CLOSUP publications

In this chapter, we look at how American attitudes about fossil fuels have changed over the last decade. We use time-series data to consider shifts in support for phasing out coal-fired power plants altogether and for so-called “clean coal,” as well...

This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders on issues related to election administration in their jurisdictions, including problems encountered, worker recruitment and training, updating voting equipment, and potential...

Since the enactment of the Clean Water Act in 1972, waters in the United States have continually improved in quality. However, wetlands—and what constitutes a “navigable” waterway—have not been clearly deemed jurisdictional or not by the CWA....

In recent years, food policy in the U.S. has begun to address some of the implications of the industrialization of agriculture and the lack of food security. As it expands to include more voices and overlapping interests, the potential for...

The connection of food systems to the urban environment cannot be ignored as cities require outside production to provide the bulk of resources needed to sustain their residents’ physical, social, and economic needs. Literature suggests that food...

The excessive generation of greenhouse gases by fossil fuel electricity production, and its resulting contribution to climate change, are some of the most threatening environmental issues today. To combat this problem, many US states have adopted a...

Climate change mitigation policies are often politically challenging to implement; this is especially true in the U.S. where carbon-pricing mechanisms are a political non-starter across both federal and sub-federal levels of government. While...

In the United States, there is a growing concern about the negative impacts of single-use plastic bags on human health and the environment. Several local and sub-national governments have implemented bans on the use of plastic bags as a result of...

According to IPCC models, it will be impossible to prevent global temperatures from rising two degrees above preindustrial levels without the deployment of negative emissions technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which remove carbon...

This report presents Michigan local government leaders’ assessments of their jurisdictions’ fiscal conditions and the actions they plan to take in the coming year given their financial situations. The findings are based on responses from nine...

Net energy metering (NEM), the policy that allows utility customers with onsite electricity sources such as solar panels or small wind turbines to sell excess energy they generate back to the electric grid, has played a significant role in the...

This report presents Michigan local government leaders’ assessments of issues related to citizen engagement with their local governments, and the role that citizens play in the local policymaking process. The findings in this report are based on...

In fall 2016, school officials from four Michigan communities with utility-scale windfarms were contacted requesting interviews. We interviewed with four officials from three of these communities. The officials included financial administrators and...

This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding concerns over state government preemption of local decision making and preferred areas of shared and separate policy authority between local and state government. The...

This report presents findings from the Spring 2017 National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) fielded just prior to President Trump’s June 2017 announcement to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 international climate agreement negotiated in...

This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the relationships between their local jurisdictions and the State government, including particular factors that affect State-local relations, how those relations...

Local governments in the state and across the country are trending towards outsourcing services to private companies. Although many of these services currently outsource to legal or technical companies to fill knowledge gaps among public employees,...

This policy research paper explores the issues of public mass transportation in the region of West Michigan. It considers the current state of public mass transportation in the region. An effort is made to look for and uncover disparities between...

On September 9th, 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau released a report outlining state government tax collection by category.1 Michigan ranked top ten out of all fifty states in the category of property tax rates. In addition, Michigan’s “lost decade” has...

Michigan enrolls roughly 300,000 students in its fifteen public universities every year,1 but many of these students will never work or reside in Michigan after graduation. The state is currently experiencing a mass exodus of highly skilled young...

An epidemic has silently swept across America with no regard for race, location, or socioeconomic status. The recent opiate epidemic, characterized by the sudden surge in usage among Americans, is considered the most fatal drug crisis recorded in...

It seems strange, that of all the cities, towns, and communities across America, Kalamazoo, Michigan would be chosen to make history in education. The relatively small city with the funny name, famous for innovations in the pharmaceutical field and...

With 2014’s Agricultural Act, otherwise known as the “Farm Bill” signed by President Obama at Michigan State University, there was a new doubling-down on federal subsidies as well as a new investment in young, beginner farmers. This is in response...

Michigan’s roads are an expensive and continuously problematic policy area that lawmakers cannot seem to find solutions for. Michigan’s roads are now among the nation’s worst. More than a third of the state’s roads are included in a rating of poor...

An increase in toll road/booth political legislation would be advantageous for the repair, construction, and improvement of the Michigan road system. After review of a multitude of CLOSUP surveys, academic articles, and media outlets, poor road...