Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/capital-news-service/page/27/)
Capital News Service is a wire service at Michigan State University covering state government - issues and personalities.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is awarding almost $300,000 in its latest round of grants to counties and businesses to clean up 17 scrap tire sites and hold community events where people can bring tires for disposal.
By YANAN CHEN
LANSING– Several Michigan colleges and universities have made a national list of 311 green campuses. The list includes Grand Valley State University, Western Michigan University, Aquinas College, University of Michigan and Kalamazoo College. And according to the guide, when students chose colleges or universities, they look not only into academic levels but also consider whether the schools are committed to going green. The roster was compiled by Princeton Review, an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The guide was based on factors such as whether students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable, how well a school is preparing students for employment in the economy and how environmentally responsible a school’s policies are.
State agencies are striving to prepare Michigan’s recreational areas for the upcoming summer.
Michigan has five operating ethanol plants and two under construction.
But just what proportion of the state’s corn should be used to make ethanol?
Corn growers insist that criticism that biofuels will increase food prices is misplaced.
Michigan’s travel agency is pushing the state’s natural resources in a bid for tourists.
Efforts are also underway to promote agri-tourism, including the use of mobile phone applications that direct tourists to markets.
Proposed legislation could keep wind turbines out of the Great Lakes, and that’s good — or bad — depending on perspective.
Of Michigan’s 19 million acres of forest land, 8.4 million have private, non-industrial owners. Those owners mostly want the land for recreation or aesthetics, but few actively manage their forests for those uses.
With more than 335 state-sponsored vanpools and escalating gas prices, the Michigan Transportation Department predicts that van commuting will gain popularity.
A new Senate bill would prohibit the state from imposing mitigation requirements on some road projects that damage wetlands.
Proponents say lower operating costs helps government free up money to help build new businesses.
Rooftop solar panels and an underground geothermal network are among the energy-saving efforts made by Farmington Hills.