Environment

Virg's Record

Virg Bernero is one of Michigan’s most environmentally progressive mayors and will bring a powerful commitment to protecting Michigan’s air, water and land resources as our next governor.

As Mayor of Lansing, one of Virg’s first official actions was to establish the Greater Lansing Go Green Initiative and hire the city’s first full-time environmental coordinator. At the same time he signed the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accepted the US EPA Energy Star Challenge to reduce energy usage by 10%, and issued an Executive Order requiring the City of Lansing to adopt a series of measures to conserve energy and utilize alternative, renewable resources to reduce the city’s dependence on foreign oil. He established the city’s first Renewable Portfolio Standard, setting an ambitious goal of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Virg has also worked with community leaders in Lansing to make the city more walkable and bikeable, earning Lansing national recognition.

Virg has also been a forceful and effective leader in improving the water quality of Lansing area watersheds through the city’s Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) separation project, which he expanded to include innovative, award winning urban rain gardens that naturally filter contaminants from storm water runoff before it can reach our rivers. He also directed the City’s Public Service Department as they sought out and remediated dozens of point source sewage outfalls that were contributing to the pollution of the Grand River.