Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act.

Highlights:

• Requires that an individual that is an owner, operator, or manager of a Straits gas and oil pipeline from which a release occurs to immediately notify the Department of the release by contacting the Department’s pollution emergency alert system or by other means required by the Department (Sec. 3111C).

• Requires an individual to submit an initial written report to the Department within 10 days after a release containing an outlining the cause of the release, discovery of the release, and either the response measures taken or a schedule for completion of measures to be taken, or both, to prevent recurrence of similar releases (Sec. 3111C).

• Requires that the individual required to report the release is to meet within 60 days after a release with representatives from the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of State Police, and the Michigan Public Service Commission to discuss the nature of the release and the response measures that have been taken and the response measures to be taken with regard to the release (Sec. 3111C).

• Specifies that Section 3111C does not alter any other existing statute, rule, or requirement pertaining to straits gas or oil pipelines or pollution of the waters of the state and it does not relieve any person from any reporting requirement imposed under state or federal law or regulation (Sec. 3111C).

• Requires the owner or operator of a Straits gas or oil pipeline to prepare and submit to the Department for review and approval a spill prevention plan for that pipeline (Sec. 3111D)

• Requires that an initial spill prevention plan and an initial contingency plan to be submitted to the Department no later than 180 days after the effective date of the Amendatory Act (Sec. 3111D).

• Requires an owner or operator of a straits gas or oil pipeline that submits a spill prevention plan for Departmental review and approval to pay an annual fee of $2,500 for each geographic plan area or sub-area established by the United States Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency, to support the Department’s administration (Sec. 3111D).

• Requires the Department to notify the owner or operator of the straits gas or oil pipeline if it is found that the submitted spill prevention plan does not meet certain requirements (Sec. 3111D).

• Specifies that a spill prevention plan that is approved is valid for 5 years (Sec. 3111D)

• Requires an owner or operator of a Straits gas or oil pipeline to notify the department in writing immediately of any significant change of which the owner or operator is aware affecting the spill prevention plan, including changes in any factor (Sec. 3111D).

• Authorizes the Department to require the owner or operator to update a spill prevention plan as a result of the changes identified in the notification from the owner or operator, or if the Department independently identifies changed circumstance warranting an update (Sec. 3111D).

• Prohibits the department from assess any additional fees beyond the annual fee for updating a spill prevention plan within the 5-year period (Sec. 3111D).

• Requires the owner or operator of a straits gas or oil pipeline to review, update, if necessary, and resubmit the spill prevention plan to the department at least once every 5 years or within 60 days after receipt of a request from the Department (Sec. 3111D).

• Requires the owner or operator of a straits gas or oil pipeline to submit to the department for review and approval a contingency plan for the containment and cleanup of gas or oil spills from the pipeline into the waters of the state and for the protection of fisheries and wildlife, natural resources, and public and private property from these spills (Sec. 3111D).

• Requires the owner, operator, or manager of a straits gas or oil pipeline or vessel from which gas or oil, or both, are released into the environment where it is or may be discharged into the waters of the state, and any other person responsible for an activity that causes such a release is liable to the state for civil fines as follows (Sec. 3115B):

• Each person liable for a release is jointly and severally liable for a civil fine of not more than $37,500 for each day that a release occurs; or

• If the release was the results of gross negligence or willful misconduct, each person liable for the release is jointly and severally liable for a civil fine of not less than $150,000

• Requires that, when determining the amount of a civil, the court takes into consideration (Sec. 3115B):

• The seriousness of the violation or violation

• The economic benefit to the violator, if any, resulting from the violation;

• The degree of culpability involved;

• Any other penalty for the same incident

• Any history of prior violations;

• The nature, extent, and degree of success of any efforts of the violator to minimize or mitigate the effects of the release;

• The economic impact of the fine on the violator; and

• Any other matters as justice requires.

• Specifies that the owner or operator of a straits gas or oil pipeline that fails to submit, or resubmit, a spill prevention plan is liable for a civil fine of $1,000 for each day of violation (Sec. 3115B).

• Specifies that the owner or operator of a straits gas or oil pipeline that fails to submit, or resubmit, a contingency plan is liable for a civil fine of $1,000 for each day of violation (Sec. 3115B).

• Establishes the Gas and Oil Pipeline Fund within the State Treasury (Sec. 3135).

• Authorizes the State treasurer to receive money or other assets from any source for deposit into the gas and oil pipeline fund (Sec. 3135).

• Specifies that the money in the Gas and Oil Pipeline Fund at the close of the fiscal year remains in the Gas and Oil Pipeline Fund and does not lapse into the General Fund (Sec. 3135).

• Defines “Public Vessel” as a vessel owned or bareboat chartered and operated by the United States, or by a state or a political subdivision of a state, or by a foreign nation, except when the vessel is engaged in commerce (Sec. 3101).

• Defines “Release” as including, but not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of oil into the environment, or the abandonment of a facility or vessel containing oil from which oil may enter the environment (Sec. 3101).

• Defines “Sewage Sludge Distributor” as a person who applies, markets, or distributes, except at retail, a sewage sludge derivative (Sec. 3101).

• Defines “Straits Gas or Oil Pipeline” as an intrastate pipeline or portion of an interstate used to transport gas or oil, or both, through the Straits of Mackinac (Sec. 3101).

• Defines “Vessel” as every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water, other than a public vessel (Sec. 3101).

• Defines “Department” as the Department of Environmental Quality (Sec. 3101).

Full Bill Text