Environment

Being the national hub of the auto industry, Michigan is in a key strategic position to combat global warming through significant reductions in automobile CO2 emissions. By combining reducing energy consumption with a devotion to cultivating renewable energy, our state could indeed be a leader in cutting CO2 emissions and preserving the environment.

My Environmental Plan

* Raise standards in the automobile industry. The automobile was born in Michigan, and Detroit is the leading automobile producer in the country. We have our pulse on which cars are put into the marketplace and can give the auto industry grants or subsidies for producing bio fuel powered cars, solar powered cars, and using other clean energy technology in production.

* Raise the fuel economy standards in automobiles to 50 mpg, which would be on par with the rest of the world in 2016.

* Make walking or bike riding to work affordable for every Michigan family. Often people say they cannot afford to live near their work. I would like to see a $5,000 yearly tax credit for families that live within two miles of their main employer. Living in the suburbs, far away from work, is a personal choice that many people make, and this credit would make it very affordable for people to walk or ride a bike to work.

* Invest in transportation infrastructure such as elevated or underground Metros for cities such as Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Flint. This would provide an attractive and more inexpensive method for those who commute to work, and Metros generally create a great income stream for their city and state if every Metro ticket is taxed a few cents.

* Create a surplus of renewable energy by encouraging Michigan homeowners to cultivate their own solar and wind energy and send extra back to the grid to be resold to the general public and to neighboring states. Government could encourage this by mimicking Germany's buyback program which guarantees a minimum rate of 50 cents per kilowatt hour, guaranteed for the next twenty years, making it worthwhile for the average person to invest in the infrastructure of solar and wind energy. Surplus energy could be sold back, with the eventual goal to create enough surplus energy to export to cities such as Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cleveland and generate an enormous income stream.