A group of state senators has introduced legislation that would put more than $500 million toward building, inspecting and maintaining dams in Michigan.
The bill has both Democratic and Republican sponsors. It would set up a “revolving fund” that would be replenished each year to pay for dam safety and upkeep projects.
State Representative Roger Hauck, a Republican whose district includes land that flooded last year when dams broke on the Tittabawassee River, said he would support the bill if it passes the Senate and is sent to the state House.
Hauck said the state has fallen behind on dam inspections.
“We know there’s a problem. We don’t want any other community to go through what Gladwin County and Midland County went through,” he said. “If we don’t learn from our mistakes, then shame on us.”
Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy said in a report earlier this year that the state’s dams need “immediate attention” to prevent more failures.
The department said it needed to hire more inspectors to keep up with the state’s aging dams. EGLE is responsible for more than 1,000 dams in Michigan.
About half of the fund proposed in the new legislation would go toward rebuilding the dams that failed last year. The dam’s owner, the Four Lakes Task Force, said it expects construction will cost more than $300 million.
People who live along the lakes that used to be held back by those dams now have backyards that open onto dry lakebed. Hauck said they deserve to have their property restored to its original condition.
The remainder of the money allocated in the legislation would fund inspection and maintenance on other dams in the state.
This story originally stated that four dams broke last May along the Tittabawassee River. It has been updated to reflect that only two dams broke. Two others were damaged.
