Michigan
Legislature Update from Sierra Club
June
18, 2015
Submitted
by Mike Berkowitz
The
Michigan House has concluded session for their summer recess while the Senate
is still debating whether or not to take a summer break.
Energy
Legislation
-House:
Energy Committee Chair Nesbitt held hearings on his bills (HB 4298-4304) but
has not taken any further action on them yet. This legislation would repeal
Michigan’s Energy Optimization Standard, classify waste incineration as a
renewable energy form, and allow for the expansion of natural gas pipelines and
infrastructure using ratepayer money.
We
submitted written testimony opposing this legislation and have been actively
lobbying against it.
-Senate:
We are still waiting on Senate Energy Committee Chairman Sen. Nofs to introduce
his legislation.
Here
is our action alert on this issue: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=11335.
Pipeline/Energy
FOIA Legislation
HB
4540 (Heise) blocks public access to information about “critical energy
infrastructure” and “cybersecurity” through the Freedom of Information Act. The
bill had two committee hearings but has not yet been voted on. Legislators on
the House Oversight and Ethics committee are negotiating amendments to the
bill. We are encouraging lawmakers to either oppose the bill or remove the
“critical energy infrastructure” portion of the legislation and only make it
apply to cybersecurity.
We
submitted written testimony opposing this legislation and have been actively
lobbying against it.
Here
is our action alert on this issue: http://sierraclubmichiganaction.blogspot.com/2015/05/take-action-tell-legislators-to-vote-no.html
Fracking Waste
Legislation
HB
4469 (Pagan) and SB 277 (Hopgood) would regulate low-level radioactive fracking
waste in Michigan landfills. We are neutral on this legislation because it does
not ban the waste or increase environmental protection substantively. It mainly
focuses on increasing documentation and reporting from landfills that accept
fracking waste. The bill sponsors are still negotiating the bill language with
the DEQ and hope to get a committee hearing on it later this year.
We
are encouraging other legislators to introduce a bill that would completely ban
radioactive fracking waste and/or substantively increase environmental
standards.
No Stricter Than
Federal Legislation
HB
4246 (Farrington) would prohibit the Governor and
his/her agencies from issuing any regulation that is more stringent than
federal law unless specifically authorized by the legislature. This bill had
two Regulatory Reform committee hearings but has not been voted on. Gov. Snyder
vetoed similar legislation two sessions ago.
We
submitted written testimony opposing this legislation and have been actively
lobbying against it.
Here
is our action alert on this issue: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=15391.
Modifying the
Natural Resources Trust Fund
SB
206 (Booher/Casperson) would tie the hands of the Department of Natural
Resources when it comes to managing land, while also changing the Natural
Resources Trust Fund to focus more heavily on developing land. This legislation
had one committee hearing with major pushback from us, the MI Environmental
Council, and the DNR. The legislation has temporarily stalled since that
hearing but we are prepared in case it comes back up.
If
you have questions about any of these items, legislation not included in this
update, or want to find out how you can get involved with our legislative work,
please email Mike.Berkowitz@sierraclub.org.
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