In these days of extreme partisanship, it's important to remember a time when agreement on some of the most critical Michigan issues spanned party divisions. When I signed into law the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) on July 27, 1970, I shared the moment with Democrats, including the legendary State Rep. Tom Anderson. Tom was a true conservationist who chaired a key House committee and sponsored many of the landmark conservation laws of the 1970s, including MEPA.
Democrats like Tom Anderson and many Republicans agreed on the need for this law, which empowered all citizens of the state to go to court to prevent or stop pollution, impairment or destruction of natural resources.
So I was profoundly disappointed when, this summer, a narrow 4-3 majority of the Michigan Supreme Court in effect struck down the key provision of MEPA. These four justices said the Legislature never had the power to confer standing to sue on citizens. In one decision, the Court struck down 37 years of settled law. On Sept. 28, the same 4-3 majority once more reached the same conclusion in refusing to rehear the case.
Like many others who have studied the history of this law and its implementation, I strongly disagree with the majority's reasoning and its ruling. MEPA is rooted in sound constitutional and legal principles. The Constitution was adopted in 1963 by "we the people." It implements the Constitution's call for the legislature to "provide for the protection of the air, water and other natural resources of the state from pollution, impairment and destruction."
Equally important, it helps keep government honest and our environment clean by providing a route for citizens to take action on behalf of the state's paramount public concern for our environment, as declared by the Constitution, when agencies won't.
What is to be done?
To fully secure the right of citizens to protect the environment, Michigan's Legislature and voters themselves must approve a constitutional amendment that once and for all assures this right. When fixed in the Michigan Constitution, empowerment of citizens to take action for our natural resources will no longer be subject to being struck down by the courts.
Such an amendment, I believe, would be even more useful if it places in the Constitution a key term in MEPA -- "the public trust." This ancient principle of common law deserves constitutional status. The public trust is the common heritage of human kind -- especially the waters that we share and which are so vital to our history and future.
The Legislature should act to put this amendment on the ballot in 2008. Citizens should not be required to gather the signatures needed to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. If the proposal does land on the ballot, no doubt special interests will be tempted to spend money to keep the public from protecting both our natural resources and a fundamental right. I am confident the public interest and the common-sense value of this reform, however, will prevail.
Generations of Michigan citizens have shown they are up to the challenge of defeating any odds for conservation. I am hopeful we will do so again. MEPA has been one of our most powerful conservation tools and should be restored.
William G. Milliken, of Traverse City, is a former governor of Michigan.
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