FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 18, 2018
SPRING LAKE, Michigan — Congressman Bill Huizenga should return campaign contributions from the CEO of Wolverine World Wide, which is facing lawsuits by hundreds of people for contaminating West Michigan water, threatening public health and causing property values to nosedive. Wolverine CEO Blake Krueger gave Huizenga $2,700, maximum allowed individual contribution before the Aug. 7 primary; his wife, Mary, also gave $2,700. The donations to Huizenga – who slashed environmental protection funding and has not acted on the issue – were made in June 2018.
“Across Michigan, corporate polluters are poisoning the water our families drink and now they’re buying their way out of being held accountable,” Davidson said. “West Michigan families will have a hard time believing Congressman Bill Huizenga is looking out for them when he just got thousands of dollars from the CEO of a company that’s blamed for poisoning our water. Regardless of what Congressman Huizenga says publicly about Michigan water, what’s in his wallet is going to speak louder, and this is the kind of corruption that folks are tired of.”
Around 400 people in Michigan are suing Wolverine for the contamination, citing harm to health and property values. The lawsuits say Wolverine poisoned drinking water with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs. Scientists are now raising concerns that PFAs is a major — and underreported — water pollution crisis, contaminating dozens of sites across Michigan, including major rivers such as the Muskegon River. Experts have warned for years about the dangers of PFAs pollution and say PFAs contamination represents the next major water poisoning catastrophe. Their warning remain largely ignored, including their appeals for more funding to tackle the contamination.
Huizenga has repeatedly voted against safeguarding water, air and land protections, including voting to cut funding by $1.9 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency.