Michigan’s rivers and communities are paying the price for corporate pollution. With more than 1,000 contaminated sites in the Huron River watershed alone, it’s time for polluters, not residents, to pay for the damage they have caused. Michigan residents deserve clean water and real accountability; this is why we support Senate Bills 385-387 and 391-393.
On Friday, June 6, 2025, “Polluter Pay” bills were re-introduced in the Michigan Legislature to hold corporate polluters accountable for paying to clean up the toxic contamination they cause instead of making Michigan taxpayers foot the bill. The six-bill package would set more stringent cleanup standards for contamination, increase transparency, and help protect the health of Michigan communities.
Here’s our testimony in support of these bills:
Good morning, Chairman McCann and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of Senate Bills 385-387 and 391-393. The Huron River Watershed Council was founded in 1965 and is Michigan’s oldest regional river protection organization. HRWC is a coalition of residents, businesses, and member governments working to protect and restore the Huron River and its watershed.
The Huron River watershed is home to a range of political perspectives and landscapes. You’ll find productive farmland, urban centers, and large tracts of preserved natural lands. But we are also affected by the legacy of industrial pollution. There are at least 1,000 contaminated sites in the watershed, a large 1,4 dioxane plume in the groundwater under Ann Arbor, and a river contaminated by PFAS to a degree that fish are not safe to eat.
Michigan residents reasonably assume that the state provides basic protection for people and the environment. They believe that we hold polluters accountable for cleaning up the messes they’ve made. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case since 1995 when the Michigan Legislature drastically gutted the State’s environmental laws, taking us from one of the most protective in the country to one of the most vulnerable. When Michigan residents learn that our regulations are so much weaker than what they plainly should be, they grow understandably furious. We have seen this firsthand as our organization works to educate residents on the safety and health of our river and advocate for something better.
This legislative bill package will hold polluters accountable in the State of Michigan and encourage vigilance, so we no longer see contaminated site numbers going up in this state. These bills increase transparency for contaminated site cleanup and put in place accountability measures so that corporations that pollute our land and water are responsible for paying to clean it up, not Michigan taxpayers.
According to data collected from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), there are over 27,000 known contaminated sites in Michigan. In the Huron River watershed alone, based on data EGLE there are:
1. 3 National Priorities List (Superfund) sites. We expect a fourth one to be established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it targets the Gelman Sciences in Scio Township, Michigan that has contaminated the ground water with 1,4 dioxane.
2. 773 EGLE Part 201 environmental contamination sites in our watershed and 18,354 throughout the State.
3. 322 Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (known as LUST) in our watershed and 8,746 throughout the State.
I have attached our watershed map showing the distribution of these polluted sites and polluted sites in each of your legislative districts. It’s important that you should be aware of what polluted sites your constituents are living next to in their community.
The City of Ann Arbor, Scio Township, and Washtenaw County have been dealing with the Gelman Sciences 1,4-dioxane plume that has directly impacted residents of those communities. The dioxane plume stems from decades of unregulated waste handling at Gelman’s facilities. The plume has spread through western Ann Arbor and Scio Township and is approaching Ann Arbor Township and the Huron River at Barton Mill Pond. The City of Ann Arbor draws 85% of its drinking water from Barton Pond.
We’ve also had two significant environmental issues on the Huron River caused by Tribar Technologies in Wixom, Michigan. For many years, Tribar has discharged “forever chemicals” known as PFAS to the Huron River through the local wastewater treatment system. In 2018, PFAS contamination was found throughout the Huron River’s five-county area.
PFAS/PFOS are far more toxic than previously thought and far more pervasive in our food supply than previously thought and found in our food supply. These are forever chemicals that will only get worse over time until we formally ban the use of PFAS/POFS in industrial usage.
In 2022, Tribar, once again, released a dangerous chemical called hexavalent chromium into the Wixom wastewater treatment system. Hexavalent chromium is the substance of notoriety in the film Erin Brockovich. PFAS is often used as a fume suppressant to prevent worker exposure to hexavalent chromium, which is toxic when inhaled or touched and extremely poisonous if consumed. Fortunately, the release of hexavalent chromium was contained at the treatment plant before the effluent was released into the Huron River.
Initially, EGLE put in place regulatory controls to prevent such an alarming spill from happening again. But later, EGLE relaxed most of those protections despite objections from the City of Ann Arbor and the Huron River Watershed Council. Currently, the river is just as vulnerable to such an event as it was on the day of the release. EGLE suggests they are doing what they can within the law, highlighting just how weak our protections are.
Once again, we are supportive of Senate Bills 385-387 and 391-393 and ask for your support for this important legislative package. The residents of Michigan deserve it.
Public testimony by Rebecca Esselman, executive director, written for the Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Michigan Senate Energy and Environment Committee in support of Senate Bills 385-387 and 391-393.
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