Homeowner Fairness Act requiring soil testing passes

The Associated Press and Kathie Marchlewski, Midland Daily News 12/08/2005

It passed easily through the State House of Representatives and narrowly though the state Senate, but the bill deemed the "Homeowner Fairness Act" still must survive the desk of Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Created with local dioxin contamination in mind, Rep. John Moolenaar and Sen.. Mike Goschka, who introduced the bills, say the could-be law is intended to save property owners from a value-impacting, stigma-creating "facility" label currently applied to contaminated property under state law. As written today, Part 201 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act requires property owners to disclose information about contamination to potential buyers and to limit movement or disturbance of soil. Polluters are responsible for clean-up.

 House Bill 4617, amended several times since its introduction in April, would require that every potentially contaminated property be tested individually to confirm levels. It was introduced after the DEQ told thousands of homeowners along the Tittabawassee River in Midland and Saginaw counties that their land was polluted with dioxin from the nearby Dow Chemical Co. plant. The DEQ tested the area, but did not take samples from individual parcels, drawing objections from some homeowners concerned about their property values.

The bill requires individualized testing to confirm contamination.

"This solves the problem and positions us as a state to protect the rights of homeowners and encourage sound science," Moolenaar said. He accuses the Granholm administration of allowing the DEQ to run an arbitrary process of determination, putting private homeowners’ investments at risk. "The governor has been passive on this," he said. "Her ‘cool cities’ program would be in jeopardy of becoming a ‘cool facilities’ program." The bill includes language that allows, if the DEQ and property owner agree that there is likely contamination, a facility designation to remain without specific testing. The accused polluter, however, would be allowed to contest that decision, perform testing itself, and seek reimbursement from the state for testing expenses if the property is found to be clean.

Terry Miller of Lone Tree Council said his environmental group believes the measure is "terrible" and called it the "polluter delay legislation." The group is asking Granholm to veto it, created radio ads and is developing a sign-on letter for others who share the concerns.

 "It’s going to potentially cost the state more to clean up, it’s going to delay clean-up and it’s going to give polluters an opportunity to delay or prevent clean-up because it gives them a role in defining what is a facility and what isn’t," he said. "We are absolutely opposed to it, have been opposed to it from the beginning."

The Senate Wednesday voted 20-16, mostly along party lines, to approve the bill and ship it back to the House for approval of the changes. The House passed it within hours, with bi-partisan support.

 The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has strongly opposed the bill, saying it would delay clean-up and make it more costly. In some areas of the state, it also could interfere with Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup plans already in place.

"It still opens the door to polluters slowing the process down," said DEQ spokesman Bob McCann, referring to the polluters’ ability to contest facility designations. "We would have to stop all work until a dispute is resolved in a ‘timely manner.’ But what does that mean – weeks, months, years?"

Nineteen Republicans and one Democrat – Jim Barcia of Bay City – voted for the bill. Fourteen Democrats and two Republicans – Patty Birkholz of Saugatuck and Tom George of Portage – voted against it. Sens. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, and Shirley Johnson, R-Troy, were absent and did not vote.
 

For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.