LANSING – Industry and environmental groups remained split on new air emissions rules based on their comments Monday at a public hearing on the changes.

The rules, developed as a result of Governor Rick Snyder‘s rules advisory committee process to comb through the state’s regulations, would reduce the number of chemicals required to be regulated and would require some showing of toxicity to add new rules to the list.

Manufacturers said the changes (ORR #2014-153 and ORR #2014-154) would remove chemicals from the list that are no longer being used, while environmental groups said the changes would put the burden on the state to show a chemical is harmful.

The key benefit to the rules is brining Michigan more in line with its neighbors, Andy Such, director of environmental and regulatory policy for the Michigan Manufacturers said.

“The federal government regulates 187 compounds,” Such said. “Michigan rules currently regulate more than 1,200. These rules would reduce that to about 700. That’s still more than surrounding states.”

James Clift, policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council, said the changes would put communities at risk.

Clift argued the rules, for some chemicals, ignore the quantity being emitted, which he said is a key component in measuring toxicity.

And he said there would not be limits on new chemicals, as there are in the current rules, until those chemicals are shown toxic. “There’s nothing in the rule that can require a company to test a chemical that’s never been tested before it’s emitted,” he said.

The department, not the company, he said, would have to show the chemical would be a health hazard.

Such said there was nothing in the rules to prevent the DEQ from regulating a new chemical. “The DEQ cam impose controls on any chemical a company wants to use whether it’s on a list or not,” he said.

He said the rules also ensure an open process for deciding what chemicals are regulated.

The next step in the process is for the Department of Environmental Quality to review public comment and incorporate any changes it deems fit and then submit the rules to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

This story was published by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on www.gongwer.com