EGLE presents $1.04 billion budget, pushes lead service-line work, contaminated-site cleanup and tipping-fee change

Director Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Appropriations — Environment, Great Lakes and Energy that EGLE’s fiscal 2025 budget is $1.04 billion gross and that the governor’s fiscal 2026 recommendation focuses on water infrastructure, contaminated-site cleanup, energy infrastructure and records digitization.

The agency’s budget “has a billion number after it,” Travis Bosco, EGLE deputy director, told the committee, adding that “63% of that is just passing right through us” to local governments, nonprofits, colleges and businesses via grants and loans. Roos framed the department’s priorities around water infrastructure and lead service-line removal, preventing and cleaning up contamination, and “modernizing government” to speed permitting and reduce FOIA burdens.

Why it matters: the proposal targets long-running problems across Michigan — aging drinking‑ and wastewater systems, thousands of known contaminated sites and capacity constraints inside the drinking water division — with a mix of one-time and ongoing state funds intended to leverage federal dollars and speed local projects.

Key proposals and figures

- Current budget: EGLE’s FY25 gross funding is $1,040,000,000 with $261,000,000 from the general fund and 1,652 FTEs authorized, the agency told the committee.

- Water infrastructure and lead service lines: The FY26 request includes $50,000,000 one‑time general fund and $30,000,000 ongoing general fund focused on drinking water and lead service-line work. Roos said the state has invested “$5,300,000,000 in upgrading that infrastructure” in recent years and…