LANSING – Business and environmental groups appeared to be starting on largely the same side as the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee began discussions on adopting the Great Lakes Compact.

Both groups urged legislation that would adopt the compact, which essentially creates a regional authority over use of Great Lakes waters. But environmental groups argued the proposal does not go far enough in ensuring state control over large water uses while businesses urged caution in creating too much regulation regarding water use.

Sen. Patricia Birkholz (R- Saugatuck Twp.) said the committee would be working for the next several weeks, both in full committee and through a workgroup, to craft the final language for the legislation that adopts the compact (SB 212 ) as well as companion bills to regulate how the state handles its duties under the compact and to create a water withdrawal assessment tool (SB 858 , SB 859 , SB 860 ).

“I expect us to pass the best and fairest water protection laws in the Great Lakes states,” Birkholz said. “We are the state that has the most to lose or the most to gain from the compact.”

But she also said there had to be balance in the final product. “We have to be able to manage our water use without penalizing the people who want to use our water with excessive permits and fees,” she said.

“Water is an asset,” said Sen. Gerald VanWoerkom (R-Norton Shores). “We have to on the one hand be able to protect that water, but on the other hand not be so prohibitive that you can’t do anything else with it.”

But the key issue is that question of ownership, said Sen. Raymond Basham (D-Taylor). “Whose asset? I think it’s the people’s,” he said.

“We want all water of the state recognized as a public resource and protected as a public trust,” said Grenetta Thomassey, policy director for the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, speaking for the Great Lakes Great Michigan Coalition.

The coalition also wants to see language in the package that would require large water users to prove that they are being as thrifty as possible with the water they use, Thomassey said.

But Doug Roberts Jr. with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce said many of the arguments over the standard of protection had already been raised in discussions last session over water withdrawal legislation. “We don’t want to renegotiate deals that we all came to consensus on,” he said.

Bob O’Donnell with Absopure said, given current law, the public trust doctrine can only be carried so far in regards to groundwater. “There are constitutional limits to that when it comes to private property rights,” he said.

Roberts said adopting the compact actually is key to continued commerce in the state. “We have a concern that if you got a permit here in Michigan it met all the requirements of the compact,” he said, arguing the current substitute for SB 212 does that. But he and other business groups warned against using it to block commerce.

“We here and maybe the rest of the nation is beginning to recognize the economic value of water,” said Mike Johnston with the Michigan Manufacturers Association. “We need to be sure we don’t over-regulate so we don’t eliminate the economic value of water.”

And O’Donnell argued that bottled water companies, and other companies in the state, rely on the quality of the water and do not want to harm that.

Johnston, though still opposed to the compact, praised provisions in the bills that he said ensure that, while Michigan will live up to the compact, it also asserts its own sovereignty over its lands and waters. “We put language in there that Michigan really has control over Michigan law,” he said.

Provisions that would allow the Legislature some control over how the governor votes on compact-related issues is also important, he said.

Donna Stein with the Michigan United Conservation Clubs praised provisions in the legislation that would protect the state’s cold-water streams. “Those are rivers you will never find anywhere else,” she said.

The next workgroup on the bills is planned for November 7 at 8 a.m. in Room 110, Farnum Building.

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