Our dunes aren’t just beautiful – they’re the foundation this community is built on, literally. They hold our shoreline together, protect our homes and businesses from erosion, and anchor the tourism economy the lakeshore depends on. And they’re irreplaceable. Once a dune is gone, it’s gone.

The agency standing guard is EGLE – the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. They review the permits. They enforce the rules. They’re the ones who say “not so fast” when a development threatens the shoreline or the water.

And that’s exactly why EGLE sits at the top of the cut list in Lansing: because it slows down corporate developments, like data centers, that want to move fast and skip the questions. Defunding the referee doesn’t end the game – it just means the biggest player always wins.

My plan:

Properly funding EGLE is the single most important thing we can do to protect our dunes – and with them, our homes, our businesses, and our natural wonder. They’re our watchdogs, protecting the one thing we can never get back: our Great Lakes. As your State Representative, it’s my job to protect the people who are trying to protect us.

And when Washington overrules Ottawa County:

Look at the J.H. Campbell coal plant. Our community and our utility planned its retirement for years. Then the federal government stepped in and told us there’s nothing we can do – the plant will be forced to keep running whether we like it or not, with the costs landing on our bills. I’ll be real with you: that’s government overreach, plain and simple. It’s what happens when the coal lobby’s interests count for more in Washington than the people who actually live on this lakeshore. I’ll fight for Michigan’s right to make Michigan’s energy decisions.

We only get one lakeshore. Protecting it isn’t anti-growth – it’s the reason there’s anything here worth growing.