Jared Sanders, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Water Resources Division, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy that the division oversees a wide range of regulatory and nonregulatory programs but is strained by staffing and funding pressures.

"Michigan, and the Great Lakes Basin is like a globally rare and unique place," Sanders said, noting the basin holds about 70% of North America's fresh surface water and about 21% of the world's. He described the division's responsibilities as spanning permitting, monitoring, compliance and grant programs across wastewater, stormwater, wetlands, coastal management and dam safety.

Sanders told committee members that roughly 20–25% of the division's budget passes through to local communities and partners, and that historically the balance among state general funds, federal funds and fee revenue has shifted. He said some major fee programs were last updated about 20 to 30 years ago, reducing those fees' buying power.

On staffing, Sanders said about 41% of division staff had less than five years' experience and, excluding long-tenured supervisors and specialists, roughly 57% of field staff had under five years' experience. He said turnover during and after the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the profile but that hiring and retention efforts were making progress.

Sanders gave annual workload figures to illustrate the division's activity: about 9,000–10,000 permit decisions, roughly 2,500 complaints, 2,500 service requests, 7,000 inspections (about 5,500 compliance-related), roughly 2,000 follow-up compliance actions and under 100 escalated enforcement actions. He said the division addressed about 15,000 regulatory work items in a year.

Sanders described nonregulatory work the division performs, including taking about 1,500 fish tissue samples for fish consumption advisories, coastal planning grants and operator certification and education programs for wastewater and construction operators. He said the division had reduced permit processing times on the resource side by about 9–10 days (roughly a 14% reduction) over three years and had added district compliance staff to improve follow-up on wetland and resource complaints.

There were no formal votes tied to the presentation; the subcommittee approved minutes from May 13 at the meeting start.

Sanders said outreach and education were also priorities: roughly 10,000 participants attended division educational events last year, and staff host frequent webinars for the regulated community.

He closed by listing division priorities including permitting efficiency, compliance balance on resource programs, improved communication, staff retention and public engagement.