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Michigan lawmakers re-introduce bills giving state power to respond to environmental crises

Michigan lawmakers plan to re-introduce bills to give the state more power to respond to environmental crises. The 2019 drawdown of an impoundment near Comstock inspired the bills.

Environmental regulators say the large amount of sediment released by the drawdown damaged the Kalamazoo River’s ecosystem. But the dam’s owner has done little to clean up the mess. These bills wouldn’t fix it either. But they would give the state’s environmental agency more power to compel cleanups going forward.

State Representative Julie Rogers of Kalamazoo says Democrats first introduced the bills last session when Republicans were in control.

“It has been a very long, slow process, but I am doing my piece.” said Rogers.

She says she expects to introduce the new legislation in the now Democratically-controlled statehouse by the end of the month.

Leona has worked as a journalist for most of her life - in radio, print, television and as journalism instructor. She has a background in consumer news, special projects and investigative reporting.
Sehvilla Mann joined WMUK’s news team in 2014 as a reporter on the local government and education beats. She covered those topics and more in eight years of reporting for the Station, before becoming news director in 2022.