Hearings began recently in the Senate Transportation Committee on Senate Bill 431, sponsored by Senator Adam Hollier (D-Detroit), which would strip every Michigan township of local control over mining activities in their communities.

The bill would deny local governments the right to prevent gravel mining at any location. The decision on whether or not mining would take place would rest solely with the state.

Prior to the committee hearing, State Representative Gary Howell convened a strategy meeting in his office with Metamora citizen leaders and their attorneys. Lawyers for the Metamora Township citizens are law professor Gerald Fisher and former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young. Also in attendance were Metamora community leaders Victor Dzenowagis and Wayne Inman, as well as former State Senator Geoff Hansen.

The Aggregate Association’s lobbyist, Douglas Needham, made the main presentation at the public hearing arguing to take away local control over gravel mining. Mr. Needham has been the subject of an Auditor General report and a Senate Oversight report condemning a bogus study cooked up by the lobbyist and the MDOT director at taxpayer expense. The purpose of the illegitimate study was to mislead the Legislature into believing that a gravel mining shortage exists in Michigan and that it was essential to override local control.

“This bill strips local governments of the fundamental ability to look out for the citizens they represent,” said Howell, of North Branch. “Any community concerned about safe drinking water or other precious resources should have a say in what is allowed in their area.”

Prior to becoming a state legislator, Rep. Howell served as a township attorney for 40 years. Among his clients was Metamora Township, which during the 1980s, 1990s, and continuing in recent years has had several lawsuits filed against it by mining corporations. The lawsuits came after large gravel corporations sought to mine 500 acres on the Boy Scout Ranch near the Village of Metamora. The applicants were denied by Metamora Township due to public health and safety concerns. Beginning with a federal lawsuit Howell won for the Township in 1990, the courts have consistently agreed with the Township’s position that mining at that location would damage the community by disturbing the aquifer under an industrial waste landfill a few hundred yards away.

“We have been over this issue countless times and the courts have provided very clear rulings regarding the rights of local citizens to protect their communities,” Howell said. “In an obvious effort to get around the court decisions, the corporations behind this bill are attempting to change the law – and all of our state’s communities will suffer as a result. We certainly know that there are resources in the ground, but each location is unique. In the case of Metamora, there are dangerous toxins near this gravel that can contaminate wells in the surrounding area. Gravel mining at a location like this is not worth the steep cost of putting the health and safety of people at risk.”

Similar legislation had been proposed in the lame duck session of 2018, but significant local resistance and the active opposition by Senator Green and Representative Howell defeated the bill.

“The most important opposition to each version of these bills has come from the concerned people of Metamora and Dryden,” Howell said. “The Legislature would be wise to heed these concerns instead of enacting a bad law that impacts their safety and defies consistent legal opinions.”

PHOTO INFORMATION: (From left to right) State Representative Gary Howell, Former State Senator Geoff Hansen, Victor Dzenowagis, Wayne Inman, Justice Robert Young, and Dr. Gerald Fisher at a strategy session in Howell’s office to fight the mining bill.