This legislation is identical to H.R. 4754, the “Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act of 2016,” introduced in the 114th Congress and supported by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the United Auto Workers (UAW), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among others.

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CONYERS: Our Water Infrastructure Deficit is the Real Crisis

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Politicians nationwide are neglecting one of the most pressing challenges of our generation: an unprecedented and ever-increasing deficit. If left unchecked, it will only grow in severity and continue to saddle our children and grandchildren with its devastating effects. It is a deficit that can only be addressed with decisive action from our nation’s leaders.

I am not talking about mere fiscal shortfalls, which can easily be corrected through fair tax policies. I am referring to America’s $697 billion water infrastructure deficit. On World Water Day, we must commit our nation to fulfilling the basic promise of universal access to clean water.

In 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act, affirming our government’s commitment to ensuring access to clean water for all Americans. But over the past four decades, Congress failed to fulfill this promise. Funding for water infrastructure peaked in 1977, but fell by 74% in real dollars by 2014. At its zenith the federal government spent $76.27 per person (in 2014 dollars) on water services. By 2014 that number was just $13.68 per person. The sustained lack of funding for water services has led to an aging infrastructure that, according to the latest EPA reports, will require $697 billion in repairs over the next twenty years. In contrast, US defense spending nearly doubled over the same time span to over $700 billion a year, including funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and President Trump says we can afford an additional $54 billion a year in military spending. It is time we acknowledge that a modern, safe drinking and wastewater system is at least as important to American national security as bombs and bullets.

Tragically, the State of Michigan already experienced firsthand the horror of what can happen when aging infrastructure meets the ideology of austerity. Decisions made by the state-appointed officials in Flint resulted in a public health crisis leaving tens of thousands of children exposed to dangerously high levels of lead. Many of the victims will suffer from lifelong impairments because of this exposure.

But the tragedy in Flint is not an anomaly. It is not an isolated incident that merits our thoughts and prayers but little action or accountability. Reports of lead levels in Detroit Public Schools of 100 times the allowable limit caused the Detroit Department of Health to call for lead screening for all students under the age of 6. Flint was a warning sign, a harbinger of a future with a crumbling water infrastructure, a future that looks increasingly like our present situation. Even in the halls of Congress, hundreds of offices lost access to tap water last year due to elevated levels of lead. Without federal funding, the crisis in Flint could very well become the norm across the nation. With over 11,000 community water systems utilizing 6 million lead service pipelines, the risk of another Flint is far too high.

That is why today I am reintroducing an overdue piece of legislation, “The Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act,” which is co-sponsored by 18 members of Congress and supported by over 60 national and grassroots organizations.

The WATER Act will issue grants to ensure homeowners’ service lines that may contain lead are replaced. Our water infrastructure problems extend far beyond lead pipes, however. Over one million miles of piping beneath our streets and homes, a century and a half worth of cast iron, copper, and even wooden vessels, are nearing the end of their lives. The American Water Works Association warns that leaving our decaying infrastructure unchecked will result in “degrading water service, increasing water service disruptions, and increasing expenditures for emergency repairs.” A modern water system may be a challenge for many developing countries – it should not be for the wealthiest nation on the planet.

To directly address the lead found in water at public schools in Detroit and across the country, the WATER Act provides funding to public schools for testing, repairing, replacing, or installing the necessary infrastructure for drinking water. Our children should not endanger their long-term health at the water fountain between classes.

The WATER Act’s $35 billion annual expenditure will be paid for by needed changes to our corporate tax code. The act ends the income tax deferral for offshore corporate profits, a move expected to generate over $60 billion annually. The $35 billion for repairing and replacing our infrastructure will create around one million new jobs here in America—jobs that cannot be outsourced to other countries. I further included Buy America provisions to ensure that the materials used are produced right here, and have indicated that union labor must be given a priority in the construction contracts, so that jobs created by my bill will be family-supporting jobs.

The WATER Act is a win-win-win for the American people. We will no longer feel anxious as we pour our children a glass of water, wondering if it is clean and safe. We will ensure corporations pay their fair share of taxes. And we will put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work modernizing American infrastructure. Congress should give Americans something to drink to, and pass my WATER Act without delay.

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Blumenauer, Conyers Lead Letter Urging EPA to Protect Pollinators & Further Examine Impacts of Pesticides on Pollinators

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Washington, DC – Representatives Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) and John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) led 38 members of the U.S. House of Representatives in sending a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy expressing concerns regarding the agency’s assessment of the impacts of the widely used insecticide, imidacloprid, on pollinators. Imidacloprid is a type of neonicotinoid, a class of pesticides that has been linked to declining pollinator populations.

In January, EPA released its Preliminary Pollinator Assessment to Support the Registration Review of Imidacloprid, which found that imidacloprid does pose a risk to honey bees. This assessment, however, failed to address many important issues necessary to reversing pollinator losses. In their letter, the lawmakers call on EPA to further examine the impacts of imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids by evaluating: their impacts on native bee species; the risks of other stressors on honey bees in conjunction with exposure to pesticides; and the effects when multiple pesticides are used together.

“Since beekeepers began reporting massive bee die-offs more than a decade ago, the health of our nation’s honey bees and other pollinators has been a continuing source of concern,” the lawmakers wrote. “In order to meet the goals of reversing pollinator losses and restoring healthy populations laid out in this strategy, EPA must strengthen and improve the scope of its risk assessment of neonicotinoids.”

Continued decline in bee populations will have serious implications to American food production and the economy. Approximately one in three bites of food benefits from bee pollination. Pollinators provide $24 billion a year to the economy, $15 billion of which is contributed by honey bees. Many crops, including almonds, cranberries, and apples, rely almost entirely on bees and other pollinators.

Representatives Blumenauer and Conyers have long championed efforts to protect our pollinators. Last year, they reintroduced Saving America’s Pollinators Act, legislation that requires EPA to take swift action to prevent mass bee die-offs and protect the health of honey bees and other critical pollinators by suspending the use of neonicotinoids. It also requires the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Administrator of the EPA, to monitor the health of native bee populations and to identify and publicly report the likely causes of bee kills.

CONYERS, Blumenauer Lead Letter Urging EPA to Protect Pollinators & Further Examine Impacts of Pesticid...

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Congressional Hearing Of The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform On Flint Water Crisis, February 3, 2016 Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: Congressional Hearing Of The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform On Flint Water Crisis, February 3, 2016

Congressional Hearing Of The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform On Flint Water Crisis, February 3, 2016.

The matter is currently being criminally and civilly investigated by the U.S. DOJ.

There will be future congressional hearings.

  

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: Congressional Hearing Of The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform On Flint Water Crisis, February 3, 2016 http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2016/02/congressional-hearing-of-committee-on.html#ixzz3zAQP4E3f
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

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Congressional Hearing Of The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform On Flint Water Crisis, February 3, 2016

Congressional Hearing Of The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform On Flint Water Crisis, February 3, 2016.

The matter is currently being criminally and civilly investigated by the U.S. DOJ.

There will be future congressional hearings.

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Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member Full Committee Markup of H.R. 2834, “To Enact Certain Laws Relating to the Environment as Title 55, United States Code”

Opening Statement of U.S. Representative Conyers begins at 34:52 through 40:34

“Mr. Chairman, I oppose H.R. 2834 because of serious concerns that I have about the process by which this legislation comes before us today as well its substance.  To begin with, the process by which this bill is proceeding to a markup – with only minimal notice and in the absence of collaborative and deliberative bipartisan review – stands in stark contrast with longstanding Committee practice in this area.

“This Committee has a long tradition of considering codification legislation pursuant to a thoroughly inclusive process that often spans multiple congresses.  A positive law codification -such as this legislation - requires close scrutiny because, once enacted, it repeals existing law and restates the law in a new form as a positive law title of the United States Code.

“To that end, Majority and Minority staff traditionally work closely with the Office of Law Revision Counsel and relevant committees of jurisdiction as well as all affected agencies and interested parties in the private sector to ensure that these bills truly are completely accurate restatements of current law.

“I am unaware of a single instance in which this process has not been completely bipartisan and in which the final legislative product has not had the support of both the Chair and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee. However, the bill we are considering today has had no Minority input, was introduced by neither the Chairman nor the Ranking Member of the full Committee, and appears to have had no comment from any relevant committee.

“Based on consultation with Law Revision Counsel staff and other interested parties, it appears that critical input from affected agencies has not been adequately solicited prior to the finalization of this legislative text. 

“Although the Environmental Protection Agency was given an opportunity to consider prior iterations of the legislation, such outreach appears to have been sporadic and without closure. When an actual bill was introduced this June, the Environmental Protection Agency was then given only 30 days to respond with comments on the 585 pages of text when the normal comment period would have been at least 180 days.  

“In addition, the Chairman of the Regulatory Reform Subcommittee sent letters to relevant committees requiring their feedback on this voluminous legislation also with only a 30-day deadline to respond. 

“I would note that these request letters – which under normal procedures would have been sent by both the Chair and Ranking Member of the Full Committee – were not shared with the Minority until this past Friday evening. 

“Other agencies, such as the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the Council for Environmental Quality, were never consulted on the potential far-reaching effects that this legislation might have on existing law. 

“Another concern that I have is that this legislation goes far beyond simply restating current law. 

“For example, the EPA, in the brief time it was given to respond, identified serious drafting issues with the bill that could be construed to change the meaning of existing law.  In particular, the Agency adamantly disputes  the bill’s interpretation of current law regarding its authority under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to issue the Clean Power Plan and regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other stationary sources.  

“This provision has generated significant confusion and the EPA warns that this bill, if it were law, ‘would exacerbate the confusion.’

“Outside organizations, such as the Sierra Club, have raised similar concerns that the legislation will  ‘introduce unnecessary ambiguity’ into the Clean Air Act.

“Finally, I am concerned that this sharp departure from normal Committee process may have been influenced by broader political considerations and a possible desire to impact pending legal disputes. 

“The Natural Resources Defense Council, along with other environmental groups, have cautioned Members that this bill ‘is a blatant effort by polluters and their allies to bias current litigation against the Clean Power Plan.’ Tellingly, this bill was noticed for markup on the very same day that the EPA issued a final rulemaking regarding the Clean Power Plan.  As authority to issue the rulemaking, the EPA explicitly cited section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. 

“And industry advocates have already cited this proposed restatement of current law in support of their challenges to the EPA's authority to implement the Clean Power Plan. At best, consideration of this bill today represents an incomplete and irresponsible legislative process.  At worst, it represents an effort to push through a purely political agenda to change substantive environmental law.

“Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 2834.”

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Floor Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. in Opposition to H.R. 348, the “Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act of 2015"

            “Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 348, the ‘Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act of 2015’ or so-called RAPID Act.  

            “H.R. 348 has many flaws.  Most critically, this measure could jeopardize public health and safety by prioritizing project approval over meaningful analysis that currently is required under the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. 

            “By giving the proponents of construction projects greater control over the environmental approval process, this bill is the equivalent of giving Wall Street the authority to write its own regulations for financial responsibility.

           

“The bill accomplishes this result in several respects.

            “To begin with, H.R. 348 – under the guise of streamlining the approval process – forecloses potentially critical input from federal, state, and local agencies as well as from members of the public to comment on environmentally-sensitive construction projects that are federally-funded or that require federal approval.

            “The bill also imposes hard and fast deadlines that may be unrealistic under certain circumstances.

            “Moreover, if an agency fails to meet these unrealistic deadlines, the bill simply declares that a project must be deemed approved, regardless of whether the agency has thoroughly assessed risks.

           

“As a result, H.R. 348 could allow projects that put public health and safety at risk to be approved before the safety review is completed.   

            “This failing of the bill, along with many others, explains why the Administration and the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, along with more than 40 respected environmental groups vigorously oppose this legislation.

            “These organizations include Public Citizen, the League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society.

            “Likewise, the Administration issued a strong veto threat.  Stating that the bill will “increase litigation, regulatory delays, and potentially force agencies to approve a project if the review and analysis cannot be completed before the proposed arbitrary deadlines,” the Administration warns that if H.R. 348 became law, it “would lead to more confusion and delay, limit public participation in the permitting process, and ultimately hamper economic growth.”        

           

“Another concern that I have with this bill – like other measures that we have considered – is that it is a flawed solution in search of an imaginary problem.  And, that is not just my opinion. 

            “The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, for instance, states that highway construction project delays based on environmental requirements stem not from the National Environmental Policy Act, but from ‘laws other than NEPA.’ 

            “In fact, CRS found that the primary source of approval delays for these projects ‘are more often tied to local/state and project-specific factors, primarily local/state agency priorities, project funding levels, local opposition to a project, project complexity, or late changes in project scope.’ 

            “Undoubtedly, the so-called RAPID Act will make the process less clear and less protective of public health and safety.

            “My final major concern with this bill is that – rather than streamlining the environmental review process – it will sow utter confusion. 

            “H.R. 348 does this by creating a separate, but only partly parallel environmental review process for construction projects, which will cause confusion, delay, and litigation.

            “As I noted at the outset, the changes to the  National Environmental Policy Act’s review process as contemplated by H.R. 348 apply only to certain construction projects.

            “The National Environmental Policy Act, on the other hand, applies to a broad panoply of federal actions, including fishing, hunting, and grazing permits, land management plans, Base Realignment and Closure activities, and treaties. 

           

“As a result of the bill, there could potentially be two different environmental review processes for the same project.  For instance, the bill’s requirements would apply to the construction of a nuclear reactor, but not to its decommissioning or to the transportation and storage of its spent fuel.

            “Rather than improving the environmental review process, this bill will complicate it and generate litigation.

            “But, more importantly, this bill is yet another effort by my friends on the other side of the aisle to undermine regulatory protections.   

           

            “As with all the other regulatory bills, this measure is a thinly disguised effort to hobble the ability of federal agencies to do the work that Congress requires them to do.  I strenuously oppose this seriously flawed bill and reserve the balance of my time.”

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Reps. Conyers and Blumenauer Introduce Legislation Protecting Pollinators and America’s Food System

WASHINGTON – Today, Representatives John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) reintroduced the Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2015,  which requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the use of certain insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, until the agency can review the registration and declare that such insecticides do not cause adverse effects upon honey bees and other pollinators.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“The EPA plans to wait until 2018 before reviewing the registration of neonicotinoids.  But America’s bees cannot wait three more years.  Neither can the thousands of farmers that rely on pollinators.  Our honeybees are critical to ecological sustainability and to our economy.  Scientists have reported that common symptoms of the decline of honey bees and other pollinators are attributed to the use of a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids,” said Rep. Conyers.  “The ‘Saving America’s Pollinators Act’ will address this threat to pollinator populations by suspending the use of certain neonicotinoids and by requiring the EPA to immediately conduct a full review of the scientific evidence before allowing the entry of other neonicotinoids into the market.”

Neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides known to have acute and chronic effects on honey bees and other pollinator species, are considered a major contributing factor to population declines. Academic studies and European regulators have concluded that pesticides identified as neonictinoids are linked to bee declines, both alone and in combination with other factors like disease and malnutrition. 

Added Rep. Conyers, “I urge all of my colleagues to please protect our pollinators and support the Saving America’s Pollinators Act.  One of every three bites of food we eat is from a crop pollinated by honey bees.  These crops include apples, avocados, cranberries, cherries, broccoli, peaches, carrots, grapes, soybeans, sugar beets and onions.  Unfortunately, unless swift action is taken, these crops, and numerous others, will soon disappear due to the dramatic decline of honey bee populations throughout the country.”

The Saving America’s Pollinators Act directs the EPA Administrator to suspend the registration of certain neonicotinoids – such as imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, dinotafuran – and any other members of the nitro group of neonicotinoid insecticides until a determination has been made that such insecticides will not cause adverse effects on pollinators based on an evaluation of peer-review scientific evidence and a completed field study. 

The bill also requires the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the EPA Administrator, to regularly monitor the health and population status of native bees and identify the scope and likely causes of unusual native bee mortality.  

“Pollinators are not only vital to a sustainable environment, but key to a stable food supply.  In fact, one out of every three bites of food we eat is from a crop pollinated by bees.  It is imperative that we take a step back to make sure we understand all the factors involved in bee population decline and move swiftly to protect our pollinators,” said Rep. Blumenauer.

The Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2015 has been endorsed by the American Bird Conservancy, Avaaz, Bat World Sanctuary, Inc., Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice, Ecological Farming Association, Equal Exchange, Family Farm Defenders, Friends of the Earth, Food Democracy Now!, Food and Water Watch, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, National Co+op Grocers, National Organic Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northeast, Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Northeast Organic Farming Association - Interstate Council, Northeast, Organic Farming Association – Massachusetts, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Maine, Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service, Organic Consumers Association, Organic Farmers' Agency for Relationship Marketing, Inc., Organization for Bat Conservation, Oregon Tilth, Pesticide Action Network North America, Sierra Club, United Natural Foods Inc., Toxic Free North Carolina, and International Association for Human Values.

Saving America's Pollinator's Act of 2015

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Conyers Hails $1 Million in Great Lakes Restoration Grant Funding for Green Infrastructure Projects

(DETROIT) – Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that $1,000,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Shoreline Cities grant funding would be provided to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s Near East Side Drainage District for two green infrastructure projects to ensure clean water in the region by preventing stormwater from contaminating the Great Lakes. In particular, a portion of the EPA grant would fund a program to convert vacant publicly owned lots in Detroit’s Lower Eastside into green space; the remainder of the EPA grant will be allocated towards the installation of green infrastructure at Detroit’s Recovery Park. Both of these green infrastructure projects will also serve to prevent flooding that can occur following harsh weather. After the grant recipients were made public, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement:

U.S. Representative
John Conyers, Jr.

“I am delighted to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s Near East Side Drainage District $1,000,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Shoreline Cities grant funding for two green infrastructure projects. These two projects will prevent the Great Lakes from being contaminated by stormwater, and avert flooding after bad weather. Both projects will go a long way towards safeguarding our water and preparing the regional ecosystem for the effects of climate change,” said Conyers.

“Specifically, part of the EPA grant will transform Detroit’s Lower Eastside into green space, teeming with trees and other vegetation. Another portion of the grant will fund the installation of green infrastructure at Detroit’s Recovery Park. The combined impact of these projects will reduce the discharge of untreated stormwater into sewer system by 1,100,000 gallons during significant storms. Unfortunately, as extreme weather events occur with increasing frequency due to climate change, the green infrastructure projects’ handling of stormwater will only increase.

“With the potential to create ‘green collar’ jobs for metropolitan Detroit, the EPA’s Initiative Shorelines Cities grants could have a transformative effect on both the environment and the regional economy. ‘Green-collar’ jobs are not only a boon to the environment, but they are also well-paying and lasting. I applaud the EPA for their work in safeguarding the Great Lakes and the American countryside, as well as for helping guide the United States towards a sustainable clean economy.”

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