EGLE outlines scope of Michigan’s contaminated-site backlog, urges steady funding and data access

The Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy heard a presentation on contaminated-site cleanup from Mike Miller, division director of EGLE’s Remediation and Redevelopment Division, who described the statewide inventory and urged consistent funding to accelerate remediation.

Miller told senators Michigan has roughly 27,000 known contaminated sites and that the department now estimates about 17,000–18,000 fall under Part 201 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act and “a little less than 8,000” are Part 213 leaking underground storage tank sites. He said the department is working on about 1,700 sites statewide — roughly 6% of the known universe — and described the long timelines and costs associated with higher‑risk locations, including about 64 federal Superfund sites on the National Priorities List and an average on‑list duration of about 40 years.

The presentation laid out four programs EGLE manages: state‑run Part 201 cleanups for hazardous releases to land; Part 213 for petroleum releases from leaking underground storage tanks; the state Brownfield Redevelopment Program (grants, loans and tax increment financing to support remediation tied to redevelopment); and federal Superfund work under CERCLA, for which the state typically matches about 10% of EPA costs. Miller said the Brownfield program pays only environmental cleanup costs, not broader redevelopment expenses.

Miller and Travis Bosco, deputy director at EGLE, emphasized how resource consistency affects outcomes. Miller said the agency receives about 1,200 basic environmental assessments (BEAs) tied to property transactions each year and that roughly half of those—about 600 annually—are new sites reported to the state through that process. He described a multi‑year effort to assign risk categories to sites (reducing the number with “unknown” risk from about 11,000 to under 1,000) and said about 1,100 sites are now classified as “risk present and immediate.”

Committee members pressed staff on program details, including whether Michigan’s high inventory of leaking underground storage tank releases reflects discovery practices or historic industrial patterns; Miller cited historic gas‑station density and differences in states’ statutory frameworks and said petroleum releases behave differently from chlorinated contaminants because petroleum biodegrades and can shrink in extent over time.

Senators discussed the governor’s budget proposal to raise the solid‑waste surcharge (the “tipping fee”) to produce new revenue for contaminated‑site cleanup and related priorities. Deputy Director Bosco summarized the proposal as increasing the surcharge and reallocating revenue: about 55% for contaminated‑site cleanup, 20% as formula money to local communities for recycling and materials management, 15% for host communities that host landfills, and 10% for materials‑management planning entities. Senators raised questions about the host‑community allocation and said distributions should be debated and designed carefully.

Miller and EGLE staff also described an ongoing digitization project. EGLE’s Remediation Information Data Exchange (BRIDAL) has >1.6 million documents digitized and currently supports heavy public use; staff reported about 15,000 monthly public downloads. The department has received roughly 20,000 freedom‑of‑information requests a year, about three‑quarters directed to remediation files; staff said digitization and redaction automation would lower costs and delays for both the public and regulated community. With additional budget funding the department aims to finish large‑scale digitization within about five years.

On cleanup standards, Miller explained that Michigan’s statutory closure criteria reflect a cancer‑risk threshold in statute of 1 in 100,000 and said site decisions evaluate discrete exposure pathways (groundwater reaching a drinking well, vapor intrusion into buildings, surface‑water migration, direct contact). He said a site may be closed for current use but carry a restriction (a covenant) if future use could create a new exposure pathway.

Two formal committee actions were recorded on routine business. Senator Singh moved to approve the subcommittee’s minutes from March 13, 2025; Senator Bayer supported the motion and the minutes were adopted without objection. Chair Irwin moved to adjourn at the meeting’s close; Senator Bayer supported the motion and the subcommittee adjourned without objection.

Why it matters: EGLE officials told the subcommittee that steady funding, clearer risk categorization and faster public access to site files would allow more predictable, longer‑term cleanup planning and could reduce the need for stop‑start work that wastes prior investigation data. Senators said they favor further debate on the governor’s surcharge proposal and on how host‑community funds would be distributed.