Detroit City Council: Protect the Detroit River Now!

Over 1 year ago, a heavily contaminated site collapsed into the Detroit River, causing panic and concern from residents, lawmakers, advocates and other stakeholders who depend on the Detroit River. Now, the Detroit River Protection Ordinance is now being taken up by the Detroit City Council. Send a message and tell the Council to pass it!

The ordinance will:

Prevent future collapse incidents by requiring regular inspections of sites along the river and ensuring that facilities operating along the Detroit River are operating in a safe manner.
Protect Great Lakes drinking water sources like the Detroit River by strengthening emergency response protocols and increasing transparency through the public disclosure.
Provide Accountability. The Detroit River Protection Ordinance will hold bad actors accountable when they put the health and safety of our communities and waterways at risk.

The City of Detroit must do more to protect our communities and our water. That’s why we need the Detroit River Protection Ordinance to pass immediately.

You can sign this petition to Detroit City Council and we ask that you also come out to Detroit City Council Public Health Committee hearing to give public comment in support of the Detroit River Protection Ordinance. This public comment period will happen on Monday May 24th at 10am via this link.

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Pass the Detroit River Ordinance

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Personal messages make a big impact on decision makers. Please add a note about why this issue matters to you!

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The Detroit River Ordinance will protect our river and our communities. As a member of Detroit City Council I am writing to ask that you support it with urgency. With rising water levels and the health of the Detroit River, a drinking water source for millions at risk, a wide coalition of concerned citizens have come together to demand that the city of Detroit take steps to address these gaps in city law. Now, following over a year of rapid response efforts, town halls, meetings with policy experts, legal review, coalition building and consensus building, the Detroit River Protection Ordinance is being reviewed by the Public Health and Safety Standing Committee. We're writing because we'd like to see this ordinance passed swiftly and unanimously. Broadly, the ordinance seeks to do three main things: 1. Prevention. The Detroit River Protection Ordinance will prevent future collapse incidents by requiring the city to conduct regular inspections of sites along the river and by ensuring that facilities operating along the Detroit River are operating in the safest manner. 2. Protection. The Detroit River Protection Ordinance will protect Great Lakes drinking water sources by strengthening emergency response protocols and increasing transparency. 3. Accountability. The Detroit River Protection Ordinance will hold bad actors accountable when they put the health and safety of our communities and waterways at risk. Following continued resident, activist, and media pressure, a number of actions have been taken at a federal and state level. At a state level, Sen. Chang, Sen. Bayer and Sen Geiss have introduced Senate Bills 122, 123 and 124 that will improve rules related to inspections, notification procedures and environmental risk assessments. On a federal level, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence announced $2.9 million in funding to clean up the Detroit River citing the November 2019 collapse. Congresswoman Tlaib has also been working actively with advocates to hold the company accountable. Now is the time to take action at the city level by passing the Detroit River Protection Ordinance. I am asking that you support this legislation in its entirety and work with other colleagues on Detroit City Council to ensure it’s swift and unanimous passage. Thank you very much.