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Oscoda residents want faster PFAS cleanup at former Wurtsmith AFB

By • Jul 16, 2019
Steve Carmody / Michigan Radio

Chanting “Nine Years, No Plan, No Action,” Oscoda residents rallied on Tuesday outside a town hall meeting reviewing the cleanup of PFAS contamination seeping from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base.

The chemicals are from firefighting foam used by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) for decades. PFAS have been detected not only on the former air field, but in the groundwater and in nearby waterways.

U.S. House of Reps passes defense bill that addresses PFAS clean up

By • Jul 12, 2019
PFAS foam on lakeshore
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality / Flickr http://bit.ly/1xMszCg

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that looks to address PFAS contamination near military bases.

The National Defense Authorization Act has provisions in it that would require the Department of Defense to treat contaminated water that's used for agriculture.

Rep. Kildee disappointed by Trump administration's threat to veto bill that addresses PFAS

By • Jul 10, 2019
PFAS foam on lakeshore
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality / Flickr http://bit.ly/1xMszCg

Congressman Dan Kildee says he's disappointed that the Trump administration wants the president to veto a bill that would address PFAS contamination.

The Trump administration released a statement this week recommending that President Donald Trump veto the annual defense authorization bill. The bill has provisions that would require the Department of Defense to treat contaminated water that's used for agriculture.

Department of Defense wants weaker PFAS cleanup standards, says environmental group

By • Mar 14, 2019
PFAS foam on lakeshore
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality / Flickr http://bit.ly/1xMszCg

Environmental activists are accusing the Department of Defense of trying to weaken proposed new cleanup standards for a group of industrial chemicals.

The New York Times reports the DOD is urging the Trump administration to adopt 380 parts per trillion as the new cleanup standard for PFAS in groundwater.

Defense Department PFAS cleanup funding called 'inadequate' in congressional hearing

By • Mar 6, 2019
steve carmody / Michigan Radio

A Defense Department official told a congressional committee that cleaning up PFAS contamination at current and former military bases carries a hefty price tag.

Residents and local officials urge faster federal action on PFAS at EPA meeting in Kalamazoo

By • Oct 5, 2018
Federal, state, and local officials sitting at a roundtable meeting
Bryce Huffman / Michigan Radio

Officials from the EPA, the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services met in Kalamazoo to discuss PFAS chemicals, but only a handful of selected speakers could ask questions and share their thoughts.

Many of the speakers, including officials from Ann Arbor, Parchment, and Oscoda, want the EPA and other federal agencies to move faster to solve the issue.

Did the federal government spend $21 trillion that wasn’t authorized by Congress?

By • Dec 20, 2017
$100 bill
Vladimir Solomyani / Unsplash

Now that the GOP has gotten its tax reform plan passed, leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan are saying the next item on the agenda is reining in government spending.

Perhaps the work of Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore, his team of graduate students, and a former government official, will give them a place to start.

Skidmore and his team dug into government websites and reports, and they may have found unauthorized spending in the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the tune of $21 trillion from 1998-2015.

Selfridge Air Base aims to become a home for new F-35 fighter jet

By • Jul 11, 2017
Anna Zvereva / FLICKR - HTTP://J.MP/1SPGCL0

Michigan’s strong history in the defense sector dates back to Rosie the Riveter in World War II.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) reports the defense sector supports 105,000 jobs in our state, turning out $9 billion in goods and services.

Michigan wants to continue that tradition by landing the new F-35 fighter jet.

Battle Creek military base may host U.S. missile base

By • Aug 26, 2014
Citizens at a public event in 2015 expressed some concern about making Battle Creek a military target. But more were interested in the potential jobs the missile complex may deliver.
Steve Carmody / Michigan Radio

A decade from now, Battle Creek could be a key component of the nation’s missile defense program. 

Fort Custer is one of several sites in the eastern U.S. being reviewed for an expansion of a missile interceptor system.

Production of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle might be stopped and that is bad news for Michigan

By • Aug 27, 2013
Flickr user MATEUS_27:24&25 / Flickr

Whenever there's conversation and debate about Washington's bloated budgets and out of control federal spending, the Defense Department is frequently in the spotlight.

Now as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down and in the face of demands to cut back spending, the Defense Department is proposing to do just that, by cutting back on something that could hit Michigan companies very hard.

Todd Spangler covers Washington for the Detroit Free Press and he joined us today from D.C.

Listen to the full interview above.

Michigan congressman raises concerns about defense spending

By • Feb 12, 2012
Air National Guard Banner
https://goang.com/

The budget President Obama delivers to Congress this week will spend about 8 billion dollars less on the Defense Department.  That's going to directly affect two Michigan Air National Guard Bases.

Defense Dept cuts contract, costing potential jobs in Michigan

By • Jan 6, 2011

The Secretary of Defense says he wants to cancel a defense contract that would eliminate hundreds of potential new jobs in Michigan. 

The contract would be for an amphibious vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was intended to replace a Vietnam era model. A Sterling Heights based division of General Dynamics is the contractor that has been developing the 40 ton vehicle.

Peter Keating is a company spokesman. He says canceling the program now will cost as much as moving forward with production. 

"We would expect our congressional delegation in Washington DC to take a look at that and in their wisdom decide if it’s something they’d like to support." 

The marine vehicle has been plagued with cost overruns and other problems since the Reagan administration.   Escalating costs prompted the U.S. Marine Corps to cut in half the number of Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles it planned to purchase. Keating insists past problems have been resolved.