Chemistry getting greener at Michigan companies, universities

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – A movement to make chemical manufacturing more environmentally friendly has gained steam and turned Michigan into a national leader. The term “green chemistry” first appeared in the early 1990s, and has gained currency in policy, business and environmental circles, spurring an executive Green Chemistry Program, changes in university courses and influential business initiatives. It’s described as chemistry that is benign toward people and the environment, whether during a product’s manufacture, consumer use or after it’s discarded. It includes anything from corn-based plastic forks to soybean-based inks for printing on paper. “Our program is considered a model in the country,” said Tracey Easthope, the director of the Environmental Health Project at the Ecology Center, an Ann-Arbor-based nonprofit advocacy group.

Wetlands remain in peril, experts warn

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – A large gain in the size of Michigan’s coastal wetlands between 2004-09 may obscure much larger, longer-term losses that are likely to continue, experts say. The Great Lakes region gained 13,000 acres in the five-year period, according to a report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but much of the gains is due to low levels in the Great Lakes. The report highlighted how the rate of coastal wetland loss across the United States is increasing. Public and private efforts to preserve wetlands have also added small gains, but researchers and state regulators cautioned that those gains need to be put in the context of a long-term overall loss of wetlands in Michigan. Chad Fizzell and his colleagues at the Department of Environmental Quality analyzed inventories of wetland coverage from 1978, 1998 and 2005.

Study identifies obstacles to aquaculture expansion

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – Better rules for sustainable fish farms could provide the state with a $1 billion a year industry, according to the Michigan Sea Grant, a coastal conservation research group. The fish farms, collectively known as aquaculture, are few so far, but Michigan’s abundant system of inland lakes, Great Lakes and fresh groundwater means there’s large potential for growth, researchers said. “Michigan probably has the best resources available for this,” said Christopher Weeks, a Michigan State University fisheries and wildlife researcher. “The demand for seafood is projected to rise. The Chinese market alone is expected to increase their consumption by 300 percent by 2030.”
Fish farms work sort of like traditional farms, only fish are raised instead of livestock and crops, and tanks are used instead of fields.

State's workforce down 20 percent in a decade

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – The number of state employees fell by more than 12,000 between 2002 and 2012, a drop of more than 20 percent, according to Civil Service Commission data. There were about 61,500 state employees in 2002, which fell to 47,800 in 2012. That excludes employees of the 15 public universities. The decrease occurred steadily through both Democratic and Republican administrations under Govs. John Engler, Jennifer Granholm and Rick Snyder.

Large state pension gap continues

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – The state government’s obligations to its public employees are increasingly unfunded, according to Senate Fiscal Agency data. The state employees’ pension fund, for example, was about 99 percent funded in 2002. That’s decreased to little more than 60 percent in 2012, leaving a liability of $6.2 billion. That amount could buy the U.S. Navy a twelfth aircraft carrier. Data about the shortfall comes at a time when most public and press attention is focused on the pension liabilities of financially troubled local governments, especially Detroit.

Number of juvenile delinquents in Michigan institutions drops

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – The number of juvenile delinquents committed to Michigan detention centers dropped 41 percent from 1997 to 2011, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit policy research group in Washington, D.C.
The trend mirrors a comparable drop nationally in the same period, said Ryan King, a research director with Pew’s Public Safety Performance Project. The reasons vary. “The real answer is that it’s a state-by-state story,” King said. “Nationally it’s hard to give a consistent answer, but the national drop seems to be a combination of state policy changes, a historic drop in juvenile arrests and, to a lesser extent, demographic changes.”

Policies that keep juveniles in their communities — instead of detention centers — are the top reasons why Ohio, Texas and Connecticut had the biggest drops, he said. Similar reasons are likely behind the change in Michigan, experts say.

Where you live affects your economic opportunities

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – Access to better economic opportunities depends largely on your Michigan ZIP code, according to Opportunity Nation, a Washington-D.C.-based coalition that researches economic issues. A band of lower-opportunity counties stretches from Muskegon County by Lake Michigan northeast to Oscoda County, along with islands of higher-opportunity ones in the Southeast and Northwest Michigan. “Communities really matter, geography matters and for far too many people, where you are born has way too much input in how high you can climb in life,” said Russell Krumnow, the managing director of Opportunity Nation. The group’s Opportunity Index grades counties on their local economies, quality of education and community life. “Generally, opportunity is closely tied to things like unemployment rate and the income of an area,” said Carsten Hohnke, vice president for strategy and policy at the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Little screens may teach skills to teens with autism

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – Video-based teaching methods could change the way Michigan schools educate teens with autism. Videos shown on computers and iPads successfully demonstrated to teenagers with autism how to behave in new social situations, according to the latest research from Michigan State University. Autism is a developmental disorder that hampers a person’s ability to communicate and understand others. Basic milestones in development, such as pointing out an object to someone else, or later milestones such as reading body language or facial cues, can be challenging to teens with autism depending on where they are on the autism spectrum, experts say. Video technologies have proven successful in one-on-one teaching with younger children, experts said.

Plan would add rules for mobile dental care

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – A new bill would add more regulations for “mobile dental facilities” that bring dental services to disadvantaged children. The bill aims to provide better documentation of services and to prevent incompetent practitioners from harming patients, supporters say. “It isn’t meant to stop access because it’s a wonderful service, but to make sure bad apples don’t spoil it by having minimal standards of care,” said Rep. Peter MacGregor, R-Rockford, the lead sponsor. Organizations like Smiles on Wheels and Michigan Dental Outreach work sort of like blood drives, MacGregor said. They use vans to transport much of the equipment found in a dentist’s office to facilities like schools and senior centers.

More trails, more water access recommended in public lands report

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – More public access to forests, lakes and trails are among the goals the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has in store for public lands. A department report details a strategy for increasing recreation, protection for natural resources and economic growth, said Donna Stine, the policy coordinator for the agency. One component is more trails for horse enthusiasts, especially in Southeast Michigan. “We have a large equestrian community and they do like to use our trails,” Stine said. “We have trails in Northern Michigan and some in Southern Michigan, primarily at state parks, but there is a lot of community interest in creating more of them.”
The report calls for connecting and extending 10 existing trails in Macomb, Oakland and Livingston counties.