July 25, 2007, Introduced by Reps. McDowell, Sak, LeBlanc, Alma Smith, Byrnes, Vagnozzi, Wojno, Accavitti, Kathleen Law, Bieda, Polidori, Constan, Robert Jones, Clack, Bauer, Young, Simpson, Donigan, Valentine, Warren, Meadows, Miller, Melton, Hammel, Espinoza, Brown, Lemmons, Meisner, Sheltrown, Hammon, Tobocman, Corriveau, Farrah, Cushingberry, Jackson, Johnson, Coulouris, Brandenburg and Dean and referred to the Committee on Great Lakes and Environment.
A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled
"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"
by amending sections 32701 and 32702 (MCL 324.32701 and 324.32702),
as amended by 2006 PA 33.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 32701. As used in this part:
(a) "Adverse resource impact" means either of the following:
(i) Decreasing the flow of a stream by part of the index flow
such that the stream's ability to support characteristic fish
populations is functionally impaired.
(ii) Decreasing the level of a body of surface water such that
the body of surface water's ability to support characteristic fish
populations is functionally impaired.
(b) "Agricultural purpose" means the agricultural production
of plants and animals useful to human beings and includes, but is
not limited to, forages and sod crops, grains and feed crops, field
crops, dairy animals and dairy products, poultry and poultry
products, cervidae, livestock, including breeding and grazing,
equine, fish and other aquacultural products, bees and bee
products, berries, herbs, fruits, vegetables, flowers, seeds,
grasses, nursery stock, trees and tree products, mushrooms, and
other similar products, or any other product, as determined by the
commission of agriculture, that incorporates the use of food, feed,
fiber, or fur.
(c) "Baseline capacity" means either of the following:
(i) The following applicable withdrawal capacity as reported to
the department or the department of agriculture, as appropriate, by
the person making the withdrawal in the April 1, 2007 annual report
submitted under section 32707 or in the April 1, 2007 water use
conservation plan submitted under section 32708:
(A) For a community supply, the total designed withdrawal
capacity for the community supply under the safe drinking water
act,
1976 PA 399, MCL 325.1001 to 325.1023, on the effective date
of
the amendatory act that added this subparagraph February 28,
2006.
(B) Unless reported under a different provision of this
subparagraph, for a quarry or mine that holds an authorization to
discharge under part 31 that includes a discharge volume, the
discharge
volume stated in that authorization on the effective date
of
the amendatory act that added this subparagraph February 28,
2006.
(C) The system capacity used or developed to make a withdrawal
on
the effective date of the amendatory act that added this
subparagraph
February 28, 2006, if the system capacity and a
description of the system capacity are included in an annual report
that is submitted under this part.
(ii) If the person making the withdrawal does not report under
subparagraph (i), the highest annual amount of water withdrawn as
reported under this part for calendar year 2002, 2003, 2004, or
2005.
(d) "Community supply" means that term as it is defined in
section 2 of the safe drinking water act, 1976 PA 399, MCL
325.1002.
(e) "Consumptive use" means that portion of water withdrawn or
withheld from the Great Lakes basin and assumed to be lost or
otherwise not returned to the Great Lakes basin due to evaporation,
incorporation into products or agricultural products, use as part
of the packaging of products or agricultural products, or other
processes.
Consumptive use includes a withdrawal of waters of the
Great
Lakes basin that is packaged within the Great Lakes basin in
a
container of 5.7 gallons (20 liters) or less.
(f) "Department" means the department of environmental
quality.
(g) "Designated trout stream" means a trout stream identified
on the document entitled "Designated Trout Streams for the State of
Michigan", as issued under order of the director of the department
of natural resources, FO-210.04, on October 10, 2003.
(h) "Diverted" means a transfer of water by pipeline, canal,
tunnel, aqueduct, channel, modification of the direction of a
watercourse, tanker ship, tanker truck, rail tanker, or similar
means from the Great Lakes basin into a watershed outside of the
Great
Lakes basin. Diverted includes a transfer of water withdrawn
from
the waters of the Great Lakes basin that is removed from the
Great
Lakes basin in a container greater than 5.7 gallons (20
liters).
Diverted does not include any of
the following:
(i) A consumptive use.
(ii) The use or transport of water by a person for his or her
personal, noncommercial use.
(iii) (ii) The
supply of vehicles, including vessels and
aircraft, whether for the needs of the persons or animals being
transported or for ballast or other needs related to the operation
of vehicles.
(iv) (iii) Use in
a noncommercial project on a short-term basis
for firefighting, humanitarian, or emergency response purposes.
(v) A use that is registered or authorized under section 17 of
the safe drinking water act, 1976 PA 399, MCL 325.1017.
(i) "Environmentally sound and economically feasible water
conservation measures" means those measures, methods, technologies,
or practices for efficient water use and for reduction of water
loss and waste or for reducing a withdrawal, consumptive use, or
diversion that meet all of the following:
(i) Are environmentally sound.
(ii) Reflect best practices applicable to the water use sector.
(iii) Are technically feasible and available.
(iv) Are economically feasible and cost-effective based on an
analysis that considers direct and avoided economic and
environmental costs.
(v) Consider the particular facilities and processes involved,
taking into account the environmental impact, age of equipment and
facilities involved, the process employed, energy impacts, and
other appropriate factors.
(j) "Farm" means that term as it is defined in section 2 of
the Michigan right to farm act, 1981 PA 93, MCL 286.472.
(k)
"Generally accepted water management practices" means
standards
or guidelines for water use that ensure water is used
efficiently.
(k) (l) "Great Lakes
basin" means the watershed of the Great
Lakes and the St. Lawrence river.
(l) (m)
"Great Lakes
charter" means the document establishing
the principles for the cooperative management of the Great Lakes
water resources, signed by the governors and premiers of the Great
Lakes region on February 11, 1985.
(m) (n)
"Great Lakes region"
means the geographic region
composed of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
(n) (o)
"Index flow" means the 50%
90% exceedance flow for the
lowest flow month of the flow regime, for the applicable stream
reach, as determined over the period of record or extrapolated from
analyses of the United States geological survey stream flow gauges
in Michigan.
(o) (p)
"Large quantity
withdrawal" means 1 or more cumulative
total withdrawals of over 100,000 gallons of water per day average
in
any consecutive 30-day period. that supply a common distribution
system.
(p) (q)
"New or increased large
quantity withdrawal" means a 1
or
more new water withdrawal of withdrawals by a person
cumulatively totaling over 100,000 gallons of water per day average
in any consecutive 30-day period or an increase in withdrawals of
over 100,000 gallons of water per day average in any consecutive
30-day period beyond the baseline capacity of a withdrawal on a
contiguous parcel of property.
(q) (r)
"New or increased withdrawal
capacity" means new or
additional
water withdrawal capacity to supply a common
distribution
system that is an increase from the
person's baseline
capacity. New or increased withdrawal capacity does not include
maintenance or replacement of existing withdrawal capacity.
(r) (s)
"Political subdivision"
means that term as it is
defined in section 2 of the safe drinking water act, 1976 PA 399,
MCL 325.1002.
(s) (t)
"Registrant" means a
person who registers water
withdrawal capacity under this part.
(t) (u)
"Waters of the Great Lakes
basin" means the Great
Lakes and all streams, rivers, lakes, connecting channels, and
other bodies of water, including groundwater, within the Great
Lakes basin.
(u) (v)
"Waters of the state"
means groundwater, lakes,
rivers, and streams and all other watercourses and waters,
including the Great Lakes, within the territorial boundaries of the
state. Waters of the state do not include drainage ways and ponds
designed and constructed solely for wastewater conveyance,
treatment, or control.
(v) (w)
"Withdrawal" means the
removal of water from its
source for any purpose, other than for hydroelectric generation at
sites certified, licensed, or permitted by the federal energy
regulatory commission.
Sec. 32702. (1) The legislature finds and declares that:
(a) A diversion of water out of the basin of the Great Lakes
may impair or destroy the Great Lakes. The legislature further
finds that a limitation on such diversions is authorized by and is
consistent with the mandate of section 52 of article IV of the
state constitution of 1963 that the legislature provide for the
protection of the air, water, and other natural resources of the
state from pollution, impairment, and destruction.
(b) Water use registration and reporting are essential to
implementing the principles of the Great Lakes charter and
necessary to support the state's opposition to diversion of waters
of the Great Lakes basin and to provide a source of information on
water use to protect Michigan's rights when proposed water losses
affect the level, flow, use, or quality of waters of the Great
Lakes basin.
(c) The waters of the state are valuable public natural
resources held in trust by the state, and the state has a duty as
trustee to manage its waters effectively for the use and enjoyment
of present and future residents and for the protection of the
environment.
(d) The waters of the Great Lakes basin are a valuable public
natural resource, and the states and provinces of the Great Lakes
region and Michigan share a common interest in the preservation of
that resource.
(e) Any new diversion of waters of the Great Lakes basin for
use outside of the Great Lakes basin will have significant economic
and environmental impact adversely affecting the use of this
resource by the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces.
(f) The continued availability of water for domestic,
municipal, industrial, and agricultural water supplies, navigation,
hydroelectric power and energy production, recreation, and the
maintenance of fish and wildlife habitat and a balanced ecosystem
are vital to the future economic health of the states and provinces
of the Great Lakes region.
(g) Future interbasin diversions and consumptive uses of
waters of the Great Lakes basin may have significant adverse
impacts upon the environment, economy, and welfare of the Great
Lakes region and of this state.
(h) The states and provinces of the Great Lakes region have a
duty to protect, conserve, and manage their shared water resources
for the use and enjoyment of present and future residents.
(i) The waters of the Great Lakes basin are capable of
concurrently serving multiple uses, and such multiple uses of water
resources for municipal, public, industrial, commercial,
agriculture, mining, navigation, energy development and production,
recreation, water quality maintenance, and the maintenance of fish
and wildlife habitat and a balanced ecosystem and other purposes
are encouraged, recognizing that such uses are interdependent and
must be balanced.
(2) The legislature has the authority under sections 51 and 52
of article IV of the state constitution of 1963 to regulate the
withdrawal and uses of the waters of the state, including both
surface water and groundwater, to promote the public health,
safety, and welfare and to protect the natural resources of the
state from pollution, impairment, and destruction, subject to
constitutional protections against unreasonable or arbitrary
governmental action and the taking of property without just
compensation. This authority extends to all waters within the
territorial boundaries of the state.
(3) The water withdrawal assessment tool provided for in
section 32722 and the program to monitor and regulate water use
within the state will require additional resources to assure
accuracy of the assessment tool and protection of the waters of the
state.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless all of the following bills of the 94th Legislature are
enacted into law:
(a) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5073(request no.
00453'07 *).
(b) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5066(request no.
02362'07).
(c) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5067(request no.
02363'07).
(d) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5068(request no.
02364'07).
(e) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5069(request no.
02365'07).
(f) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5070(request no.
02366'07).
(g) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5071(request no.
02367'07).
(h) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5072(request no.
02368'07).