Bill would limit science Michigan uses to regulate toxic cleanups

Young’s Environmental workers dig into a hillside on House Street NE in Belmont, Mich., where Wolverine World Wide dumped tannery waste on what’s now MDOT property. Photo taken Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. Barrels containing tannery waste and animal hides were discovered on the property. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) (Neil Blake | nblake1@mlive.com)

LANSING, MI — New legislation has sprouted in lame duck session that public health advocates say would lock Michigan environmental regulators into using potentially outdated science when deciding how much cleanup a toxic contamination site requires.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to hear SB 1244 this week during meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Among other things, it would curb the state’s ability to consider scientific studies on the health impacts of toxic chemical exposure beyond those used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmental policy experts call the bill an end-run around a years-long process underway at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to update the safety thresholds known as criteria values that regulators use to oversee cleanup at pollution sites.

The bill also appears to incorporate elements of stalled legislation meant to block Michigan from passing regulations more stringent than baseline federal standards. Sen. […]

Full article: Bill would limit science Michigan uses to regulate toxic cleanups

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