A coalition of environmental groups Wednesday joined Democratic Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib in urging the passage of a major infrastructure spending bill.
President Biden is pushing congress to approve a $579-billion deal reached with members of both parties in Congress.
Recent heavy rains and flooding, especially in the Detroit area, prompted environmentalists to join Tlaib in promoting swift passage of the plan.
Christy McGilllivray of the Sierra Club says Michigan needs to invest at least $2.1-billion in wastewater infrastructure. “We need to do this to separate our sanitary and storm sewers to cope with these heavy rain events," McGillivray states. "We need to prioritize grants, not loans, to vulnerable communities.”
In pushing the infrastructure deal, Congresswoman Tlaib says the government must act because the private sector “has failed us over and over again," adding "When I saw Ecorse Creek in Dearborn Heights, which impacts a lot of communities, get up close to nine feet, homes were just completely under water, and famillies again just felt completely helpless."
Michelle Martinez of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition says there’s an immediate need for federal aid to help people impacted by floods in the Detroit area.