{"id":537026,"date":"2010-04-21T11:23:17","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T15:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.circleofblue.org\/waternews\/?p=14421"},"modified":"2010-04-21T11:23:17","modified_gmt":"2010-04-21T15:23:17","slug":"bid-to-protect-michigan%e2%80%99s-groundwater-draws-opposition-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/537026","title":{"rendered":"Bid to Protect Michigan\u2019s Groundwater Draws Opposition, Praise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local legislators in Michigan counties battle over a bill that will expand on water protections established by the 2008 Great Lakes Compact.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Great<\/a><\/p>\n
Photo Courtesy NASA<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A proposed bill that declares Michigan\u2019s groundwater a \u201cpublic trust\u201d has set off a storm of controversy, with opponents claiming that the legislation would expose property owners to new state fees, and supporters arguing that it will protect against outside interests siphoning off the state\u2019s water.<\/p>\n

The latest skirmish came last week, when a panel of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners narrowly passed a resolution asking the state legislature to vote against the bill. The resolution claims that the legislation would interfere with traditional water rights and limit the ability of farmers and lakeside homeowners to use the resource. It passed by a six-to-five vote along party lines in the southeastern Michigan county, with Republicans opposed to the bill and Democrats in support, respectively. The full board is scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to end the idea of groundwater as a commodity.\u201d
\n-State Rep. Dan Scripps<\/span><\/div>\n

The legislator at the center of the upheaval, State Rep. Dan Scripps (D-Leland), said that the bill\u2019s intent is to strengthen property rights rather than reduce them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to end the idea of groundwater as a commodity,\u201d Scripps told the Traverse City Record-Eagle in March. Scripps told Circle of Blue that he introduced the bill in September because 2008\u2019s landmark Great Lakes Compact did not go far enough to protect the rest of the state\u2019s waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroundwater, surface water, Great Lakes water\u2014these are public resources that should be protected in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since its introduction, House Bill 5319 has been praised by water rights experts, pilloried by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and argued over in numerous letters to the editor in newspapers across the state.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the move by Oakland County politicians has been \u201csharply criticized\u201d by Clean Water Action, a national citizens\u2019 group working for clean, safe and affordable water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the vote today says is that the groundwater that feeds Oakland County’s streams, keeps Oakland County lakes alive and is the circulatory system for our entire Great Lakes ecosystem doesn’t deserve to be safeguarded from a state government that is sometimes all too willing to allow our waters to be sold for profit and exported to thirsty countries like China,\u201d Cyndi Roper, Clean Water Action\u2019s special projects director, said in a news release. \u201cWe strongly urge the Board of Commissioner to reject those who want to turn Michigan\u2019s waters over to corporate interests so, like our jobs, water can be outsourced in unlimited amounts to China and other places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Olson, an environmental attorney from Traverse City, Michigan, and one of the region\u2019s foremost authorities on water law, called for the passage of Scripps\u2019 bill in a commentary in the Detroit Free Press. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf public trust principles are not reaffirmed then the water commons that supports all life and economy here will be diminished in flow, level and quality, and claimed by special or foreign interests under international treaties such as NAFTA\u2026 In other words, industries and the jobs they produce, like farming\u2014Michigan\u2019s second largest industry\u2014will be forced to compete with the infinite demand for water anywhere in the country, continent or world,” he wrote. <\/p>\n

Half of the world\u2019s population will be without safe drinking water in less than 30 years if current levels of water waste and pollution are not curbed, Olson noted. He said recent surveys have estimated that the world\u2019s freshwater demands will outstrip the supply by more than 30 percent.<\/p>\n

Scripps has introduced a new bill that he hopes will calm fears of new state fees on water, according to the Michigan Messenger. Introduced last week, the bill forbids state and local governments from imposing \u201cany taxes or fees on water withdrawals from water wells on residential property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources: Detroit Free Press<\/a>, Michigan Messenger<\/a>, Traverse City Record-Eagle<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n

Read More: Congress, Michigan Legislature Asked to Fix Leaks in Great Lakes Compact<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local legislators in Michigan counties battle over a bill that will expand on water protections established by the 2008 Great Lakes Compact. Photo Courtesy NASA A proposed bill that declares Michigan\u2019s groundwater a \u201cpublic trust\u201d has set off a storm of controversy, with opponents claiming that the legislation would expose property owners to new state […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}