Suddenly faced with the pollution dangers of a massive sinkhole in city of Fraser, Macomb County’s new Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller has been appointed to the U.S.-Canadian Great Lakes Commission.
Miller, chosen by Michigan Speaker of the House Tom Leonard to serve on the commission, advocated several Great Lakes projects while serving in Congress from 2003-15. Perhaps chief among those initiatives was securing funding for a high-tech drinking water monitoring system that once stretched from Port Huron, through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River to the Downriver area of Wayne and Monroe counties.
The Great Lakes Commission comprises eight U.S. states that border the Great Lakes, along with two Canadian provinces. The commission promotes clean water, a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem, and a strong economy based on shipping, recreational boating and fishing, and quality beaches and shoreline throughout the Great Lakes system.
The Great Lakes Commission’s board is made up of U.S. members appointed by governors and legislative bodies of the eight Great Lakes states. The bi-national, interstate compact is currently led by Chairman Jon Allan, who serves as director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes.
Fraser sinkhole
Michigan House Speaker Leonard called Miller a “perfect fit” for the commission as she works on new efforts to improve water quality in Lake St. Clair, in a county where major sewer systems and more than 600 storm drains periodically dump into the lake.
“Over the course of my tenure in public service, I have worked on invasive species legislation, water quality monitoring systems, pipeline safety in the St. Clair River and Straits of Mackinac and working on the Great Lakes Compact to prevent the diversion of Great Lakes water outside of the region,” said Miller, a Harrison Township Republican. “There are so many important issues facing our lakes. I look forward to working with the commission to address these issues and more.”
The Fraser sinkhole emerged on Christmas Eve, just days before Miller took office on Jan. 1. While repairs of the broken, underground sewer pipe still await, Miller’s Public Work’s Commissioner’s Office has worked to prevent the dump of raw sewage into the waterways in recent weeks.
In addition, Miller has monitored repairs to a second sinkhole in nearby Lenox Township, located on 26 Mile Road, that could present additional public health hazards. Local authorities continue to wrestle over who is responsible for the sewer collapse in that area near the I-94 freeway.
As wide-ranging repair work approaches on the massive Fraser sinkhole, Miller has taken the unusual approach of calling in the Michigan State Police Bomb Squad to deploy a robot within the two crumbling homes slated for demolition due to the surface sinking.
The State Police robot will create a video inventory inside the two damaged homes, which Miller’s office has vowed to pay for, including furniture, clothing, jewelry and appliances. The families in the area of 15 Mile and Utica Road were given scant time to evacuate with minimal possessions when the underground sewer initially collapsed.
Day late and a dollar short seeing as how they already dumped all the shit from that sinkhole into the lake.