Remembering environmental champion Skip Pruss

From staff reports

Michigan has lost one of its most valiant defenders and environmental stewards. Northport resident Stanley “Skip” Pruss, a husband, father, grandfather, friend, environmental attorney, clean energy expert and former board chair of Flow Water Advocates passed away from cancer on Sept. 5.

Pruss was the co-founder of 5 Lakes Energy, specializing in energy policy and clean energy system development. Prior to establishing 5 Lakes Energy, he was the director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth and the state’s Chief Energy Officer and served as Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s Special Advisor for Renewable Energy and the Environment. Pruss also served on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee, providing guidance to the Secretary of Energy on energy policy and programs.

“Skip had a remarkable career as a public servant and public interest advocate for over 40 years. Like all of us, he endured setbacks, but he never lost hope or faith in a better outcome next time,” wrote Flow Water Advocates executive director Liz Kirkwood. “This earnestness, Skip’s belief that facts would carry the day, and his persistence in the face of opposition, endeared him to us and inspired us.”

Pruss left lasting gifts to Michiganders, in the form of environmental victories.

In what turned out to be the culmination of his career, he helped put together the arguments that persuaded the Michigan Supreme Court on July 31, by a 6-1 vote, to uphold both the public trust doctrine and the Michigan Environmental Protection Act as tools in defense of the Straits and Michigan’s environment in general.

As an assistant attorney general, he helped negotiate the historic $172 million settlement of the Ludington Pumped Storage litigation against Consumers Energy and DTE in 1994. Through its turbine blades, the pumped storage facility was destroying 181 million fish per year, causing millions of dollars of damage to the fishery. One of the claims settled was based on the public trust doctrine. The state, led by Skip, argued that the owners of the plant should compensate the people of Michigan for damages to public trust resources.

The settlement established the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, which turned 60 miles of waterfront property owned by the utilities over to the state, and provided for public access at all DTE and Consumers Energy power plants on the Great Lakes. It also required seasonal barrier nets to minimize fish losses.

He helped then-State Senator Lana Pollack craft the 1990 “polluter pay” law, which captured more than $100 million in payments from parties that contaminated Michigan’s environment.

He was part of a successful defense of Michigan’s nationally celebrated Wetland Protection Act in 1998. He argued for the state, successfully validating the law as a tool for protection of millions of acres of wetlands.

At Flow Water Advocates, Pruss served as board chair, and then close advisor and colleague on clean energy, the effort to shut down Enbridge Line 5 at the Straits of Mackinac, septic and water infrastructure legislation, and the value of the public trust doctrine.

It was the public trust doctrine that provided the common ground for him and Flow. Pruss firmly believed that the doctrine and the Michigan Environmental Protection Act were not just policy statements that could be ignored by private parties and state agencies at their discretion. Instead, he viewed the doctrine as a bedrock principle that imposes mandatory duties on the government to act as trustees of natural resources for the public.

In government, Pruss served in many roles. Under former Governor Jennifer Granholm, he was a cabinet member and director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth, as well as the chief energy officer for the State of Michigan. There, he was responsible for designing and implementing Michigan’s clean energy economy and diversification efforts.

Earlier in his career, Pruss served as Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. He was also a co-founder of 5 Lakes Energy LLC, a clean energy technology consultancy.

“We gently teased Skip about his use of words like ‘cognate’ and ‘internecine’,” wrote Kirkwood. As the DNR-DEQ-EGLE retirees said in a tribute to Skip, “He was famous for working the word ‘prophylactic into many of his filings!!” As always, Skip was a good sport, laughing along with us.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released the following statement on the passing of Skip Pruss:

“Skip was a passionate public servant, brilliant attorney, and champion for Michigan’s environment whose legacy at and with the Department of Attorney General spanned decades. While his tenure at this Department predated my time in office, we leaned on his wisdom and commitment to the Great Lakes through his work with 5 Lakes Energy and FLOW. There is no doubt that our state is cleaner and safer for generations to come because of him. My heart goes out to his family, friends, and all who had the privilege of working alongside him. We will honor his legacy by continuing the work he dedicated his life to achieving.”