Michigan House of Representatives mulls moratorium for roadside Television on a Stick

Update:

OK, so maybe this billboard's not in Michigan. So what?

Legislation to put, effectively, a one-year moratorium on the construction of brightly lit digital billboards in Michigan has cleared a State House of Representatives committee, but is stalled on the House floor as supporters try to rally the 56 votes needed for passage.

In the meantime, the City of Walker – outside of Grand Rapids – has chosen a prudent course. They’ve put their own six month halt on the monstrosities to try and get out from under an avalanche of industry requests for digitals. Industry wants to get the requests in under the wire in case the legislation goes through.

More cities are banning or slowing the spread of the digital distractions.

If I had my way, we’d go the route of Maine, Hawaii and some other state I can’t remember that have banned billboards altogether.

That idea raises the hackles of lobbyists for out-of-state billboard companies who are crawling all over the State Capitol in Lansing as we speak to ensure Michigan’s legislation dies.

It also raises the hackles of well-meaning libertarians and right wingers and others who see a ban as an infringement on the rights of billboard companies and advertisers. I could make some very reasonable, well thought out arguments why our rights to see the landscape should trump their right to clutter it up. But I don’t feel like being reasonable.

###

First U.S. offshore wind farm approval a wake up call for Michigan policy makers

The nation’s first offshore wind farm is on its way to reality in Cape Cod after federal approval announced today: http://bit.ly/9chQXH

The Michigan Environmental Council says the Cape Cod decision should be a wake up call for Michigan legislators to get busy creating strong and sensible guidelines for wind farms in the Great Lakes: http://bit.ly/9NQXjn

In Michigan, no offshore wind projects have been formally proposed. But informal plans have already mobilized plenty of opposition from local who would rather not see turbines in their Great Lakes. Many of these NIMBY (not in my backyard) groups have adopted “environmental” names and themes. But I think it’s important to point out that, to my knowledge, no established Michigan environmental organization opposes wind turbines in the Great Lakes.

Most environmental groups, even Scenic Michigan www.scenicmichigan.org recognize that there are viewscapes, sensitive ecological areas and special places where turbines should not be permitted. But, overall, they serve the greater good.

We tolerate ugly overhead power lines, chunks of land marred by electric substations, and junction boxes in our neighborhoods as the tradeoff for reliable, cheap electricity from coal. We can tolerate turbines in some areas of the Great Lakes for the same reason – with the added advantage that turbines have none of the coal pollution that sickens our children, poisons our air, makes our fish unsafe to eat and changes our climate.

The Cape Wind project overcame NIMBY resistance from the powerful Kennedy family. The Kennedys are typically strong environmental advocates. But just not in their backyard, one supposes.

The decision is one more step in the slow but steady progression of sensible energy policy in the U.S.
###

Litter on a stick: Trying to get some breathing room on rush toward weapons of mass distraction

Today’s New York Times highlights attempts in Michigan to place a temporary moratorium on digital electronic billboards: http://nyti.ms/dc4sdI.

The idea is to slow down the digital rush while data regarding their level of driver distraction and safety can be analyzed.

Michigan is second only to Florida in the number of billboards, otherwise known as “litter on a stick.” Although Michigan has a cap on the raw number of billboards, it hasn’t stopped the industry from converting them as fast as possible to ever-brighter, and ever-changing digital versions. You’ve probably seen them: “Televisions on a stick.”

Nor has the cap stopped enterprising lawmakers from trying to circumvent the cap with bad legislation, sometimes written specifically for individual campaign donors so that they can keep illegal signs.

Groups like Scenic Michigan www.scenicmichigan.org are fighting to keep the billboards at bay. I’m on the organization’s Board of Directors. Last year, we were successful in derailing a piece of bad legislation that would have potentially opened the door to hundreds of new billboards currently prohibited under the cap.

Billboards don’t make my purist's Top Ten list of environmental challenges facing Michigan. But I believe that the way we treat our view from the highway is indicative of how we treat our state’s natural treasures.

Frankly, they’re ugly. They diminish and cheapen the image and value of the communities and properties that surround them. And they’re unnecessary. Four states, Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska and Maine have billboard bans.

House Bill 5580 is currently in State Rep. Rebekah Warren’s Great Lakes and the Environment Committee. It doesn’t ban digital billboards. Nor does it reduce the number of billboards. It’s just lets us take a deep breath and consider whether lighting up the landscape with these things is safe, or even sane.

We already are challenged by multiple distractions on the road: cell phones, radios, gps systems, etc. But billboards, especially digital ones, are the ONLY distractions whose sole intention is to take our attention off the road.

You can quickly find your state representative here http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp

Let ‘em know what you think.

###