Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on May 22, 2003, to establish new regulations and fees on the use of pesticides and herbicides to control aquatic nuisances such as overgrown weeds in lakes. The bill would eliminate the requirement to get a permit if a small inland lake has no outlet and no endangered species. If a permit is required, that if a permit is not denied within 30 days, it is considered granted. Permits could be denied if a lake contains threatened or endangered species. The bill would also allow installment payments for permit fees, which were raised by Senate Bill 596 to as much as $1,500 for larger inland lakes

The vote was 65 in favor, 43 opposed and 2 not voting

(House Roll Call 766 at House Journal 95)

Click here to view bill details.

Reps. Anderson, Law, Kolb and Zelenko, having reserved the right to explain their protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I voted no on HB 4730 because it reduces natural resources protections. The stated purpose of the bill is to solve the problem of slow response time by the DEQ in administering applications for herbicide applications to address the spread of nuisance plants in our inland lakes. However, the legislature already addressed this problem earlier in the year when we enacted legislation to provide the DEQ additional resources to hire new staff to be able to handle the increasing permit application load. That staff has now been hired. The DEQ also promulgated new administrative rules this year to streamline the permit application process. These solutions should be given a chance to work.

The bill takes the wrong approach by: eliminating the ability of the DEQ to deny a permit if a proposed pesticide application is likely to result in unacceptable impacts to natural resources; eliminating the current standard for the use of fluridone, one of the most potent chemicals applied to our lakes to address nuisance vegetation, contradicting the recommendation of the Michigan Environmental Science Board; prohibiting the DEQ from issuing any specific application standard for any chemical; reducing permit fees so that the DEQ may once again be in the position of not having the resources to keep up with the demand for permit applications; allowing application of pesticides without a permit in some small lakes that have an intermittent flow to other surface waters; and reducing public health protections by reducing and, in some cases, eliminating the posting and public notification requirements for chemical treatments."