Signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill regarding the management, natural resource protection, and regulation of large-scale withdrawals of water from the state's lakes and inland waterways, including the Great Lakes.

Highlights:

- Requires property owners who propose any large water withdrawals to utilize a newly developed internet-based water withdrawal assessment tool to analyze the effects and potential adverse impacts on resources of the proposed water withdrawals, as well as to determine how the proposed withdrawal will be classified and regulated (Sec. 32706B). - Requires property owners to submit a request for a site-specific review to the Department of Environmental Quality if the assessment tool indicates that the proposed withdrawal falls into certain categories and could cause adverse resource impacts (Sec. 32706C). - Allows for a three percent reduction in the "thriving fish population" of a cold stream before the impact is classified as adverse (Sec. 32701). - Requires all persons who propose to develop the capability to withdraw more than 2 million gallons a day from the waters of the state or persons who propose to withdrawals that will result in intra-basin transfers of more than 100,000 gallons per day to obtain permits (Sec. 32723). - Requires holders of such permits, after January 1, 2009, to certify that they are in compliance with "environmentally sound and economically viable" water conservation measures for their withdrawal proposals (Sec. 32723).

Full Bill Text