{"id":5748,"date":"2020-06-02T14:37:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T14:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/chang\/?p=5748"},"modified":"2020-06-02T14:37:08","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T14:37:08","slug":"democratic-legislators-introduce-bills-to-address-dangerous-dock-collapses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2020\/06\/02\/democratic-legislators-introduce-bills-to-address-dangerous-dock-collapses\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic legislators introduce bills to address dangerous dock collapses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LANSING, Mich. \u2014 Today, Sen. Stephanie Chang<\/strong> (D-Detroit), Sen. Rosemary Bayer <\/strong>(D-Beverly Hills), and Sen. Erika Geiss<\/strong> (D-Taylor) introduced legislation to protect major waterways and public health. The legislation would ensure statewide risk assessments would be conducted and a public database of findings be made available regarding contaminated properties along major waterways, require inspections of commercial and industrial docks, and require notification regarding spills into our waterways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation comes, in part, as a response to a Detroit property contaminated with uranium and other dangerous chemicals that partially collapsed into the Detroit River<\/a> \u2014 which many Metro Detroit communities use as a source for water \u2014 on November 26 last year. The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) was only notified when a concerned resident took action to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the Great Lakes state, there should be no reason for our residents to be left in the dark about potential hazards on the waterways around them,\u201d Sen. Chang said. \u201cEnsuring that we have public access to comprehensive information we need about the contaminated sites along our waterways is important given the growing concerns about our water quality, as well as rising water levels. I look forward to working with my colleagues on ushering these bills through the legislature so they can become law.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About a month after the Detroit River dock collapse, another dock collapsed in St. Clair County<\/a>, leading to a ferry not being able to travel to Harsens Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Senate Bill 948, the state would be required to undertake a risk assessment for environmental contamination of any waterfront property that had previously been used for either industrial or commercial purposes, as well as take high-water levels and history of inspections into consideration. Properties would be classified as high, medium, or low risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must give our environmental agencies the opportunity to hold those responsible for environmental disasters accountable, but they can\u2019t enforce what they don\u2019t know about,” Sen. Geiss said. \u201cMy bill makes it clear that there will be consequences to actions \u2014 and inaction \u2014 because the innocent people who have to suffer the consequences of pollution deserve the peace of mind knowing that there is no tolerance for those who choose to willfully ignore or reject the law.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Chang\u2019s bill was accompanied by two other bills, sponsored by Sen. Bayer and Sen. Geiss, respectively, that would:<\/p>\n\n\n\n