Lake Huron Basin Update - U.S. Side
Governor Granholm Vetoes ‘Polluter Relief Bill’
By Michelle Hurd Riddick, Lone Tree Council
The Saginaw News chose an unfortunate
headline (“Cleanup bill nixed”) to lead
their coverage of Governor Granholm’s
(MI) recent veto of a bill that would have
let polluters off the hook for dioxin
cleanup in the Tittabawassee River
watershed. House Bill 4617 is anything BUT
a cleanup bill. This Trojan horse piece of legislation is not a cleanup
bill and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
rightly defined it as a “Polluter Relief Act.” In paragraph three of her
press release on the veto, the Governor points out the devil hiding in
the detail of the legislation.
Governor Granholm states,“In addition to these deficiencies, House
Bill 4617 is poorly drafted, containing incomplete citations to
administrative rules. These technical problems were identified by
the Department of Environmental Quality yet were ignored during
the legislative process. These technical omissions have
consequences. By referencing the incorrect rules, this legislation
would foreclose the ability of the state to protect surface water from
contamination, increasing health risks for homeowners and
Michigan’s environment.”
The failure to include the administrative rules in the bill would have
eliminated the soil and sediment contact criteria for dioxin.With the
sweep of the legislative pen these bills would eliminate the 90 parts
per thousand soil contact criteria for dioxin.
These incomplete citations and administrative rule omissions in HB
4617 were not limited to just dioxin. It includes a lengthy list of
chemicals harmful to people and all biota. One section omitted lists
the rules (exposure/transport pathways) that DEQ must consider in
a generic residential cleanup.The omission of the rules for soil direct
contact and sediment cleanup would prevent the DEQ from
considering any of these criteria for generic residential cleanups. In
addition, the omission of another rule could mean the DEQ would be
unable to require response activity to address other risks (such as
food chain contamination) that are not ordinarily factored into
generic cleanup criteria.
Michigan is the only state entirely in the watershed of the Great
Lakes. Either the Great Lakes are a national treasure to be protected
or they are not. Either public health matters or it does not.
Governor Granholm did not nix a cleanup bill. She defended
public health and our water resources.
DEQ and EPA sampling demonstrate that dioxin is pervasive in very
high concentrations along 52 miles of river and floodplain in the
Saginaw Bay Watershed, Michigan’s largest watershed. These rivers
empty into the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. For more information go
to www.trwnews.net.
To be added to the Dioxin Update List, please e-mail Michelle,
michdave@aol.com and ask to be added to the list.
2006 Important Year for Wetlands
Beach Dooming
After the low water years of 2000 and 2001 a group of
property owners upset about the presence of emerging coastal
wetlands convinced the Michigan legislature to pass “beach
grooming” amendments. Unfortunately, these amendments
amounted to the first substantial weakening of the Michigan
Wetland Protection Act in its over 25 year history.The one silver
lining in that dark cloud was a “sunset provision”that called for
the amendments to only be in effect until December 31, 2006.
The same property rights group that pushed for the original
amendments will likely be pushing to remove the sunset
provision, and it will be critical for grassroots advocates to
remind legislators of the importance of protecting our
coastal wetlands. Stay tuned to this column throughout 2006
for more.
Disclaimer:
The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.
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