With Michigan’s sagging economy tied to Detroit’s ailing auto industry, many are asking: What is the next big thing that will help to return economic prosperity to the state? To answer that question we can look to the state’s natural resources. Development of natural resources has been a major factor in this state’s economic success. Michigan’s abundant natural resources include extensive forests, oil and gas reserves, commercial mineral deposits and abundant water. The state, long a leader in strong conservation practices, has moved from a conservation ethic that promotes the responsible use of natural resource to a preservation stance that restricts the use of these resources.
The responsible use of natural resources should be encouraged by eliminating roadblocks placed in the way of companies seeking to invest and create jobs. Gov. Jennifer Granholm continues to throw millions of dollars in the form of grants and tax breaks at firms, encouraging them to locate in the state, while at the same time discouraging companies by not reforming a burdensome regulatory regime that makes it difficult — if not impossible — to obtain permits required by state law. The following are examples:
The state should stop throwing money at attempting to attract the "next big thing" that will turn around the state’s economy. The taxpayers of the state would be better served by a shift in attitude on the part of state officials that encourages, rather than discourages, the responsible use of existing natural resources, as well as privatizing those resources the state has demonstrated it cannot effectively manage.
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Russ Harding is senior environmental policy analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the Center are properly cited.
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