Compete to Succeed 13
Policy principles to support a competitive manufacturing sector . Michigan must :
■ Establish environmental standards based on settled science to encourage environmental cleanups .
■ Interpret and enforce statutes and regulations as promulgated .
■ Protect EGLE staff from ramifications for making good faith decisions .
■ Ensure there is sufficient funding for EGLE to hire qualified staff to implement the various programs .
■ Ensure Michigan ’ s environmental rules and regulations do not exceed federal standards without clear and convincing need to exceed the applicable federal standards .
■ Reduce or eliminate environmental program fees which reduce manufacturers ’ ability to compete globally while recognizing that a healthy environment and competitive economy are not mutually exclusive goals .
Specific Actions for Leaders :
■ Update Michigan ’ s environmental remediation statutes that include all relevant stakeholders to encourage more cleanups and redevelopment .
■ Support processes for limiting new administrative rules that exceed federal standards , unless it is determined there is a clear and convincing need .
■ Provide oversight and ensure that state regulators are using the Administrative Procedures Act for rule promulgation rather than developing guidance or other internal policy documents .
■ Protect manufacturers from unnecessary and frivolous legal challenges to permits and consent orders .
■ Support efforts to limit federal EPA air nonattainment areas in the state and develop a strategy with stakeholders and state regulators to implement proper , defensible standards .
■ Develop an efficient , effective update for Michigan ’ s hazardous waste program .
■ Support a rational and science-based strategy to handle emerging contaminants that properly account for the risk and associated costs with any new rules or regulations .
■ Develop and implement permit programs and process permits timely and efficiently .
■ Ensure federally mandated program fees fund only the federally mandated programs .
■ Ensure EGLE prioritizes resources and staffing commensurate with federal and state statutory requirements .
■ Make regulations and requirements clear so the regulated community understands what is required of them to get a permit , remediate a site , redevelop a site and complete other activities regulated by EGLE .
■ Stop efforts to adopt local environmental ordinances that create a complicated patchwork of regulations adding to bureaucratic complexity of the state and negatively impacting the state ’ s business climate .
■ Support legislative efforts to update our state ’ s nearly two-decade old solid waste statutes to sustainably manage materials in a way that benefits the economy , communities and the environment .
■ Support legislative efforts to improve the rule process through changes to the Administrative Procedures Act that ensure continued oversight over the rule promulgation process .
■ Guard against efforts to implement anti-competitive and discriminatory regulations on manufacturers .
■ Protect and expand beneficial reuse criteria to reduce waste and increase productive use of materials .
■ Support the use of brownfield redevelopment funds for the development of shovel-ready property .
■ Support the creation of legal protections and a regulatory framework to allow for the capture , utilization and storage of carbon . A sound carbon capture , utilization and storage policy will allow Michigan to take advantage of our unique geology to compete economically and environmentally with other states .
■ Focus on a recycling strategy on market development for recycled products . mimfg . org