LANSING- Last week Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) stood on the floor of the Michigan Senate and fought for funding to support the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the work they do to protect Michigan’s environment. Brater asserted that the department has been chronically underfunded, and proposed amendments to the DEQ budget bill that would help the department properly do its job.

“We have a responsibility not only to ourselves and our children, but to future generations to protect these ecosystems. We should not do anything to hamper the ability of the department to protect the environment,” said Brater. “We give the department enough money to issue permits but not enough money for monitoring and enforcement to make sure those permits are being complied with.”

Brater’s amendments would allow trained professionals at the DEQ to continue to oversee important projects such as wetland protection and reduction of pollutants in Michigan’s waterways. She urged legislators to stop raiding funds set aside for contaminated site clean-up and allow DEQ dollars to be spent protecting human health and the environment.

“The State of Michigan is the only state entirely within the Great Lakes Basin,” said Brater. “When we talk about the DEQ in Michigan, we’re talking about a huge responsibility that has worldwide implications. We’re talking about protecting twenty percent of the world’s fresh water. We’re not giving the department enough money to do its job.”

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State Senator Brater represents Senate District 18 which includes the cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Chelsea, the Villages of Barton Hills and Dexter, and the following townships: Ann Arbor, Augusta, Dexter, Freedom, Lima, Lyndon, Northfield, Salem, Scio, Sharon, Superior, Sylvan, Webster and Ypsilanti. She serves on the Appropriations Committee and is Democratic Vice Chair of the subcommittees on Natural Resources, Environmental Quality, and Judiciary and Corrections and is a member of the Higher Education Subcommittee.