The three state Senate candidates for the 23rd District will be involved in an environmental issues debate tonight.

The debate, sponsored by the Central Michigan Group of the Sierra Club, begins at 7 p.m. at the East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbott Road. It will feature state Rep. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, former Democratic Holt Rep. Lingg Brewer and state Rep. Paul DeWeese, R-Williamston, squaring off on public health and environmental issues.

The three men are running to fill the seat of state Sen. Dianne Byrum, D-Onondaga, who is term-limited.

The debate will be the first hosted by the Sierra Club to feature state Senate hopefuls. The organization has endorsed candidates on the national level for many years, said John Veenstra, chairman of the political committee for the Central Michigan Group of the Sierra Club.

Bernero is looking forward to the debate and places the discussion of land-use on his agenda.

“Because the disappearance of open spaces and farmland