Connect with us

Michigan

Michigan mobile home water provider, president accused of falsifying water safety tests

Published

on

Michigan mobile home water provider, president accused of falsifying water safety tests


A water services provider and its president are accused of falsifying water safety and discharge tests for private water systems serving mobile home communities in Michigan, state officials said. 

Douglas Environmental is charged with six counts of forgery and one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. The firm’s president, Brian Powell, 57, of Brighton, is also charged with six counts of forgery and seven counts of safe drinking water violations.

According to authorities, Douglas Environmental provided private water systems for several mobile home communities throughout Michigan, including the following communities: 

  • Moon Lake Mobile Home Park in Shiawassee County
  • Thornapple Lake Estates in Barry County
  • Fenton Harbor Condominiums in Genesee County
  • Hickory Hills Mobile Homes in Calhoun County
  • Green Brook Estates in Livingston County
  • Western Pines in Kalamazoo County
  • Victory Gardens in Genesee County
  • North Bay Mobile Home Park in Genesee County

State prosecutors accuse Douglas Environmental of falsifying water test results at Moon Lake Mobile Home Park, Thornapple Lake Estates and Fenton Harbor Condominiums at least six times in 2023. Between 2020 and 2023, the company is also accused of failing to report water tests that exceeded maximum contaminant levels at Hickory Hills Mobile Homes, Green Brook Estates, North Bay Mobile Home Park, Fenton Harbor, Victory Gardens and Western Pines.

The Michigan DNR investigated Douglas Environmental after the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy discovered data discrepancies between reports and what the company submitted for review, state prosecutors say. 

Advertisement

“Safe drinking water relies on honest testing,” said Nessel in a statement. “Falsifying reports jeopardizes the well-being of residents, and I am grateful for EGLE’s and DNR’s work to uncover and investigate these extremely troubling allegations. My office will continue to prosecute those who put Michiganders’ health at risk.”

Authorities say that based on EGLE’s testing, the public was not harmed by the alleged scheme. 

“It’s deeply disappointing when individuals choose to falsify test results; they undermine the trust that communities place in the systems designed to safeguard them. Michigan residents deserve complete confidence that the water they rely on is safe,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos. 

Powell will appear in the 55th District Court on May 5. 

Advertisement



Source link

Advertisement

Michigan

Police say Oakland County teen missing, endangered

Published

on

Police say Oakland County teen missing, endangered


Authorities are asking for the public’s assistance to find a missing Oakland County teen who is considered endangered.

Adrianna Smith, 15, was last seen in the 3500 block of South Fenton Road, just south of the city of Holly in northwest Oakland County, according to Michigan State Police.

She is believed to have left her home in a 2002 Jeep Liberty with an adult male, possibly a man named Derek Girtman, MSP said.

Advertisement

Smith is described as having blonde hair and green eyes. She is about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 160 pounds. She has one tattoo above her right knee and another on her left ankle.

Anyone with information about Adrianna’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the MSP Metro North Post at either (800) 495-4677 or (989) 370-8926.



Source link

Continue Reading

Michigan

US supreme court sides with Michigan in its fight to shut down ageing pipeline

Published

on

US supreme court sides with Michigan in its fight to shut down ageing pipeline


The supreme court on Wednesday sided with Michigan in ruling that the state’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an ageing pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited too long to try to move the case to federal court.

The case is part of a messy legal dispute about a pipeline that has moved crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953.

Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Enbridge to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4km) section of pipeline under the straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel, a Democrat, won a restraining order shutting down the pipeline from Ingham county judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.

Advertisement

Enbridge moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects US and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the sixth US circuit court of appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024, finding that the company missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.

The pipeline at issue is called Line 5. Concerns over the section beneath the straits rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge engineers revealed they had known about gaps in the section’s protective coating since 2014. A boat anchor damaged the section in 2018, intensifying fears of a spill.

The Michigan department of natural resources under Gretchen Whitmer, the state’s governor, revoked the straits easement for Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the revocation.

Enbridge won a ruling from a federal judge blocking the move, but Whitmer, a Democrat, has appealed to the sixth US circuit court of appeals. In March, the supreme court rejected Whitmer’s appeal claiming that she couldn’t be sued in federal court.

It was unclear how the federal ruling blocking Whitmer’s revocation attempt would affect Nessel’s case in state court. The company said in a statement that the judge in the Whitmer case had already decided federal regulators, not the state, are responsible for Line 5 safety and they had found no issues that would warrant shutting it down.

Advertisement

Enbridge also is seeking permits to encase the section of pipeline beneath the straits in a protective tunnel. The Michigan public service commission granted the relevant permits in 2023, but a coalition of environmental groups and Michigan tribes has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state permits for the tunnel. The state supreme court is weighing that case.

Enbridge also needs approval from the US army corps of engineers and the Michigan department of environment, Great Lakes and energy.

The pipeline is at the center of a separate legal dispute in Wisconsin as well. A federal judge in Madison last summer gave Enbridge three years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation. The company has appealed against the shutdown order to the seventh US circuit court of appeals, but it started work in February to reroute the line around the reservation.

The Bad River Band and environmental groups have filed a state lawsuit seeking to halt the work, arguing regulators have underestimated the damage the reroute construction will cause. That case also is pending.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Michigan

Hockey roundup: Three Michigan State recruits at U18 worlds; Bruins top Sabres

Published

on

Hockey roundup: Three Michigan State recruits at U18 worlds; Bruins top Sabres


play

Three Michigan State recruits will represent Team USA at the world U18 hockey championships in Bratislava and Trencin, Slovakia.

Advertisement

The U.S. opens against Czechia on Wednesday (10 a.m., The Hockey Network).

The future Spartans are: defenseman Nick Bogas (Royal Oak), defenseman Tyler Martyniuk (Washington Township) and forward Brooks Rogowski (Brighton).

Other local commits include: defenseman Abe Barnett (University of Michigan) and goalie Luke Carrithers (Western Michigan).

Team USA’s head coach is Nick Fohr (Dexter) with Kevin Porter (Northville) and Dan Darrow (Livonia) among the assistant coaches.

Advertisement

The tournament features 10 countries with the final scheduled for May 2.

Bruins tie series with Sabres

The visiting Boston Bruins scored three second-period goals and held off a late Buffalo Sabres rally to post a 4-2 win on Tuesday and even their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series at one victory apiece.

Viktor Arvidsson scored in the last two periods, giving the Bruins 1-0 and 4-0 leads. Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha also lit the lamp for Boston, which heads home for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Thursday.

Jonathan Aspirot, Casey Mittelstadt and David Pastrnak each dished out two assists for the Bruins, and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.

Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs scored as Buffalo climbed within 4-2 in the closing minutes.

Advertisement

Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 19 shots before Alex Lyon entered in relief following Arvidsson’s second marker, which came just 16 seconds into the third period.

Buffalo had a 36-26 shot advantage, including 20-8 in the third period, but its power play went 0-for-5. Boston finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage.

The physical contest featured 47 penalty minutes for each team.

Following a scoreless opening period, the Bruins took over in the second, scoring on three of their 11 shots against Luukkonen.

Arvidsson broke the deadlock 4:54 into the middle frame, taking Aspirot’s lob pass in ahead of the defense and beating Luukkonen five-hole with a backhander from the left circle.

Advertisement

A gaffe by Luukkonen helped Boston double its lead with 3:31 left in the period, as Geekie’s high backhanded dump from the far side of center ice eluded him over the glove.

The Bruins’ power play got in on the action 1:41 later. After Geekie’s one- handed keep-in at the blue line extended the play, Zacha tipped in Pastrnak’s shot from the top of the right circle while stationed in the bumper position.

Arvidsson made it 4-0 early in the third, prompting Sabres coach Lindy Ruff to change goaltenders. Aspirot banked a long feed off the boards to set up the play, leading Arvidsson down the left wing to score on a 2-on-1 rush with Zacha.

The Sabres struck twice in a 1:14 span to make things interesting. Byram accepted Beck Malenstyn’s back pass for a wrister from the top of the right circle to break Swayman’s shutout bid with 6:06 left.

Krebs soon made it 4-2, batting down and scoring the rebound of a Rasmus Dahlin point shot that caromed off the post and back into the crease.

Advertisement
play

Detroit Red Wings received six A’s in The Detroit News’ final grades for the 2025-2026 season.

Grades and key takeaways for Finnie, Gibson, Seider, Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat after the Wings’ late collapse.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending