House Bill Aims to Remove State Power, Puts Great Lakes Protections at Risk
Governor Snyder campaigned on a commitment to protect the Great Lakes. This week, he could handcuff his own ability to protect them.
If Snyder signs into law House Bill 4326, it would restrict him and state agencies—including the Department of Environmental Quality—from creating any regulations stricter than those already in place at the federal level.
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Preventing Michigan from creating protections stricter than federal law is simply bad policy. Our state needs the ability to go above and beyond federal standards to protect it. We can't be kept to the same standards as other states who do not have the responsibility of stewarding over 20% of the world's freshwater.
Federal regulations are only intended to be the lowest standard that states must meet. “This law assumes that rules written in Washington for waters in other states are good enough to protect our Great Lakes. They are not," says James Clift, of the Michigan Environmental Council.
For example, in 1976, Governor Milliken issued a rule that limited the amount of phosphorus flowing into Lake Erie at a time when algae blooms threatened the survival of the Lake and the legislature was taking no action. His requirements were stricter than existing federal standards, and they are credited with saving the Lake. These rules have since been adopted by the Michigan legislature.
Yet, supporters of HB 4326 say critics miss the point. They say this bill is not environmental in scope, but intended to reform a current government process that has taken away the responsibility of elected officials to write laws and vested it with “unaccountable bureaucrats.”
In addition, they say HB 4326 will create jobs for businesses, and return power to elected officials, who they claim are unlikely to allow their constituents to be harmed if there is an imminent threat to public health or the environment.
Yet, according to a recent Washington Post article, “it’s a complex story of what happens when regulations written in Washington ripple through the real economy. Some jobs are lost. Others are created. In the end, say economists who have studied this question, the overall impact on employment is minimal.”
While it’s true that elected officials should be accountable to their constituents’ health and environment, many legislators do not have the science-based background to propose environmental regulations without checks and balances from the DEQ. Those “unaccountable bureaucrats” are trained geologists and Great Lakes specialists; they should be allowed to make scientific rules specific to Michigan.
Additionally, there are plenty of examples to point to when state legislators have not acted in the best interest of their constituents' health and environment.
We need the Michigan DEQ to be allowed to make standards stricter than federal laws. Michigan citizens know better than anyone that the Great Lakes need these unique protections.
