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Re: E-M:/ Citizens Group Seeks Reversal of Supreme Court's MEPA Decision
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Enviro-Mich message from "Alexander J. Sagady" <ajs@sagady.com>
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While a motion for rehearing is the most that the lawyers can do
on this case, the rest of us need to be sharpening up our political
knives to run a campaign to send Michigan Supreme Court
Chief Justice Cliff Taylor to the unemployment office in the
next election..... and after that to do the same thing to
Stephen Markman, Maura Corrigan and Robert Young Jr.
when they are up for election.
In Michigan we elect our supreme court and court of appeal
judges and we have an opportunity to do something about
these judges who overturned Michigan's law of citizen standing
for environmental protection that was in place for 37 years before
getting trashed by this gang from the industry-funded Federalist
Society.
If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to read this State Journal editorial
"Major on Supreme Court clipping away at your rights"
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070814/OPINION01/708140311/1085/opinion
At 05:42 PM 08/15/2007, Cyndi Roper wrote:
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>Enviro-Mich message from Cyndi Roper <croper@cleanwater.org>
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>
>Press Release
>Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
>August 15, 2007
>
>Contacts: Terry Swier, President, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (231) 972 8856
>James Olson, Olson, Bzdok & Howard, Traverse City, Attorney for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (231) 499 8831; (231) 946 0044
>
>Citizens Group Fighting Nestle Water Extraction Seeks Reversal of Supreme CourtÂ?s Crippling Blow to Environmental Citizen Suit Law
>
>
>Traverse City, Michigan. Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, the citizen group who won a major court victory that limited groundwater pumping by Nestlé for its Ice Mountain bottled water that harmed a stream, two lakes, and wetlands, filed a Motion for Rehearing with the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 15, 2007.
>
>On July 25th, the States�s highest court, in a 4-to-3 decision, agreed with lower court rulings that Nestle�s groundwater extraction illegally harmed the lakes, stream, and wetlands. But the Court also reversed part of the lower court�s ruling by limiting the citizen groups� legal right to bring a lawsuit against Nestlé under Michigan�s Environmental Protection Act for damaging a lake and wetlands on its own property. The citizens group has standing, the right to bring the suit, to protect the lakes and
>streams which individuals or the groupÂ?s members owned or used, but no right to bring suit to stop a polluter from destroying a lake and wetland on his or her own property, the CourtÂ?s decision said.
>
>Ironically, in June of this year, MichiganÂ?s internationally renowned environmental citizen-suit law won more acclaim when the lawÂ?s author, Professor Joseph Sax, who wrote the law at the request of former Governor William Milliken in 1970, was awarded the prestigious international Blue Planet Prize in Tokyo.
>
>Â?MCWC has asked the Court to rehear its decision, because we think the citizens of Michigan deserve a closer look at a ruling that blocks their right to sue to prevent environmental damage on NestleÂ?s property,Â? Terry Swier, President of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, said. Â?Our air, water, and natural resources do not recognize the legal fiction of property boundaries when it comes to environmental harm.Â?
>
>The citizen group requests the Court to rehear its July 25th decision, because it denies them their legal right to bring a citizen suit to prevent Nestlé from causing undeniable harm, according to the findings of the lower courts, to the water resources of the state. �In a larger sense, the decision may have exceeded the Court�s judicial power under our constitution and denied these people their first amendment right to petition government to redress wrongs,� said James Olson, from Olson, Bzdok & Howard, who represents the citizen groups in its battles with Nestlé. �In the immediate sense, the decision ignored a model environmental law passed by our legislature and knocked the teeth out of citizens� individual right to protect the environment,� he said.
>
>The CourtÂ?s blow to the right, granted to citizens by the Legislature to bring suits to protect the stateÂ?senvironment, has met with outcry on the editorial pages of most newspapers.
>
>Former Governor Milliken, who with a bipartisan Legislature spearheaded the adoption of the landmark environmental law in 1970, condemned the CourtÂ?s decision in various news articles.
>
>George Weeks, a well-respected political columnist, in an Op Ed, July 29th, described the Michigan Environmental Protection Act as �crippled� by the �the Michigan Supreme Court, which Weeks dubbed as the �Engler Four  justices elevated to that bench or the Court of Appeals by ex-Gov John Engler.�
>
>Michigan Citizens for Water ConservationÂ?s reason for filing the Motion for Rehearing is to give Court an opportunity to reconsider its earlier July 25th decision. Â?It makes no sense to us. The Court says we have standing to prevent the damage to the stream and one lake within the affected area of NestleÂ?s pumping, but then says we donÂ?t have the right to protect the lake and wetlands on NestleÂ?s property, even though these water resources are also harmed and within the same affected area,Â? Terry
>Swier said.
>
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