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Michigan legislature says DEQ stays as is

For the first time in more than 40 years, Michigan’s legislature rejected a gubernatorial executive order.

“Mr. President, there are 22 aye votes, 16 nay votes and zero excused.”         

Michigan’s Republican-led Senate voted against Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s first executive order Thursday after the House voted it down last week.

The order would have transformed the Department of Environmental Quality into the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, created a new office of climate and energy, joined Michigan to the U.S. Climate Alliance and eliminated DEQ oversight committees.

Michigan House Ag Committee Chair Julie Alexander, a Republican, says the executive order would negatively impact farmers. “These commissions protected our natural resources while also protecting those whose muck boots are on the ground caring for our natural resources, our farmers.”   

Michigan Farm Bureau is in favor of rejecting the order, saying the DEQ boards were developed to find cooperative solutions, based on law and rule and supported by science, to maintain environmental protection without creating undue regulatory burdens.