HOLLAND (WTHC) — Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials are rethinking plans to deregulate 500 toxic air chemicals, according to a Grand Rapids Press report.
DEQ officials said Monday they will reject a proposal to cut out nearly half the toxic air contaminants currently on state pollution oversight lists.
Gov. Rick Snyder’s Office of Regulatory Reinvention produced the deregulation proposal in 2011. It would have removed Michigan from a short list of nine states currently regulating all potentially toxic air emissions.
Michigan rules are stricter and cover 1,200 chemicals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified 750 chemicals states must regulate.
Environmental groups said the deregulation could threaten public health.
