Environmental

New Michigan drinking water standards for seven (7) per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) took effect on August 3, 2020. The acronym “PFAS” is generally used to refer to a large group of chemicals that have been used in the United States and throughout the world in a variety of applications – firefighting foams, waterproofing of ... Read More

The Michigan Court of Appeals in a recently published court opinion re-opens issues of indefinite quantity terms in supply contracts. The published case at issue is Cadillac Rubber & Plastics v Tubular Metal Systems, Michigan Court of Appeals Docket No. 34551 (February 11, 2020). The blanket purchase orders issued by buyer in this case provided ... Read More

As a result of Gov. Whitmer’s Executive Order (EO) 2019-06, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is being reorganized and renamed as the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) effective April 22, 2019. This EO does more than merely changing the name of MDEQ: The Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team is ... Read More

On March 16, 2018, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) announced that the $36 million in funding earmarked for the Legacy Release Program (LRP) barely 6 months ago (via the passage of Public Act 130 of 2017) has been completely allocated to approved or pending claim submittals. As a result, the MDEQ is not ... Read More

House Bill 4583 was recently signed into law by Governor Snyder.  This Bill creates the “Legacy Release Program”, establishes new options to demonstrate financial responsibility for cleanup fund deductibles, and provides for reimbursement of local units of government (LUG) for certain corrective action costs. The highlights of HB 4583 (now referred to as Public Act ... Read More

2016 closed out with some good news for underground storage tank (UST) owners in Michigan. On December 21, 2016, Governor Snyder signed House Bill 5599 into law (PA 380 of 2016), amending UST corrective action funding provisions of Part 215 of Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA), 1994 PA 451, as amended. The ... Read More

On May 27, 2016, Region 5 of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved Michigan’s Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund (the Fund) as an acceptable partial coverage financial responsibility mechanism for owners and operators (O/O) of USTs within the State of Michigan. After payment of a deductible ($50,000, unless the O/O owns fewer than 8 USTs ... Read More

House Bill 4604, recently passed by the Michigan Legislature and signed into law by Governor Snyder on January 26, 2016, provides permit exemptions under Part 91 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) for certain earth changes that are associated with specific agricultural practices and residential property owner activities. These changes, which become ... Read More

The Michigan Underground Storage Tank Authority (MUSTA) just released statistics on the operation of the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund (Fund) to date, as well as data regarding the number of UST facilities submitting information to MUSTA to utilize the Fund (see below). While the number of facilities submitting deductible buy-down requests and requests for ... Read More

The Michigan Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership (BIP) Program was developed as a result of a $3 million grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). The Corn Marketing Program of Michigan (CMPM) was tasked as the grant administrator for the BIP funds. The grant funding is ... Read More