LANSING – After more than three
years of discussion and debate, the Department of Environmental Quality
formally began the process Thursday of a rules change that would remove
hundreds of chemicals from the list of toxics the DEQ automatically regulates
in air emissions.
Now at about 1,200, the number of
regulated chemicals would drop to 756; a move that DEQ officials said would
allow its staff to focus on those chemicals known to be harmful. The chemicals
removed from the list are those with low toxicity or whose toxicity is unknown.
Instead of an open-ended list of toxics, the list would now be defined.
The department would retain the
authority for the DEQ to review toxics not on the list based on public health
concerns on a case-by-case basis.
“This change better focuses our
permitting process on the pollutants of most concern,” said DEQ Air
Quality Division Chief Lynn Fiedler in a statement. “Our mission as an
agency continues to be protecting public health while encouraging economic
development.”
Environmental groups criticized the
change, saying it would weaken the state’s ability to protect public health.
The changes to the air toxics list
have been long in the making and the subject of two workgroups and subject to
years of discussion. DEQ spokesperson Karen Tommasulo said the department took
so much time on formally initiating rules because it wanted to get it right.
“We had to find that balance
and figure out what we could do with the rules that would make us more
competitive as a state while still ensuring public health,” she said.
Sean Hammond, deputy policy director
of the Michigan Environmental Council, said the rules would mean the state
shifting from presuming chemicals with unknown toxicity are unsafe to assuming
they are safe.
“It takes away that certainty – on being able to say that we know for sure that the public health is
protected from any toxic chemicals,” he said.
Anne Woiwode, conservation director
of the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club, said the proposed rules would
devalue environmental protection in the state.
“The state has been a leader in
the past in addressing air toxics issues,” she said. “While it’s
complicated, there is a value in the state protecting public health against a
whole range of pollution, particularly air toxics. This is a very disappointing
direction for this administration to go in.”
But Tommasulo said the state list
remains much larger than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s, which is
187, and noted the DEQ could still investigate a substance no longer on the
list if it determined that was necessary.
“We can look at that at any time,
so there’s a backstop to this as well,” she said.
Among the other rules changes
unveiled:
Any future changes to the Toxic Air
Contaminant list or health-based screening levels would include a public
comment component;
Engines burning “cleaner
fuels” like natural gas, diesel and biodiesel and meeting other
requirements would be exempt from the regulations for toxic air contaminants
after the DEQ determined that emissions from these fuels pose no public health
or environmental risk; and
Existing permitted facilities
proposing modifications involving “insignificant changes” in toxic
air contaminant emissions will be exempt from toxic air contaminant regulations
if a specific evaluation method shows the change would not be meaningful.
The proposed rules now go to the
Office of Regulatory Reinvention. There will be a public comment period as well
before the rules are finalized and sent to the Joint Committee on
Administrative Rules for review.
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