Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

HOUSE BILL NO. 5247
 October 25, 2023, Introduced by Reps. Koleszar, Morgan, Conlin, Rheingans, Edwards, Miller,
   Wilson, Churches, Paiz, Breen, Glanville, Hood, Tsernoglou, Hoskins, Steckloff, MacDonell,
   Arbit, Skaggs, Brixie, Hope, Mentzer, Neeley, Wegela, McKinney, Hill, Andrews, Brabec,
   Young, Dievendorf, Weiss, Aiyash and Coffia and referred to the Committee on Natural
   Resources, Environment, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation.
      A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled
"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"
by amending sections 20101, 20107a, 20112a, 20114, 20114b, 20114c,
20114d, 20114e, 20114g, 20126, and 20126a (MCL 324.20101,
20107a, 324.20112a, 324.20114, 324.20114b, 324.20114c,
20114d, 324.20114e, 324.20114g, 324.20126, and 324.20126a),
sections 20101, 20114d, and 20114e as amended by 2018 PA 581,
sections 20107a, 20114, 20114c, and 20126 as amended by 2014 PA
542, section 20112a as amended by 2010 PA 234, section 20114b as
added by 2010 PA 228, section 20114g as added by 2012 PA 446, and
section 20126a as amended by 2010 PA 227; and to repeal acts and
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     parts of acts.
                  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
       Sec. 20101. (1) As used in this part:
       (a) "Act of God" means an unanticipated grave natural disaster
 or other natural phenomenon of an exceptional, inevitable, and
 irresistible character, the effects of which could not have been
 prevented or avoided by the exercise of due care or foresight.
       (b) "Agricultural property" means real property used for
 farming in any of its branches, including cultivating of soil;
 growing and harvesting of any agricultural, horticultural, or
 floricultural commodity; dairying; raising of livestock, bees,
 fish, fur-bearing animals, or poultry; turf and tree farming; or
 performing any practices on a farm as an incident to, or in
 conjunction with, these farming operations. Agricultural property
 does not include property used for commercial storage, processing,
 distribution, marketing, or shipping operations.
       (c) "All appropriate inquiry" means an evaluation of
 environmental conditions at a property at the time of purchase,
 occupancy, or foreclosure that reasonably defines the existing
 conditions and circumstances at the property in conformance with 40
 CFR part 312. (2014).
       (d) "Attorney general" means the department of the attorney
 general.
       (e) "Background concentration" means the concentration or
 level of a hazardous substance that exists in the environment at or
 regionally proximate to a facility that is not attributable to any
 release at or regionally proximate to the facility. A person may
 demonstrate that a hazardous substance is not present at a level
 that exceeds background concentration by any of the following
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 methods:
       (i) The hazardous substance complies with the statewide default
 background levels under table 2 as referenced in R 299.46 of the
 Michigan Administrative Code.
       (ii) The hazardous substance is listed in table 2, 3, or 4 of
 the department's 2005 Michigan background soil survey, is present
 in a soil type identified in 1 or more of those tables, and meets 1
 of the following:
       (A) If a glacial lobe area in table 2, 3, or 4 lists an
 arithmetic or geometric mean for the hazardous substance that is
 represented by 9 or more samples, the concentration of that
 hazardous substance is the lesser of the following:
       (I) Two standard deviations of that mean for the soil type and
 glacial lobe area in which the hazardous substance is located.
       (II) The uppermost value in the typical range of data for the
 hazardous substance in table 1 of the department's 2005 Michigan
 background soil survey.
       (B) If a glacial lobe area in table 2, 3, or 4 lists a
 nonparametric median for the hazardous substance that is
 represented by 10 or more samples, the concentration of that
 hazardous substance is the lesser of the following:
       (I) The 97.5 quantile for the soil type and glacial lobe area
 in which the hazardous substance is located.
       (II) The uppermost value in the typical range of data for the
 hazardous substance in table 1 of the department's 2005 Michigan
 background soil survey.
       (C) The concentration of the hazardous substance meets a level
 established using the 2005 Michigan background soil survey in a
 manner that is approved by the department.
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       (iii) The hazardous substance is listed in any other study or
 survey conducted or approved by the department and is within the
 concentrations or falls within the typical ranges published in that
 study or survey.
       (iv) A site-specific demonstration.
       (f) "Baseline environmental assessment" means a written
 document that describes the results of an all appropriate inquiry
 and the sampling and analysis that confirm that the property is or
 contains a facility. For purposes of a baseline environmental
 assessment, the all appropriate inquiry may be conducted or updated
 prior to before or within 45 days after the earlier of the date of
 purchase, occupancy, or foreclosure.
       (g) "Board" means the brownfield redevelopment board created
 in section 20104a.
       (h) "Certificate of completion" means a written response
 provided by the department confirming that a response activity has
 been completed in accordance with the applicable requirements of
 this part and is approved by the department.
       (i) "Cleanup criteria for unrestricted residential use" means
 any of the following:
       (i) Cleanup criteria that satisfy the requirements for the
 residential category in section 20120a(1)(a).
       (ii) Cleanup criteria for unrestricted residential use under
 part 213.
       (iii) Site-specific cleanup criteria approved by the department
 for unrestricted residential use pursuant to under sections 20120a
 and 20120b.
       (j) "Department" means the director or his or her the
 director's designee to whom the director delegates a power or duty
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 by written instrument.
       (k) "Director" means the director of the department of
 environmental quality.environment, Great Lakes, and energy.
       (l) "Directors" means the directors or their designees of the
 departments of environmental quality, community health,
 environment, Great Lakes, and energy, health and human services,
 agriculture and rural development, and state police.
       (m) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection,
 dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any hazardous substance
 into or on any land or water so that the hazardous substance or any
 constituent of the hazardous substance may enter the environment or
 be emitted into the air or discharged into any groundwater or
 surface water.
       (n) "Enforcement costs" means court expenses, reasonable
 attorney fees of the attorney general, and other reasonable
 expenses of an executive department that are incurred in relation
 to enforcement under this part.
       (o) "Environment" or "natural resources" means land, surface
 water, groundwater, subsurface strata, air, fish, wildlife, or
 biota within this state.
       (p) "Environmental contamination" means the release of a
 hazardous substance, or the potential release of a discarded
 hazardous substance, in a quantity which is or may become injurious
 to the environment or to the public health, safety, or welfare.
       (q) "Evaluation" means those activities including, but not
 limited to, investigation, studies, sampling, analysis, development
 of feasibility studies, and administrative efforts that are needed
 to determine the nature, extent, and impact of a release or threat
 of release and necessary response activities.
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       (r) "Exacerbation" means the occurrence of either of the
 following caused by a failure to carry out activities required
 under a due care plan described in section 20107a(1)(g) or by an
 activity undertaken by the person who that owns or operates the
 property, with respect to contamination for which the person is not
 liable:
       (i) Migration of contamination in soil, air, or water above the
 targe detection limit and beyond the boundaries of the property
 that is the source of the release at levels above cleanup criteria
 for unrestricted residential use unless a criterion is not relevant
 because exposure is reliably restricted as otherwise provided in
 this part.
       (ii) Migration of contamination in soil or water at levels
 above the cleanup criteria for unrestricted residential use or a
 relevant state drinking water standard, and that exceeds in any
 horizontal or vertical dimension of the area of contamination as
 delineated in the baseline environmental assessment.
       (iii) (ii) A change in facility conditions that increases
 response activity costs.
       (s) "Facility" means any area, place, parcel or parcels of
 property, or portion of a parcel of property where a hazardous
 substance in excess of the concentrations that satisfy the cleanup
 criteria for unrestricted residential use has been released,
 deposited, disposed of, or otherwise comes to be located. Facility
 does not include any area, place, parcel or parcels of property, or
 portion of a parcel of property where any of the following
 conditions are satisfied:
       (i) Response activities have been completed under this part or
 the comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and
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 liability act of 1980, 42 USC 9601 to 9675, that satisfy the
 cleanup criteria for unrestricted residential use.
       (ii) Corrective action has been completed under the resource
 conservation and recovery act of 1976, 42 USC 6901 to 6992k, 6987,
 part 111, or part 213 that satisfies the cleanup criteria for
 unrestricted residential use.
       (iii) Site-specific criteria that have been approved by the
 department for application at the area, place, parcel of property,
 or portion of a parcel of property are met or satisfied and
 hazardous substances at the area, place, or property that are not
 addressed by site-specific criteria satisfy the cleanup criteria
 for unrestricted residential use.
       (iv) Hazardous substances in concentrations above unrestricted
 residential cleanup criteria are present due only to the placement,
 storage, or use of beneficial use by-products or inert materials at
 the area, place, or property in compliance with part 115.
       (v) The property has been lawfully split, subdivided, or
 divided from a facility and does not contain hazardous substances
 in excess of concentrations that satisfy the cleanup criteria for
 unrestricted residential use.
       (vi) Natural attenuation or other natural processes have
 reduced concentrations of hazardous substances to levels at or
 below the cleanup criteria for unrestricted residential use.
       (t) "Feasibility study" means a process for developing,
 evaluating, and selecting appropriate response activities.
       (u) "Financial assurance" means a performance bond, escrow,
 cash, certificate of deposit, irrevocable letter of credit,
 corporate guarantee, or other equivalent security, or any
 combination thereof.
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       (v) "Foreclosure" means possession by a lender of a property
 on which it has foreclosed on a security interest or the expiration
 of a lawful redemption period, whichever occurs first.
       (w) "Fund" means the cleanup and redevelopment fund
 established in section 20108.
       (x) "Hazardous substance" means 1 or more of the following,
 but does not include fruit, vegetable, or field crop residuals or
 processing by-products, or aquatic plants, that are applied to the
 land for an agricultural use or for use as an animal feed, if the
 use is consistent with generally accepted agricultural management
 practices at the time of the application or stamp sands:
       (i) Any substance that the department demonstrates, on a case
 by case basis, poses an unacceptable risk to the public health,
 safety, or welfare, or the environment, considering the fate of the
 material, dose-response, toxicity, or adverse impact on natural
 resources.
       (ii) Hazardous substance, as that term is defined in the
 comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability
 act of 1980, 42 USC 9601 to 9675.
       (iii) Hazardous waste, as that term is defined in part 111.
       (iv) Petroleum as described as a regulated substance in section
 21303.
       (y) "Interim response activity" means the cleanup or removal
 of a released hazardous substance or the taking of other actions,
 prior to before the implementation of a remedial action, as may be
 necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate injury to the public
 health, safety, or welfare, or to the environment. Interim response
 activity also includes, but is not limited to, measures to limit
 access, replacement of water supplies, and temporary relocation of
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 people as determined to be necessary by the department. In
 addition, interim response activity means the taking of other
 actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate a
 threatened release.
       (z) "Lender" means any of the following:
       (i) A state or nationally chartered bank.
       (ii) A state or federally chartered savings and loan
 association or savings bank.
       (iii) A state or federally chartered credit union.
       (iv) Any other state or federally chartered lending
 institution.
       (v) Any state or federally regulated affiliate or regulated
 subsidiary of any entity listed in subparagraphs (i) to (iv).
       (vi) An insurance company authorized to do business in this
 state pursuant to in accordance with the insurance code of 1956,
 1956 PA 218, MCL 500.100 to 500.8302.
       (vii) A motor vehicle sales finance company subject to the
 motor vehicle sales finance act, 1950 (Ex Sess) PA 27, MCL 492.101
 to 492.141, with net assets in excess of $50,000,000.00.
       (viii) A foreign bank.
       (ix) A retirement fund regulated pursuant to in accordance with
 state law or a pension fund regulated pursuant to in accordance
 with federal law with net assets in excess of $50,000,000.00.
       (x) A state or federal agency authorized by law to hold a
 security interest in real property or a local unit of government
 holding a reversionary interest in real property.
       (xi) A nonprofit tax exempt organization created to promote
 economic development in which a majority of the organization's
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 assets are held by a local unit of government.
       (xii) Any other person that loans money for the purchase of or
 improvement of real property.
       (xiii) Any person that retains or receives a security interest
 to service a debt or to secure a performance obligation.
       (aa) "Local health department" means that term as defined in
 section 1105 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.1105.
       (bb) "Local unit of government" means a county, city,
 township, or village, an agency of a local unit of government, an
 authority or any other public body or entity created by or pursuant
 to in accordance with state law. Local unit of government does not
 include this state or the federal government or a state or federal
 agency.
       (cc) "Method detection limit" means the minimum concentration
 of a hazardous substance that can be measured and reported with 99%
 confidence that the analyte concentration is greater than zero and
 is determined from analysis of a sample in a given matrix that
 contains the analyte.
       (dd) "Migrating NAPL" means that terms term as it is defined
 in section 21302.
       (ee) "Mobile NAPL" means that term as it is defined in section
 21302.
       (ff) "NAPL" means that term as it is defined in section 21303.
       (gg) "No further action letter" means a written response
 provided by the department under section 20114d confirming that a
 no further action report has been approved after review by the
 department.
       (hh) "No further action report" means a report under section
 20114d detailing the completion of remedial actions and