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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 "Delavan Sipes" <delavan1122@comcast.net>
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Apparently Big Business still rules. This decision is a blasphemy on the
Michigan Supreme Court. This is not a judicial decision based on law. This
is a decision based on what Big Business wants, big business
gets--environment, water quality and rights of citizens be damned.
Delavan Sipes
Delavan Sipes
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cyndi Roper" <croper@cleanwater.org>
To: "enviro Mich" <enviro-mich@great-lakes.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 5:42 PM
Subject: E-M:/ Citizens Group Seeks Reversal of Supreme Court's MEPA
Decision
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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 StatesÂ’s highest court, in a 4-to-3 decision, agreed
with lower court rulings that NestleÂ’s groundwater extraction illegally
harmed the lakes, stream, and wetlands. But the Court also reversed part
of the lower courtÂ’s ruling by limiting the citizen groupsÂ’ 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.
“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 Nestle’s property,”
Terry Swier, President of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, said.
“Our air, water, and natural resources do not recognize the legal fiction
of property boundaries when it comes to environmental harm.”
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 CourtÂ’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. “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,” Terry
Swier said.
###
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ENVIRO-MICH: Internet List and Forum for Michigan Environmental
and Conservation Issues and Michigan-based Citizen Action. Archives at
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/
Postings to: enviro-mich@great-lakes.net For info, send email to
majordomo@great-lakes.net with a one-line message body of "info enviro-mich"
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