Why the Village of Milford is thankful that the legislature robbed Peter to pay Paul (and what happens when that money runs out?)

Charming Milford

Eleven thousand contaminated sites, most with no responsible party left alive to pay for a cleanup. So the state has raided another fund to pay enough to work on the riskiest of sites. It’ll last for 3, maybe 4 years. A temporary, one-time fix for a crucial program (Hmmmmm….seems I’ve heard of that happening before in Lansing.)

At least places like the Coe’s Cleaners site in the stunningly cute Village of Milford in rural Oakland County won’t be abandoned. The contamination threatens the village’s drinking water supply. Village Manager Arthur Shufflebarger says, "It's a longtime source of contamination. If that would have been discontinued, it would have been a huge concern. I'm very pleased that another source of support has been offered."

So what about when the money runs out? Or, maybe we even want to address more than a handful of these sites as a way to get Michigan’s towns and cities to attract businesses and industry on reclaimed sites of contamination (brownfields, as they’re called)?. How about a 3/8ths of a cent sales tax on the 2012 ballot to let Michigan voters decide whether to permanently fund cleanup programs?

The devil, of course, is in the details. And in the politics.

Stay tuned on this one.

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Money to keep clean up leaking gas and oil tanks snatched by the Michigan Legislature to shovel into general fund abyss

There are more than 9,000 old, leaking underground petroleum storage tanks in Michigan. Where there’s an owner alive and viable (a responsible party), they are required to clean the mess up.

We pay 7/8ths of a cent on every gallon of gas we buy in Michigan to fund a program to help clean up the worst of these places when no responsible party is available to send the bill to. That’s important because some sites release dangerous petroleum pollutants into groundwater, streams or lakes. Others pollute nearby water wells. It’s also important because it puts toxic land that nobody would otherwise want back into productive use with potential to create jobs.

The tax was expiring this year, and the Legislature renewed it. You’d think that’s good news, but it’s not so simple. Legislators are using much of the money to shovel into general fund budget holes.

The program isn’t being picked on uniquely. Legislators have been robbing “non essential” programs for years to scrabble together the state budget.  And it’s going to get more cannibalistic, with $3 billion in cuts required for the next legislature to balance the budget. Cuts like that mean huge changes for lots of people. One set of proposals made by the lame duck administration in Lansing calls for privatizing the University of Michigan and eliminating State Police road patrols. Against cuts of that scale, small fry like toxic leaking underground tanks stand no chance.

So let’s just be honest. If we’re unwilling to pay enough taxes to clean up orphaned sites of contamination let’s stop collecting the 7/8ths of a cent tax altogether. We’ll have saved drivers 13 cents at each fill-up. And we’ll just write off the contaminated lands as permanent blight in our neighborhoods – and our reduced property values -- in exchange for our 13 cents. 

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Breaking News: Michigan Legislature passes restrictions on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer!

In the last lame duck legislative session of the year today, there was some good news for Michigan’s waters. The House and Senate passed restrictions on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer that will have direct, and significant impact on water quality in our lakes and streams.

Michigan joins several other Great Lakes states including Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin and Illinois in ensuring this largely unnecessary problem is no longer used indiscriminately on lawns that don’t need it.

Congrats to all those who worked, literally, for years to make this happen.

If they want my clothesline, they'll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers!

A judge ruled last week that a homeowners group in Canton could not prohibit a resident from installing solar panels: http://bit.ly/dmdR8h The association had declared the panels “aesthetically incompatible” with the rest of the neighborhood.

Some people think wind turbines wreck their view. Some bring that argument down to the residential scale, opposing energy conserving devices like solar panels and clotheslines.In fact, there’s a whole organization dedicated to passing laws protecting the “right to dry” on clotheslines! http://bit.ly/8hEW0k  (apparently Florida has the ‘gold standard’ Right to Dry law)

We’ll see lots more of these clashes in coming years as renewable energy and efficiency technology become more affordable for homeowners and small businesses. And as fossil fuel rates rise, drying clothes in the sun like your grandmommy did will seem less quaint and more necessary.

It’s important to make your voice heard at your association meetings, with your elected officials,and at the neighborhood coffee shop (smoke-free as of Saturday!). That is, of course, if you think that public health and energy independence are more important than cookie-cutter conformity.

Yes, if they want my clothesline, they’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

As an aside, the Canton homeowner installed solar panels to heat his hot water. The economic calculus for this – as opposed to using solar power to create electricity – is much different. This analysis Michigan energy expert John Richter explains how heating water with solar panels in Michigan can be very cost effective, especially if you are replacing a system that heats your water with propane or electricity http://bit.ly/9VyqRK

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