Large Water Polluters Fight to Keep Taxpayer Subsidy

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[center]Conservation groups note decline in funding puts public health at risk[/center] [center]

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[/center] [left][/left] [center][font "Arial"][#2c3f77][size 2]Contacts:
[/size][/#2c3f77][/font][font "Arial"][#2c3f77][size 2]James Clift, MEC, (517) 487- 9539
Cyndi Roper, CWA (517) 203-0754
Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club (517) 484-2372[/size][/#2c3f77][/font][/center] [left]

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[font "Arial"][size 2]Lansing – Michigan residents would likely face increased health and environmental risks while continuing to subsidize water pollution under a bill being considered Thursday by the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee. The action follows a meeting between the Committee Chair, State Sen. Patricia Birkholz, and the state’s biggest polluters who oppose paying for permits that allow them to discharge waste into the Great Lakes and other waterways. [/size][/font]

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[font "Arial"][size 2]“We are shocked at Senator Birkholz’s proposal to continue making Michigan residents pick up the tab for legal water pollution,” said Cyndi Roper, Clean Water Action’s (CWA) Michigan Director. “This would increase risks to the public health at a time when we should be protecting our water and ending polluter subsidies.” CWA has spoken with more than 300,000 residents about the state’s polluter giveaway. Roper reports that more than 40,000 residents have written their lawmakers saying ‘enough is enough’. “Clearly, their voices are not being heard in the backroom where these proposals are being negotiated,” Roper said. [/size][/font]

[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]Currently, water discharge permits are free for water polluters. The proposed water discharge permit fee would still require more than $4 million in taxpayer subsidies for the program that issues permits and monitors polluters for violations of water quality laws, including the discharge of dangerous toxins such as PCBs, mercury and dioxin. The proposed program will result in a further decline in the effectiveness and frequency of our water quality monitoring and enforcement program, placing the program’s future could in doubt. Michigan’s currently underfunded program has already been placed on a national watch by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. [/size][/font]

[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]“Under current funding levels, polluters are only ‘visited’ once every three to four years – and unannounced inspections to verify levels of toxic discharges at major facilities only occur once every five to six years,” said James Clift, Policy Director of the Michigan Environmental Council. “This lax oversight places public health at risk as we have seen recently with PCB contamination in Lake St. Clair, and dioxin contamination in the Saginaw and Tittabawasee Rivers.” [/size][/font]

[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]“Last week the Governor promoted our Michigan lakes and waterways as critical to our state’s tourism, and this week the Senate Committee is considering shortchanging programs designed to protect those water resources,” said Anne Woiwode, State Director of the Mackinac Chapter of the Sierra Club. “The proposed program is shortsighted, and fails to reflect the value that Michigan citizens place on protecting the Great Lakes.”
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[font "Arial"][size 2]Lansing – Polluters would continue to discharge for free into Michigan’s rivers, streams and lakes under a proposed budget passed by the Senate Appropriation Subcommittee on Environmental Quality on Wednesday. Governor Granholm’s budget had recommended ending the taxpayer subsidy that has been in existence for the last twenty-two years, but the committee rejected it, resulting in an additional $2.6 million dollar cut to the program. [/size][/font]

[font "Arial"][size 2]“Continuation of this subsidy during our current budget crisis is a slap to the face of Michigan taxpayers,” said Cyndi Roper, Michigan Director of Clean Water Action. “Not only do residents have to put up with toxic chemicals in their communities, this budget makes them pay for it.”

Under current law, polluters that dump over one million pounds of toxic chemicals into our lakes and streams get their permits for free. Meanwhile, Michigan taxpayers have paid $5-$10 million a year for the program costs related to issuing permits, monitoring compliance and enforcing permit violations. The Governor’s proposal would have required permit holders to pay users fees in an amount sufficient to operate the program. The Senate version includes some fees, but less than half of the amount necessary according to the Department of Environmental Quality workload analysis.

Due to our current budget crisis, failure to follow the Governor’s recommendation will result in field staff cuts that insure polluters are obtaining required permits and not exceeding their discharge limits. Recent reports have documented the inadequate nature of the current program that results in facilities being inspected only every three or four years, and major facilities are only subject to unannounced sampling inspections every five to six year. [/size][/font]

[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]“The recent PCB contamination of canals in Lake St. Clair Shores, and dioxin contamination of the Saginaw and Tittabawasee Rivers should be a wake up call to our elected officials that our water resources protection programs need to be strengthened,” said James Clift, Policy Director of the Michigan Environmental Council. “Our water resources are too important to ignore, we need to be vigilant in overseeing operations that emit toxic chemicals into out waterways.” [/size][/font]

[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size 2]The budget is expected to see action before the full Appropriation Committee next week. The authorizing fee bill may be before the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday. [/size][/font]
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