LANSING – Bonding is on its way to becoming the regular way of paying for environmental projects in the state, with Gov. Jennifer Granholm poised to request more funding for the Clean Michigan Initiative on the November ballot.
Funds for the Clean Michigan Initiative run out this fiscal year and Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester has said it costs about $100 million a year to keep various cleanup projects operating.
If the proposal moves ahead, that would be a 20-year bond issue every 10 years to cover the cleanup programs. The CMI, $675 million, was approved in 1998. The last remaining $180 million of that authorization is expected to be sold this year.
The 1988 Quality of Life Initiative included $660 million in environmental bonds and $140 million in recreation bonds. All of the recreation bonds have been sold and there is $19 million left to pay off. There is still $8.5 million left in the environmental bond authorization, with the most recent bonds sold from that authorization in 2006 and $450 million in debt still outstanding.
It is still unclear, if a bond issue is requested, how much it might be worth and what it would cover. “An awful lot of study and work has to be completed before we would have anything definitive to say,” said Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd.
The CMI included funds not only for environmental cleanup programs but also for state parks and recreation programs.
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