HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2022.09.29 - 37651
September 29, 2022
MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION #22-296
Sponsored By: Gwen Markham, David Woodward, Gary McGillivray, Kristen Nelson, Yolanda Smith
Charles, Penny Luebs, Marcia Gershenson, Janet Jackson
Board of Commissioners - Resolution Support for Michigan Senate Bill 58 and House Bill 4314
- Holding Polluters Accountable
Chairperson and Members of the Board:
WHEREAS from 1990 until 1995, Michigan had the strongest "polluter pay" law in the country; and
WHEREAS if a corporation was responsible for contaminating Michigan land, air, or water, that
corporation was also responsible for paying to clean up the contamination to the extent technically
feasible; and
WHEREAS since 1995 Michigan taxpayers have been financially responsible for cleaning up sites
that are contaminated by corporate polluters; and
WHEREAS in 1998 Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved the Clean Michigan Initiative to pay for
cleanup of contaminated sites since corporations were no longer paying to address industrial
pollutions; and
WHEREAS while there has been a sharp increase of contaminated sites in Michigan, there has been
a major lack of investment towards cleaning up those sites; and
WHEREAS this is particularly disturbing in the case of water contamination; and
WHEREAS contaminated water does not just sit in one place - our water bodies are connected, and
water will always move downstream; and
WHEREAS currently, without joint several liability for owners of contaminated sites, state agencies
must meet an exceedingly high burden of proof in court to compel financial restitution from polluting
entities; and
WHEREAS when a corporation pollutes a waterway, they should be fully responsible for cleanup; and
WHEREAS with our legal system, this process plays out over the course of years, while the
contamination goes unaddressed, or cleanup is paid for by taxpayers instead of the responsible party;
and
WHEREAS Michigan entered 2020 with more than 70 active PFAS sites within the state, two sites
are located in Oakland County, including the case of the hazardous liquid waste spill in the City of
Madison Heights; and
WHEREAS the current PFAS crisis, the Gelman 1,4 dioxane plume in Ann Arbor, and increasing
algal blooms in the Great Lakes from nutrient pollution are all warning that we must do more to
address water pollution; and
WHEREAS with over 24,000 contaminated sites across Michigan, this issue could not be more
urgent; and
WHEREAS when a polluter contaminates our water and environment, they - not the taxpayers of
Michigan - should be required to clean it up; and
WHEREAS in July 2022, Tribar Manufacturing, located in Wixom, Michigan, negligently discharged
toxic chemicals into the Huron River in Oakland County, that endangered public health, hurting local
businesses and harming our water tenement; and
WHEREAS Senate Bill 58 and House Bill 4314 would re-establish joint several liability for owners of
contaminated sites, requiring polluters to clean up contamination they cause, and the pollution be
cleaned up as much as technically feasible. Under current law, polluters can simply restrict access to
a site or an aquifer instead of treating or removing pollutants.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners calls for
hearings to be held, and the legislature to adopt SB 58 and HB 4314.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners directs our county
lobbyist to support all efforts to get SB 58 and HB 4314 passed into law, and communicate the
Oakland County Board of Commissioners' support for this legislation.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds is requested to
forward copies of the adopted resolution to the Governor of the State of Michigan, the Secretary of
State of the State of Michigan, the Attorney General of the State of Michigan, the State Senate
Majority and Minority leaders, the State House Speaker and Minority leader, and the members of the
Oakland County delegation to the Michigan Legislature.
Chairperson, the following Commissioners are sponsoring the foregoing Resolution: Gwen Markham,
David Woodward, Gary McGillivray, Kristen Nelson, Yolanda Smith Charles, Penny Luebs,
Marcia Gershenson, Janet Jackson.
Date: September 29, 2022
David Woodward, Commissioner
Date: October 03, 2022
Hilarie Chambers, Deputy County Executive II
Date: October 11, 2022
Lisa Brown, County Clerk / Register of Deeds
COMMITTEE TRACKING
2022-08-17 Full Board - referred to Legislative Affairs & Government Operations
2022-09-13 Legislative Affairs & Government Operations - Recommend to Board
2022-09-29 Full Baord - Adopt
VOTE TRACKING
Motioned by Commissioner Kristen Nelson seconded by Commissioner Gary McGillivray to adopt the attached
Resolution: Support for Michigan Senate Bill 58 and House Bill 4314 - Holding Polluters Accountable.
Yes: David Woodward, Kristen Nelson, Gwen Markham, Angela Powell, Marcia Gershenson, William
Miller III, Yolanda Smith Charles, Charles Cavell, Penny Luebs, Janet Jackson, Gary McGillivray (11)
No: Michael Gingell, Michael Spisz, Karen Joliat, Eileen Kowall, Christine Long, Philip Weipert, Thomas
Kuhn, Chuck Moss, Robert Hoffman (9)
Abstain: None (0)
Absent: (0)
Passed
ATTACHMENTS
None
STATE OF MICHIGAN)
COUNTY OF OAKLAND)
I, Lisa Brown, Clerk of the County of Oakland, do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution is a true and
accurate copy of a resolution adopted by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on September 29, 2022,
with the original record thereof now remaining in my office.
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the Circuit Court at Pontiac,
Michigan on Thursday, September 29, 2022.
Lisa Brown, Oakland County Clerk / Register of Deeds