It is 1976, and Lake Erie is nearly "dead" due to being covered in toxic algae. Governor William Milliken leads a fight to restrict phosphorous use in Michigan by passing an administrative order. The order took effect, the phosphorous run off was limited, and Lake Erie recovered. Our Michigan Legislature eventually codified the Milliken administrative rule into a statute, 32 years later in 2008.
Fast forward to present . . . our leadership in Lansing is considering House Bill 4326. If passed, it would prevent Michigan from enacting any environmental standards stronger than what the federal government has in place.
Michigan sits among over 20 percent of the world's fresh water, and is uniquely suited to determine how best to protect that invaluable resource. In effect, if passed the new law would give Nevada's U.S. senators as much authority as Michigan's, and give Texans and their U.S. House representatives nearly three times the sway as Michigan has. In sum, under HB 4326, Gov. Milliken would have been banned from being able to steward phosphorous limitations in the 1970's.
The purpose of the proposed legislation is to remove regulatory hurdles in order to make Michigan more "business friendly." Marginal mitigation of regulations in return for loss of control of the future of Michigan's natural resources? Is that would we voted into office last November? Stripping the state's ability to protect its water and wetlands would be short sighted, and foolish.
Robert M. Gordon
Ann Arbor
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