Lessenberry essay 11/29/12
Someone once said that Americans will do anything for the environment except read about it or spend money on it.
I thought of that yesterday, when the governor delivered the latest in his series of special messages, this one on the environment.
Rick Snyder said we had to make better use of the resources we have, and called, among other things, for better recycling and for Michigan to develop a strategic national gas reserve.
Pretty much everyone nodded politely at most of what the governor said, though not when he appeared to endorse fracking, at least so far as natural gas recovery is concerned.
However, I would be surprised if anyone in the legislature was still thinking about, much less talking about, what the governor said about the environment a week from now. In fact, the governor’s main priorities seem to be elsewhere, at least for the lame duck session.
But something else is going on in the Capitol that could be highly beneficial to the economic as well as the natural environment: Transportation reform. More than a year ago, the governor proposed a high-speed bus system for Metro Detroit. It was, and is, a great and politically brilliant idea. More than a third of the population of Detroit has no access to reliable private transportation, meaning cars.