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Rick Snyder on Environment
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Pure Michigan: promote tourism like U.P. and brewery trail
Tourism: thanks to Pure Michigan we are showing America just how beautiful we think our home state is. I am a huge fan of kayaking, rock hunting, I even tried elk bugling last year. One of my favorite experiences was biking the brewery and wine trail in
the Thumb. It was absolutely beautiful. We have so many awesome things to do in our state and we should be proud. One of the great things was what Lonely Planet did for us. They named the U.P. one of the top 10 value destinations for
2017 and it was in a category the only place in the United States along with Venice, Morocco, Belize and Nepal. The U.P. is right up there with the best in the world.
To give you more perspective though, Michigan had the highest growth in incoming international visitors of any state in the nation from 2014 to 2015. The secret is getting out and I couldn't be happier about it.
Source: 2017 Michigan State of the State address
, Jan 17, 2017
More resources to fight invasive species in Great Lakes
On wetlands: They are vital to our wildlife and infrastructure. We have lost an estimated four million acres of wetlands over the last few decades. We're going to do something unique this year. The DNR is going to create a public private partnership on
state land to work with local landowners to say we can use state lands as a mitigation bank to help encourage development and at the same time protecting our environment. Invasive carp [is] one of the greatest threats to our state.
We need to do more. We've invested resources, but we need to catalyze all the Great Lake states on doing more, and our nation. One of the ways we are going to do this is: we're creating an international crowdsourcing challenge.
On the topic of environmental justice, I'm going to announce a work group on the issue of environmental justice to make sure all Michiganders have a clean, safe, healthy environment no matter who they are or where they live.
Source: 2017 Michigan State of the State address
, Jan 17, 2017
Work tirelessly, plus $27M, to make Flint's water safe
Make no mistake, Flint was a sad chapter in the history of our state. Last year the people of Flint suffered an unacceptable crisis. I made a commitment to the people of Flint to fix it. We took immediate action and in the following days and months
we've worked tirelessly to make Flint's water safe to drink again and improve the entire city of Flint. We're making progress but our work is not yet.
We all owe the people of Flint a solution and we've worked hard to deliver that, we are going to continue to be committed to that. In terms of progress, though, on the water front we have new test results and by June of
2016 this last year we provided $27 million to help with lead pipe replacements to the city of Flint. To date we've seen progress, over 600 pipes have been replaced and we look forward to working with the city on accelerating the progress of that.
Source: 2017 Michigan State of the State address
, Jan 17, 2017
Voluntary pollution prevention program for farmers
Snyder established a voluntary pollution prevention program that helps Michigan farmers maintain their economic viability while being environmentally responsible.Our journey to the 'New Michigan' requires that government, industry and stakeholder
groups work together toward common goals. Putting this program into statute secures its place as a model for addressing environmental challenges in a way that also allows our agriculture-based businesses to expand.
Source: Michigan 2011 gubernatorial press release, #252449
, Mar 8, 2011
Protect natural resources; user fees contribute $3B/year
Michigan is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and we need to be a leader and innovator in protecting these resources. Recreational fishing, hunting and boating activities alone contribute more than $3 billion annually to our economy.
We are separating the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) so we can better address these key priorities.
Source: Michigan 2011 gubernatorial press release, #248895
, Jan 4, 2011
Page last updated: Feb 17, 2018