Letters: SMERA Wrong on DNR

Last month AGENDA published an article which was sponsored by SMERA, an "environmental" group previously unknown to both myself and other environmentalists in this community. SMERA's "Environmental Letter to the People of Michigan" seems to be more concerned with defacing the DNR's efforts to protect Michigan resources than seriously discussing the issues facing Michigan's environment. After reading the article several times, I find it difficult to believe that this group is an environmental group.

The bottom line that I got from the article was that business and the people of the state of Michigan get along fine as long as do-gooders from the DNR don't interfere (with their "haphazard and zany" approach). The article also alleges that the DNR is using their government clout to "clean you (i.e. business) out."

Anyone who is familiar with the DNR realizes how ludicrous these accusations are. The DNR clearly does not have the will or resources to be the smearer of corporations as SMERA alleges. The case of the Detroit incinerator, the largest in the world, illustrated how pro-business the DNR is inclined to be and how powerful corporations still override issues of public safety.

The Detroit incinerator is being built by the same company, Combustion Engineering, which built and has established a disastrous safety record at FERMI I nuclear plant in Monroe, Michigan. The Detroit incinerator would have the absolute minimum environmental protection devices (electrostatic precipitation).

The State of Michigan was faced with a decision of whether or not to allow an incinerator to run that would pose health risks nineteen times greater than anything ever before licensed by the DNR. Combustion Engineering didn't raise any concerns about this and the DNR, far from punishing the company for this, decided to approve the construction.

I therefor question the intentions of Solomon Eagle, author of the "Environmental Letter to the People of Michigan" and I question whether SMERA is really "a group of citizens concerned about responsible maintenance and management of the Michigan environment." I raise these questions because any serious environmentalist would know that a smear campaign against the DNR for allegedly being too tough on corporations is a ludicrous way to work for a clean environment. Who are you, SMERA, and what are you really working for?

Scott Chaplin,

Ann Arbor, MI

ed note: The "article" referred to in this letter was actually an advertisement. AGENDA apologizes for not having identified it more clearly.