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House hearing on bills to exempt small produce processors from groundwater-discharge permits produces sharp divisions
Summary
Supporters told the committee House Bills 5698 and 5699 would relieve small farms and processors of costly groundwater-discharge permitting where annual discharge is under 100,000 gallons and strict conditions are met; environmental groups opposed, warning the exemption could worsen nutrient pollution, BOD impacts and make it harder to detect emerging contaminants like PFAS.
Lawmakers and witnesses at a Michigan House Agriculture committee hearing on April 1 heard sharply divided testimony on House Bills 5698 and 5699, a package sponsors said would create an exemption so small farms and produce processors that discharge less than 100,000 gallons of wash or cooling water per year could manage that water on-site without a full industrial groundwater-discharge permit.
Representative Johnson (sponsoring with Representative Meerman) told the committee the bills "establish a clear workable framework" that would allow small farms to manage routine wash water without being funneled into permitting designed for large industrial dischargers. He said health and sanitary systems would still require local health-department permitting and that the exemption is not a "carte blanche" to discharge hazardous materials.
Representative Meerman, who spoke at length, framed the bills as relief from a shifting, unpredictable permitting process at the Michigan…
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