MDEQ Budget Compromise
Continues to Underfund Environmental Protection
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For
Immediate Release:
July 17, 2003
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Contacts:
James
Clift, MEC (517) 487-9539
Cyndi Roper, MEC (517) 490-1394
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Lansing,
MI – Michigan environmentalists today criticized yesterday’s
budget deal between Governor Granholm and the Legislature,
saying program cuts mean the state’s waters and other
natural resources and the public health are being shortchanged.
The budget includes only $56 million in general fund support,
a nearly 50-percent cut from just two years ago.
“Environmental
protection receives substantial lip service in Lansing, but
when it comes to providing the funding necessary to protect
our environment this budget falls far short,” said James
Clift, Policy Director of the Michigan Environmental Council.
“Elected officials in Michigan need to pass budgets that
reflect the value of Michigan’s precious natural resources
to ensure the state’s long-term economic viability.”
Among
the funding gaps is the substantial shortfall in dollars for
the state’s key water protection program, the National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The budget
compromise includes only $3 million in water pollution discharge
fees despite Governor Granholm originally proposing $7.2 million
in fees. Those fees would have completely eliminated taxpayer
subsidies for essential program operations. In contrast, Illinois
recently enacted $25 million in water discharge fees to help
fund its water program and to help offset other budget shortfalls.
Earlier
this month, residents of St. Clair Shores were concerned about
the thoroughness of the EPA’s recent $6 million PCB cleanup
so they paid for and conducted their own sampling for PCBs
in local canals and stormdrains. Although the EPA removed
the PCBs to a level of 1 part per million (ppm), the citizen
sampling results found up to 1,000 ppm remaining in the cleanup
zone.
“It
appears state lawmakers are satisfied with a system that increasingly
forces Michigan residents to monitor pollution sources in
order to protect themselves and their families from toxic
exposures,” said Cyndi Roper, Michigan Director for Clean
Water Action. “The legislature and the Governor seem
content to give polluters their ‘permission slips’
to pollute but they are turning their backs on the real funding
needs, which include monitoring, enforcing and eliminating
the toxic discharges.”
