The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is seeking public comments on proposed administrative rules updating cleanup criteria under Part 201 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, which regulates the cleanup of contaminated properties.

The cleanup criteria rules affect manufacturers and industries that use hazardous substances and may have remediation obligations. They are also relevant to real estate developers, lenders, and other parties that buy, sell, and lease property in Michigan that must engage in environmental due diligence to limit their liability for property that is contaminated.

Cleanup criteria are numeric or non-numeric thresholds used under state law to determine whether Michigan property is a “facility” because it is contaminated and whether the owner or operator of the facility must conduct remediation. Criteria are also used to determine when a cleanup has satisfied state law.

In 2010, the Michigan Legislature amended Part 201 to require MDEQ to update the cleanup criteria to take into account updated scientific information regarding hazardous substances and their toxicity. MDEQ convened a stakeholder process in 2012 to address its proposed updates to the cleanup criteria, including whether they would be promulgated as administrative rules. Following that process, the Legislature extended the deadline to update the cleanup criteria to December 31, 2013.

The proposed Part 201 rules provide both the algorithms and information necessary to calculate cleanup criteria. The rules incorporate tables like those currently found in operational memoranda published online by the Remediation and Redevelopment Division. MDEQ’s public hearing and the comment process is one of the few opportunities manufacturers, industry, real estate developers, and others will have to provide input into the cleanup criteria rules and the criteria being adopted.

To review the proposed administrative rules (2013-056 EQ), visit the Office of Regulatory Reinvention.

MDEQ will conduct a public hearing on the proposed rules on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., in the Con Con Conference Room on the Atrium Level, Constitution Hall, 525 West Allegan Street, Lansing, Michigan.

MDEQ must receive any written comments on the proposed rules no later than November 13, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.:

Remediation and Redevelopment Division
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 30426
Lansing, Michigan 48909-7926
Phone:  517-284-5141
Fax:  517-241-9581
E-Mail: reisnerr@michigan.gov