MWAC Past Newsletter
Friday May 23, 2008
In This Issue:
- HELP PROTECT MICHIGANS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS!!!!
- GREAT LAKES COMPACT AND WATER USE BILLS
- PHOSPHORUS BILLS INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
DEADLINE APPROACHING ON DEQ PROPOSAL TO SUSPEND PERMIT REVIEW
IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY, MAKE SURE TO
COMMENT ON THE DEQ’S PROPOSAL TO REDUCE PERMIT
REVIEWS FOR INLAND LAKES AND STREAMS!
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS IS MAY 28TH!
Given their dire lack of funding, DEQ is proposing to suspend environmental review for certain activities on inland lakes and streams, if environmental review and authorization can be provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). As such, DEQ has issued a Public Notice for a Temporary General Permit for Specified Minor Activities Authorized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Lakes and Streams.
Suspending environmental review of minor activities authorized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in lakes and streams will surely result in additional degradation and destruction of our water resources and will likely result in encumbrance for permit applicants. While the intent is to avoid “duplication” of efforts during the permitting process, the review process as currently stands holds little duplication. Not only do the DEQ and ACOE consider permit applications under varying parameters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is notorious for the institutional “rubber stamp” that has resulted in significant resource loss throughout the Country. Comparable environmental review will not actually be provided by the ACOE for the activities identified in the General Permit and, instead, the proposed Temporary General Permit will result in little or no review by regulatory agencies for activities that would otherwise be reviewed.
Additionally, environmental review by the DEQ provides better protection for Michigan’s natural resources than the ACOE review process. The DEQ has professional and knowledgeable agency staff in local offices with the capability of providing on-site review of almost all permit applications and who work directly with permit applicants to reduce adverse impacts to the resource. This process includes assessment of impacts from proposed activities, and allows the least damaging alternatives to be identified and exercised. Such review is essential to ensure protection of our valuable water resources.
Despite the important role that lakes, streams, and wetlands play in defining Michigan’s landscape and contributing to our quality of life, these important resources have been significantly altered by past practices. Ensure that our remaining resources are protected by urging the DEQ to abandon this proposed general permit.
It is also VITAL that your voice be heard by the Michigan Legislature and the Governor, who hold a responsibility to the citizens of Michigan to ensure that programs providing essential protections to our water resources have adequate funding.
The detailed draft GP can be found at www.michigan.gov/deqinlandlakes. Written comments should be submitted directly to: Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Land and Water Management Division, P.O. Box 30458, Lansing, MI 48909-7958 to the attention of Peg Bostwick.
All comments must be received by Wednesday, May 28, 2008.
MICHIGAN HOUSE STARTS PUSH FOR STRONGER WATER, FISH PROTECTION
Water legislation approved by the Michigan House of Representatives sets the stage for a showdown in the House over protection of Michigan’s world-class trout streams, rivers, ponds and the Great Lakes.
Four bills in the House package passed this week; leaving three of the most important bills for a vote at a later date. Members of the Great Lakes, Great Michigan Coalition said the remaining bills are key to a solid package.
The House action comes in the wake of the Michigan Senate’s passage of substandard rules last week. The Senate’s rules would allow 3 percent or more of trout to be killed due to water withdrawals, and reduce some streamflows more than 25 percent with no permit required.
The Senate and House versions mirror one another in several aspects – both largely exempt agricultural irrigation operations from needing permits, and both include passage of the Great Lakes Compact, an eight-state agreement providing minimum protections against large-scale water diversions. The Compact must be approved by all eight states and Congress before it will become law. Michigan is poised to become the sixth state to approve it.
The additional state-level laws are necessary as a backstop in case the Compact is not approved by Congress, and also to protect Michigan-specific interests like world-class coldwater trout streams, a water-dependent agricultural industry, and more than 5 million residents who depend on groundwater for drinking.
CONGRESS INTRODUCES PHOSPHORUS BILLS
Stupak floats plan to reduce algal blooms in Great Lakes - (05/20/2008) Katherine Boyle, E&E Daily U.S.
EPA would have to develop a regional response plan to reduce harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes under legislation Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) introduced yesterday.
H.R. 6017 also would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban household cleaning products with levels of phosphorus greater than 0.5 percent by volume.
"Similar efforts have worked at the local and state level, but a piecemeal approach isn't enough," Stupak said in a statement. "We need a comprehensive plan to address the harmful effects of the excessive nutrients choking off our Great Lakes ecosystem."
The co-chairmen of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force last week introduced a more limited bill aimed at stopping nutrient pollution.
Legislation by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) would require EPA to ban the sale of residential dishwashing detergent with more than 0.5 percent phosphorous beginning in 2010 (E&E Daily, May 16).
Algal blooms can kill aquatic plants and fish and can cause human health problems. The blooms also may foster invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels.
A 2005 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency study estimated dishwashing detergent accounts for nearly 19 percent of the phosphorus entering municipal wastewater systems each year. http://www.pca.state.mn.us/hot/legislature/reports/phosphorus-report.html
The Michigan Wetland Action Coalition (MWAC), a project of Tip of The Mitt Watershed Council, is a network of wetland protection advocates across the state. MWAC is focused on promoting sound wetland protection policies at the state and federal level through education and advocacy.