|
 Permit
Granting Permission To Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations To
Pollute Ground Water Released By DEQ For Public Comment
Gongwer News Service, March 26, 2004
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org.
A proposed
pollution discharge permit for concentrated animal feeding
operations is now released for public review and comment,
officials with the Department of Environmental Quality said
Friday.
The general permit sets out the "very limited" circumstances
that the feedlot operations can discharge wastewater, after
construction of manure and wastewater containment facilities.
Those facilities must be able to store a minimum of six months
of manure at the start of winter.
A spokesperson for the Michigan Farm Bureau said the proposed
permit is close to what the organization expected from the
department. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) have
turned into one of the most controversial of
agricultural/environmental issues in the state.
The public comment period on the rule runs until May 7.
For more information on CAFOs -
Click here.
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
State Unveils Website to Help With Purchasing
Gongwer News Service, March 29, 2004
A website that state officials hope could help local governments
save money by purchasing needed products through companies the
state already has contracted was unveiled on Monday.
Through the "MiDEAL" site
http://www.michigan.gov/mideal officials hope that local
governments and schools as well as non-profit hospitals will be
able to get information on more than 400 products provided by
more than 200 state contracts. Local governments already can use
the state service to save funds on a variety products regularly
used, such as road salt, and the new website is part of an
effort to expand the program to other public agencies.
Currently some 200 governments and schools participate in the
cooperative purchasing program.
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
ISD Board Members Subject To Recall, For Now
Gongwer News Service, March 31, 2004
However they attain their office, intermediate school district
board members are subject to recall, Attorney General Mike Cox
ruled Tuesday. But only until January 1 when the provision that
allows that recall is repealed.
Legislators are currently wrangling with legislation that would
provide for the recall of ISD board members whether they are
popularly elected or elected by the boards of the constituent
districts, and that wrangling appears likely to continue even
with an opinion from Mr. Cox (opinion No. 7153) that recalls of
all levels of school board members are already covered under a
single section of the current school code, which itself refers
to sections of the election law.
Rep. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly), champion of the ISD bills (SB 885,
HB 4338 and HB 5458) said the effort needs to continue not only
to replace the provision before it repeals, but also to improve
it to make it easier for ISD board members, and school board
members, to be recalled.
"I'm very concerned that this fundamental right of people is
being undermined by ISD lobbyists," Ms. Johnson said. "We need
to get back at it and make sure this basic fundamental right is
not taken away from people."
Under the current recall provisions, petition circulators must
collect signatures of 25 percent of those who voted for governor
in the prior general election in all of the ISD's constituent
districts. And he said the fact that case law has recognized
those ISD board members selected by constituent district boards
as technically being appointed does not negate the recall
provisions.
"Thus, although the Legislature has created two different
mechanisms for electing intermediate school board members ...the
Legislature has made no such distinction when providing for
their recall," Mr. Cox said in the opinion.
But in changes made to the school code last year (PA 299, 2003
and PA 302, 2003), the Legislature instead repealed the recall
provisions for all school board members, including those on ISD
boards. The revisions are effective January 1, 2005.
And Ms. Johnson argued that requiring collection of signatures
representing 25 percent of the gubernatorial vote was excessive
when township officials, representing smaller districts, can be
recalled with signatures representing only 10 percent of the
vote.
Governor Jennifer Granholm said at a press conference Tuesday
she supports intermediate district reforms to improve
accountability and provide a process for removal of
superintendents, but said some of the efforts in the current
package of legislation still go too far.
"It's very clear we want accountability, transparency and
permanency," Ms. Granholm said of the ISD system. But even with
the well-publicized troubles at the Oakland Schools and Monday's
filing of criminal charges against its former superintendent,
the governor said reforms should not be carried out "with an axe
when it could be done with a scalpel."
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
|
