Environmental groups are responding to the Governor’s budget proposal - which includes 120 million dollars for ensuring clean drinking water in Michigan.
The budget includes carve-outs for both replacements of lead water lines and PFAs cleanup.
PFAs or perfluoroalkyl substances are an emerging contaminant found in drinking water at several sites across the state and linked to cancer.
Bob Allison is with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. He said the carve-outs are good but he’d like to see more long term funding - particularly for PFAs.
“We are fooling ourselves if we think that one-time funding is going to solve this. I don’t think the Governor’s office necessarily believes that either. We’re going to have to grapple with this as a state.”
Allison said the Clean Michigan Initiative - a voter-supported fund for cleanup of toxic sites which expired under Governor Snyder - should be brought back.
Liz Kirkwood is with the environmental group, For the Love of Water. She said the funding allocations are a good thing - but they won’t solve some central questions:
“How are we going to pay for crumbling, aging infrastructure and how can we continue to drive innovation to make sure we have safe, affordable drinking water for all?”
In a written statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality said the Governor rightly made water infrastructure a priority.