On September 15, 2020, Northville Township Supervisor Bob Nix, accompanied by Township Treasurer, Fred Shadko, and The Conservancy Initiative President, Ralph Lassel, testified before the Michigan House Ways and Means Committee.
The Ways and Means Committee is considering a set of bills (HB 5812 – 5817) with the primary objective of encouraging recycling to minimize the need for additional landfills in Michigan. Mr. Nix testified to the impact of the existing regulations (Act 451 part 115), which establish county-level control for sighting landfills, have on communities located in neighboring counties. Mr. Nix stressed that the proposed house bills represented an opportunity to fix the problems with the current regulations and asked the legislators for their help.
Many proposals to correct the impact on adjacent communities have been explored with legislators and the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) over the past several years. Each proposal has been opposed by the landfill’s industry group. The current proposal is a simple fix, requiring very few changes to the regulations. The proposal would change the definition of a Host Community to recognize communities in adjacent counties, located contiguous to the landfill as a host community (i.e. Northville Township and Salem Township would both be Host Communities to Arbor Hills). Host communities must approve landfill sighting (or expansions).
Representatives from the landfill industry advocated against our proposed amendment.
Click Here to view the testimony related to the landfill regulation bills is available for review. The testimony on the landfill legislation begins at 31 min. Mr. Nix’s testimony begins at 1 hr 03 min. Click Here for Mr. Nix’s presentation slides.
We expect the legislative process to move quickly and will be monitoring closely and pass along updates as they become available.
Click Here to read an update on Northville Township’s website.