E-M:/ Attn: Fred Miller----Posted to E/M: Rome Burned While Nero Fiddled 1

[Darryl Braun <darrylrich@yahoo.com>]

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Enviro-Mich message from Darryl Braun <darrylrich@yahoo.com>
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Mr. Miller:

I am submitting two posts I composed for EnviroMich.
Please give them to Mr. Bonior. I will be attending
the cookout in Inkster this Sunday, and I hope I will
be able to meet with him. We really do need his
support. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from
you.

Sincerely,


Darryl Braun
C.U.F.A.
313 565-7531
313 277-1466





Citizens United for Action, a grassroots environmental
organization, has been waging a three year battle to
preserve an Inkster wetland from destruction at the
hands of a developer. Though the site was destroyed
St. Valentine's Day, the battle goes on. 

The destruction was particularly tragic, because the
site was the victim of missed opportunities and an
unfortunate degree of ignorance, apathy and impotence
practiced by the environmental movement in Michigan
with respect to wetland protection.

* Environmental organizations and activists tend to
ignore small wetlands, such as the 12 acre site in
Inkster. Yet, Michigan wetlands are disappearing one
acre at a time, piecemeal.

* Environmental organizations and activists similarly
eschew in the middle of urban areas. Hence, the vast
majority of the State's residents will have no access
to such environmental treasures, or will be forced to
travel long distances outside metropolitan areas to
experience nature.

* Urban sprawl is universally acknowledged by
environmental organizations and activists to be a
major ecological threat. The preservation of small
wetlands such as The Meadows in Inkster, where vacant
lots and neighborhood blight cry out for development
and rehabilitation, is of paramount importance in the
effort to curb sprawl.

* The importance of ephemeral wetlands, such as The
Meadows, is too often overlooked. The non-permanent
presence of surface water offers habitat to a unique
bio diversity of species, for example, salamander
whose progeny would be eradicated by fish which would
be present in the permanent wetlands. 

* The battle for The Meadows had implications beyond
that of the preservation of 12 acres of
wetland/woodland. Citizens United for Action initiated
a rare MEPA suit against the MDEQ and the developer.
The action presented the State's environmental
community with the rare opportunity to compel the
Engler/Harding mismanaged Agency to accept its
responsibility for protecting environmental treasures
such as wetlands, like The Meadows, which escape
regulation because of a dereliction of duty or an
agenda which covertly differs from that which it has
been Constitutionally endowed.

* One such implication involves the MEPA statute
itself. A truly remarkable and unique piece of
legislation, MEPA offers incredible possibilities for
environmental preservation. Instead, it has
essentially suffered castration attributable to a lack
of awareness of its mere existence, let alone its
awesome potential. This same dearth of familiarity
with the statute, in conjunction with fact that cases
are so rarely brought before them, has left judges
determined to irresponsibly restrict that potential.

Such was the misfortune which befell C.U.F.A. in the
pressing of its suit over The Meadows. The motion for
a Temporary Restraining Order to halt the destruction
of this Urban Eden was denied for reasons which were
in direct violation of the stipulations of MEPA.  

Fortunately, Nero has the opportunity to put down his
fiddle and act to stop the burning of Rome. C.U.F.A.
is pressing on with its MEPA litigation against the
developer and the DEQ, if not to force mitigation of
The Meadows, to honor this once beautiful haven which
has become a moonscape by letting it serve as a martyr
in the cause of future preservation. 

C.U.F.A.'s efforts are hindered by the Attorney
General's condemnable decision to defend the Agency in
the suit, and enjoining the developer's attorney in a
motion to punish the plaintiff with sanctions for
filing a "frivolous lawsuit", which was anything but. 
An aide explained that the A.G. is Constitutionally
required to represent state agencies, which are her
"clients", though former Attorneys General have not
interpreted their roles this strictly, and C.U.F.A.
would further contend that the citizens of Michigan,
rather than the bureaucracy should qualify as the
primary clients of the A.G.

Citizens United for Action implores Michigan's
environmental community to seize the opportunity to
initiate meaningful wetland protection reform before
it passes. We ask that greater familiarity with MEPA
become a paramount goal, that more such litigation be
initiated, and that you support our group in its MEPA
suit and pressure the Attorney General, who happens to
be a Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, either not to
represent the Agency, which too often carries out
Engler's anti-environmental agenda, in this case, or
to convince the Agency to concede and revisit the site
to perform a less dubious assessment.

For more information, contact the members of C.U.F.A.
at darrylrich@yahoo.com. 

Citizens United for Action
C.U.F.A. 



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