In early June, the House Appropriations Committee approved a budget for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that eliminates the hazardous waste management program, reduces overall staffing levels by 8% and slashes General Fund support for DEQ by 15%.

Proponents of the proposals, Subcommittee Chair Rep. John Pastor (R-Livonia) and committee member Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Midland), admitted the cuts were an effort to derail DEQ's attempts to get Dow Chemical to cleanup extensive dioxin contamination along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers. The subcommittee also recommended that all testing for dioxin in Michigan be halted, a recommendation rejected by the full Appropriations Committee.

"Efforts to curtail cleanup efforts are placing the public health of Michigan residents at risk," said Michelle Hurd Riddick of the Lone Tree Council. "The public health of our residents is not for sale-and cannot be used as a bargaining chip in attempts to lower the cleanup cost of businesses that contaminate our communities."

According to testing performed by the DEQ, Midland and the downriver communities along the Tittibawassee River have the highest dioxin concentrations in the state, in some areas exceeding the state standard by 80 times. Dioxin, one of the most toxic chemicals ever tested, causes a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, birth defects, diabetes, learning and developmental delays and endometriosis.

"Rep. Pastor, a wetland developer before becoming a legislator, came to Lansing with an agenda to eliminate the Department of Environmental Quality," said MEC Policy Director James Clift. "It's disturbing that the House Republican Caucus also appears to be embracing that goal."

Eliminating the Hazardous Waste Management Division would result in the layoff of 60 workers and would place a new burden on Michigan businesses by requiring them to seek permits from EPA in Chicago for federal hazardous waste requirements now handled by the state.

Rep. Pastor introduced HB 5813 to eliminate the DEQ by allowing county governments the right to take over all programs. Rep. Moolenaar has introduced legislation (HB 5963) that weakens the cleanup standards for dioxin to a level that would result in more than a ten-fold increase in expected cancer deaths. Governor John Engler placed the current standard in rules before leaving office in 2000.