LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In one corner of the ring, you have the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, property owners, business, union, and construction groups along with legislators who want state control of Michigan’s aggregate mining with uniform rules and oversight of sand and gravel mines. They argue that the broken road construction supply chain needs to be fixed so that taxpayers aren’t funding the state to import gravel to fix the damn roads.

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In the other corner of the ring, you have community residents who live near gravel pits, environmentalists, and the Michigan Townships Association (MTA), along with a coalition of other municipality groups who want to keep aggregate mining regulations out of the hands of the state. These opponents of the legislation don’t want the noise, traffic or dust connected to the mining and protest the possible degraded wetlands and water quality. They also want to keep local control of their own zoning and regulations concerning aggregate mining.

The boxing match we’re looking at came about from a bipartisan group of bills that were introduced in the Michigan House last week and were co-sponsored by six Democrats and seven Republicans. House Bills 4526, 4527 and 4528 were introduced last Wednesday in an attempt to fix Michigan’s broken road construction supply chain and transfer the permitting of aggregate mining from local control to the state, specifically to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

Proponents of the bill want the rules and oversight to be housed with EGLE where it already has oversight of gas, oil and minerals mining and development. Doing so would make it easier to open new aggregate mines and cost the state much less money in the long run.

The Michigan Chamber supports the legislation and says on its website that in addition to modifying aggregate mining regulations in the Michigan to put them in line with how the state manages permitting for all other mining activities, the legislation would also add environmental enhancements to how many local permit and zoning ordinances are structured today. They say that it would also provide sustainable funding for the program and foster a more consistent, predictable process for critical road and infrastructure efforts and the industry. They oppose local control over mining because “while current law stipulates that locals cannot deny a permit unless ‘very serious consequences’ occur from the operation, a cottage industry has developed over the years around targeting this vague terminology and allowing for haphazard actions that actively deny new permits from ever moving forward.”

Mike Alaimo, Director of Environmental and Energy Affairs at the Michigan Chamber, was on The Steve Gruber Show last week talking about the legislation and he said that gravel and sand mining were not as environmentally intensive as a lot of other mining like copper and nickel. He said the state has great environmental regulations concerning mining activities and that the Chamber supports the legislation. He said, “We all know that we’re spending billions of taxpayer dollars building our roads and fixing our crumbling infrastructure so we’re looking at reducing those regulatory barriers so that we can more effectively use those taxpayer dollars and get more bang for our buck. So it really is a win-win for the Michigan taxpayer.”

Opponents of the legislation include Peter Psarouthakis, Supervisor in Washtenaw County’s Sharon Township. A proposed 400-acre gravel mine in his township is stirring up controversy because of perceived issues with property values, traffic and environmental damage. He wants to retain local control as it relates to aggregate mining and says that EGLE is not going to be in his township on a day-to-day basis to monitor issues with the company and quickly take care of any issues that may arise.

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Also opposing the bills are environmental groups Sierra Club, Clean Water Action and the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition who sent out angry statements about the legislation last week. James Johnson-Greer, director of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition said, “Now that leadership has changed in Lansing, we expect our elected officials to deliver on their commitments – not to cave to multi-client lobbyists and dark money.”

On the other side is the ring is John Sellek, spokesperson for Build it Michigan Strong, a coalition of industry and labor groups who support transferring aggregate mine oversight into state hands. He said the bills have been drafted in a way to calm environmental concerns by using the permitting to make companies adhere to required regulations involving things like noise and dust. He also said with the decision being made at the state level the local government protest movement will be somewhat distanced emotionally from the decision-making process.

One of their many opponents is The Michigan Townships Association (MTA). They have been sounding the alarm on the bipartisan legislation in a big way and is calling on Michiganders to sign their petition to fight for Michigan communities and residents to oppose the legislative attacks on local authority over sand and gravel mining operations and “silencing the voices of those most impacted by these operations.”

Their website says that the House bills will prohibit municipalities and affected residents and businesses from requesting any permit modifications, silencing the community from issues impacting their daily lives and livlihoods, and will instead, let EGLE grant modifications requested only by the mine operators. They also say that the bills will allow 70-foot-high aggregate stockpiles just 50 feet from property lines – an obvious impact on neighboring properties.

The MTA says the bills will hold neighboring properties hostage for years by allowing mines to bank sites for up to a decade – and also codify operation hours for activities such as truck loading, blasting and crushing to begin by at least 6:00 a.m., six days per week – and allows for hours beyond that time for state or county contracts. They also warn Michiganders that the legislation will limit local government and resident input to be done only through public comment periods and will remove the right of referendum by impacted residents.

The MTA is part of a coalition of organizations representing local governments and supporting Michigan communities and residents who strongly oppose this “preemption assault on local control by the mining industry.” This group includes the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC), the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) and the Michigan Municipal League.

This is a fight that has gone on for years, during four straight legislative terms, and we are likely to see the sparring continue in the lead up to any voting on the issue.

So far, the Governor’s office hasn’t chosen which boxing ring competitor they are supporting but not taking a position on the legislation. On one side, they have to appear to support the environmentalists but on the other side, they still have to figure out how to fix the damn roads. Whitmer’s spokesperson Bobby Leddy released a brief statement about the legislation that said, “We are always open to working with anyone to pass laws that will help us make even more progress and will be reviewing these bills as they make their way through the legislature.”

The legislation is now before the House Regulatory Reform Committee and a blow-by-blow of the aggregate mining match will continue to come from opponents, proponents and the media in the days and weeks to come.

In the end, the champion coming out of the ring should be the Michigan taxpayer. However, what a win looks like is anyone’s guess at this point.