This is something I've been raising red flags about for months to no avail. The problem isn't limited to MI. Think any state with budget issues.
CERCLA or Superfund and RCRA are programs that rely on state funds. RCRA is delegated to 42 states for primary enforcement authority. CERCLA requires states to provide matching funds and funding for Operation and Maintenance of ongoing remedies.
Orphan sites like Hoskins come in all forms: from an abandoned mine in southern Iron County, to a vacated finishing and stamping operation in Grand Rapids, to a gutted auto parts plant in northwest Detroit. And they present a host of problems that include tainted groundwater and air while becoming roadblocks to redevelopment.
Michigan has more than 4,000 such sites, and those are the ones the state's environmental officials know about. With the state's economic crunch and the flight of industry to other parts of the world, the number of orphan sites is growing, but the resources to deal with them are not.
To address all of the sites completely -- including everything from remediation and long-term monitoring -- would cost the state at least $10 billion.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/...
While the article fails to mention which specific program fits these specific sites, the effect is the same.
The state has stopped doing cleanup and is purchasing fencing to limit human exposure, while groundwater migration of contaminants proceeds unchecked.
Going back to last summer I had noticed an article in the Washington Post about Virgina allowing a reduction in enforcement personnel in their Water and Air programs through attrition because of state budget issues.
Being a former Congressional staffer and fully aware of MI's budget issues I warned my managers that this would be a problem throughout the country. Little was done because the ARRA had recently been passed and our Agency was getting a large infusion of cash to help speed cleanups along.
9 months later, here we are with seven months left in the fiscal year and a state has run out of clean up dollars. Who will be next: California? Ohio? Nevada? Wyoming? We've already seen reductions in workforce and furloughs, now we are seeing empty cleanup coffers.
Potential Solution:
The Jobs Bill hasn't left the Senate. Harry Reid could add in dollars to be given as grants to states for this cleanup work, work which is largely construction and engineering jobs. A recent study pegged cleanup work as 10% of Montana's economy. With a $10 billion dollar backlog, that could provide many many needed jobs in Michigan and help to restore the property tax base.
Bottom line:
Once again I prove to be clairvoyant on problem areas, predicting trouble over 6 months ahead of time.
Once again, the feds fail to listen and will move reactively instead of proactively.
Curse the Administrative state, it turns like a damn battleship.
"We're leaving a lot of contamination in place long term," he said. "And you worry about what will happen when you do that."
Efforts are under way in the state Senate to address those concerns, but not everyone believes the result will be a program that operates as it does now.
"You've got a triple whammy going on right now," said Chuck Hersey, manager of environmental programs at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
"There is the fact that the Part 201 money is running out, the obviously tough budget situation the state is in and the fact that funding has taken a permanent turn to the downside. The drop in property taxes and taxable value is something that is here to stay."
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/...
UPDATE:
Four Democratic senators aim to halt stimulus wind project
A group of Democratic senators called Wednesday for the government to halt a federal stimulus program aimed at building wind farms and other clean-energy projects, arguing that too much of the money spent so far has gone to create jobs overseas.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
AND
Rockefeller pushes to rein in EPA
Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WVa.) will introduce legislation Thursday to impose a two-year moratorium on the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants and other stationary emitters, a move that could undermine the Obama administration's plan to press ahead with a cap on carbon in the face of congressional opposition.
http://views.washingtonpost.com/...
WTF is wrong with our party?