Stopping BP’s dumping scheme
In 2007, BP announced plans to increase its dumping of toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan. Within three weeks, we had gathered 80,000 petition signatures and BP backed down under what the Chicago Tribune called a “firestorm” of criticism.

Protecting Michigan’s last wild lands
In 2008, Carney Fen—2,326 pristine acres of forest and marsh in the Upper Peninsula—was saved from logging and encroaching development. The decision caps a longstanding preservation effort by Environment Michigan and our allies.

Preserving the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes Compact, passed in 2008, will ensure that water from the lakes is used more sustainably. Environment Michigan and our allies helped to build support for the agreement, and our advocates in Washington helped to push it through Congress.

Preventing toxic mercury pollution
Thanks to our advocacy, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced in 2006 that she would require coal-fired power plants to reduce their mercury emissions by 90 percent, a major step toward addressing mercury contamination in Michigan’s waterways and fish.

Repowering Michigan with clean energy
We could be getting much more of our energy from clean renewable sources, like the wind and the sun. New tax credits for renewable energy, backed by Environment Michigan and approved by Congress in 2008, will help to move us in the right direction.

Keeping Michigan’s waters safe from drilling
In 2005, Environment Michigan staff and a coalition of organizations secured a permanent federal ban on future oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes.

Stopping sewage dumping
In 2005, we won a major victory for clean water by convincing the EPA to withdraw its “sewage blending” policy. The plan would have allowed the government to cut corners when treating raw sewage before discharging it into Michigan waterways.

Stopping the sale of our precious parklands
In 2006, 8,000 citizens joined us to ask Gov. Granholm to protect our public lands from logging, mining and development. As a result, the state passed laws curbing sales of parkland and recently protected new wilderness areas in Algonac Prairie and Savanna.

Defending the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Some 123,000 Porcupine caribou will migrate to their calving grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this spring, thanks in part to our steadfast opposition to oil company attempts to open this pristine wilderness to oil drilling.

Bringing change to Washington, D.C.
In 2008, voters elected the most pro-environment president and Congress in recent memory. As part of Environment America Voter Action, we talked to more than one million voters about the environmental records of Barack Obama and the 29 congressional candidates we endorsed—all of whom were elected.