Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

November 13, 2008

Environmental group initiates defense fund

Friday concert at Opera House is fundraiser

By MELISSA DOMSIC

Environmental Fundraiser Concert

What: Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council is hosting a concert to raise money for its environmental defense fund.

When: 7 p.m. Friday.

Where: City Opera House, 106 E. Front. St. in Traverse City.

Tickets: General admission is $20, with discounts for children, students and seniors.

More information: Call 946-6931, or visit www.nmeac.org.

TRAVERSE CITY -- Local environmentalist Greg Reisig wishes he could have done something two years ago to stop a waterfront hotel from bulldozing West Grand Traverse Bay in violation of state wetlands laws.

Reisig, chairman of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, or NMEAC, said he could have prevented some of the damage with a temporary restraining order, but the organization didn't have the money.

NMEAC's environmental defense fund should fix that.

"Sometimes in the past we've reacted to environmental violations and environmental problems after the resource has been destroyed," Reisig said. "We want to stay ahead of the game and have a fund to file a restraining order to keep a bulldozer out of the bay, for example, at Cherry Tree Inn."

Reisig hopes to collect $50,000 to $100,000 for a recently created program to pay for legal costs and help support NMEAC and other area environmental groups. Several thousand dollars already have been collected, and the organization expects to raise more money at a concert on Friday.

NMEAC can't just expect state agencies, like the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, to immediately fix every problem, Reisig said.

"More and more local environmental action is going to have to be taken, given that the DEQ has been cut so sharply," he said.

The environmental defense fund will allow NMEAC to file law suits against companies that release pollutants, or developers who damage the environment. The money also will be available to help other citizens and local organizations facing environmental challenges.

"As the oldest environmental group in the region, we kind of have a head start on some of the new ones," said M'Lynn Hartwell, NMEAC member.

Hartwell hopes to use some NMEAC funds to organize information for use by other environmentalists working on different projects or cases.

Attorney Jim Olson has worked with NMEAC for about 30 years, and his firm has taken cases on a pro bono basis for the nonprofit group.

"The establishment of a legacy fund will memorialize the work that NMEAC has done to protect northern Michigan quality of life in the last 30 years by insuring that the work will continue into the future," Olson said. "Every citizen will benefit from this because it will allow ordinary citizens to work with NMEAC and the experts they need to bring to the attention of local governments and state government issues of concern early on in the process."

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