Major Initiatives/Recent Action
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has been active in the past few years. As an incentive program to maintain high environmental standards, the MDEQ has issued honors to several Michigan locations. In 2011, the Detroit Edison River Rouge Plan was given the state environmental honor for an outstanding commitment to environmental and community outreach. Later that year, three West Michigan facilities—Herman Miller Inc., Holland Board of Public Works, Pilgrim Manor Retirement Community—were awards the Neighborhood Environmental Partners Gold Award. This program was developed to recognize facilities and their community partners.
Governor Snyder has also taken an active part in Michigan environmental movement to create safer communities. He declared October 16–22, 2011 to be Radon Action Week in Michigan, encouraging all Michigan residents to learn more about environmental hazards and test their homes to protect themselves. The DEQ is partnering with local health departments to ensure that radon test kits and literature are accessible to all Michigan residents.
The MDEQ also played an important role in the Seventh Annual MiCorps conference. The DEQ assisted in collecting and sharing water quality data to protect and manage Michigan’s lakes and streams. With this participation, the DEQ has demonstrated its commitment to educating Michigan residents about the environment and collecting vital information about the current environmental situation in order to identify the various environmental problems the state is facing.
Recently, the MDEQ has also issued permits for the operation of a hazardous waste management facility in Romulus, Michigan. The Environmental Geo-Technologies, LLC obtained a license for aboveground hazardous waste treatment and storage operations. The DEQ staff conducted a full review of the company, and assured that EGT facility met all the state requirements. This permit for air emissions allows the facility to begin approved upgrades and would not be able to do so without DEQ oversight.
While the MDEQ takes action within the Michigan community, the department also has ongoing incentives. Some of the most prominent ones include the Electronic Waste Takeback Program (a recycling program for electronic waste) and a phragmites control demonstration program (communicate better treatment to the spread of phragmites in Saginaw Bay).
Read more about this topic: Michigan Department Of Environmental Quality
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