In Midland, Sanford and Edenville, Michigan two dam failures along the Tittabawassee River led to massive flooding, © 2020 The Detroit News, a Digital First Media Newspaper, state Department of Natural Resources rejected a $1.6 million grant request. The policy favoritism has not sat well with Edenville Dam owner Boyce Hydro. On Friday, May 22, 2020, the Pitt Legal Team, comprised of attorneys from the Southeast Michigan law firms of Pitt, McGehee, Palmer, Bonanni & Rivers, P.C., and Stern Law, PLLC, filed a lawsuit to protect victims of this completely avoidable disaster. Roughly $5 million of the 2019 funding was earmarked for dam improvements in Midland and Gladwin counties and deposited in the Four Lakes Task Force account on Sept.19 to be used for an analysis of the Edenville Dam. Across the nation, as environmental awareness grew and liability issues with dams came to the forefront, removal became a more viable option than repairs in the eyes of regulators and owners alike, said Mark Ogden, a former Ohio dam safety official who is now a technical specialist with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. The article largely aired grievances against state and federal regulators who he argued were violating private property rights in the pursuit of European-style environmental agendas. The dam had been censured for years by federal and state regulators for non-compliance with safety and environmental standards. As a result, we are filing individual claims for each of our clients. Funding for dam removal largely is prioritized over dam repair because that’s the way the statutory language was written for the state’s available grant programs, said Jessica Mistak, habitat management unit supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division. "Some of these concerns, such as inadequate recreational amenities or access to recreational amenities, were raised by members of the public," Golder said. 0 EGLE, which typically is tasked with dam safety, has a limited budget and staffing. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. $W�X�@���b@���`�̷A�t�� �[1�������C!�3H�Il:�@������!$��H���+@� ʁE Videos and images captured by witnesses show just how much water was unleashed when Michigan's Edenville Dam failed. “I do think that more regulatory agencies over the years have presented that option to the dam owners than years ago when dam building was more of the norm,” he said. Nearly 80% of Michigan's $16.95 million in dam management grants awarded since 2012 have gone to dam removal projects, state officials testified in mid-June. The agency did send a "number of letters" to Boyce Hydro and regulators with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding concerns about the company’s alleged noncompliance with federal licensing rules, Golder said. "It’s time to strategically look at where we have high maintenance, high restoration needs, and see where we should be restoring and where we should be removing,” she said. As a result, client award customized based upon their individual circumstances, In individual case approach, clients retain control of their case, including right to approve or reject settlement, unlike class action where class members have little or no voice or control. In spring 2019 the company’s lawyer, Lawrence Kogan, published a 146-page article in a Michigan State University law review titled "The Europeanization of the Great Lakes States." That analysis was finished June 4, after the Edenville Dam failed, and belatedly revealed the dam didn’t meet flood-capacity standards. h�b```f``Z������� �� @V��7ro��8';)���2t00w@d�����ia ����j ,����x����� The DNR and the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, or EGLE, have looked at the Tittabawassee River in particular as ripe for a return to "run-of-river" operations because of the impact on "historical fish communities," Kogan argued. Special assessments, grant funding and user fees can help to pay for maintenance, but those prospects are complicated when a dam is privately owned, Rubin said. �f��H�20I�L@g��]$���zT�E� ��#� Residents of Edenville … Michigan and federal officials have prioritized dam removal over dam repairs in their funding decisions, experts say, a trend a Republican state lawmaker argues is an "appalling" practice that values fishing concerns over public safety. Many state and federal dam funding issues come down to who benefits and who should pay, said Daniel Hayes, a professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University. While Kogan complained about the DNR’s grant program favoring dam removals, his client also never applied for a grant prior to Four Lakes’ 2019 application. The proposal was turned down in part because the application came from new prospective owners, the Four Lakes Task Force, rather than the dam owners themselves and because the dam didn’t meet grant priorities. The underfunding of dams is easier to ignore than shortchanges to other infrastructure like roads and bridges, said Laura Rubin, director of Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition, a conservation group. Given the state’s preference for dam removal, "it is not surprising that Boyce Hydropower LLC has been targeted" and "administratively harassed," he wrote more than a year before the dam broke. endstream endobj 199 0 obj <. More recently, Kogan cited the state’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Boyce Hydro’s Edenville Dam as further proof of prizing ecological goals over human safety. “Edenville Dam inspector: ‘People want to point fingers,’ but I did my best” Read Michael Pitt’s recent Bridge Magazine editorial “Opinion | Michigan EGLE can’t be trusted to probe its role on dam failures” Concerns Grow Over Independence, Transparency Surrounding Dam Failure Investigation The state had suspected as much since early 2019 but had been unable to definitively confirm the deficiency. "And they were advised that it wasn’t going to get him anywhere.". The state and private owners alike also need to examine which dams have outlived their usefulness. 219 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<752A6E7C2DBC3D419C1A8EF3F7C32310>]/Index[198 35]/Info 197 0 R/Length 100/Prev 126570/Root 199 0 R/Size 233/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream “I’m appalled at the fact that safety concerns have to go through fisheries and get vetted by biology rather than by public safety interests,” McBroom said. Sen. John Bumstead, the Newaygo Republican who chairs the Natural Resources and Environmental Quality Appropriations subcommittee, acknowledged McBroom’s comments about public safety but contended that tight General Fund budgets can’t provide the vast amount of cash needed to fix Michigan’s infrastructure. The 4.8 megawatt, 6,600-foot Edenville dam held back the Tittabawassee and Tobacco rivers at Edenville, Mich. Applicants usually first consult their local DNR fisheries biologist and then submit a pre-proposal to DNR officials, a practice inconsistent with the grant program’s objective of public safety, McBroom argued at the hearing. The funding priorities have come under new scrutiny after the privately owned Edenville Dam failed May 19, sending a surge of water down the Tittabawassee River and … In that case, the state would approve the negotiated contract between the utility and dam owner, commission spokesman Matt Helms said. Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer. But state officials said the conduct of the Edenville Dam’s owners is what prompted state action. What Damages Can Our Clients Pursue in an Individual Action? "There is a trend of removing dams, and much of the motivation is this aging infrastructure, this loss of any kind of positive benefits,” Hayes said. In 2016, Republican Gov. "The way we’re doing it right now is just not smart," he said. “Unless this body is willing to put in $4 million to $5 million a year, we’re not going to get anywhere,” Bumstead said. Kogan argued the state wants to turn the Tittabawassee River’s many dams to "run-of-river," which is considered more ecologically friendly because it uses the natural flow of the river rather than damming and flooding based on peak usage. Any information you provide will only be used in accordance with our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer. “Boyce had spoken to people in the Legislature," Kogan said. Rather, the fund is intended for dam-related projects that meet the initiative’s environmental protection and restoration mission. Because the flooding related damage of every individual, family or business here is unique and significant, their compensation should be customized based upon their individual circumstances and damage. 198 0 obj <> endobj The Michigan Public Service Commission only becomes involved in oversight of a dam’s hydroelectric rates if the dam is supplying power to a utility regulated by the state.
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