Posted on February 10, 2020
MUSKEGON, MI – Two months after a cadre of lawmakers asked for an emergency declaration due to shoreline erosion, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office has declined to take action.
There are several reasons for the inaction, according to administration and emergency management officials. Counties have not exhausted their own resources; the threat is more to private property, rather than critical public infrastructure; and erosion is an ongoing problem, rather than a short-lived, single event.
As erosion ate away at the Lake Michigan shoreline in December, a dozen lawmakers – 11 Republicans and a Democrat – signed a letter to the Democratic governor, seeking the declaration of a state of emergency in order to access more state and federal resources.
When the governor’s office was asked why she hasn’t made the declaration, an MLive reporter was referred to a spokesperson for the Emergency Management & Homeland Security branch of the Michigan State Police.
That spokesperson, Dale George, told MLive that the process for formally requesting a state of emergency must go through local emergency managers, and that his office has not received any such applications.
In an email, George added that emergency management officials could reach out and receive state resources without an emergency declaration – and many have already, he added.
“We have been made aware of resolutions passed by some city and county boards requesting a declaration for the Michigan shoreline,” George wrote. “When we are made aware of these resolutions, we check with the local/county emergency manager in the jurisdiction where the resolution originated to determine if they have any unmet needs or requests for state resources.”
To date, 18 counties across Michigan have applied for additional mapping and aviation support, which do not require an emergency declaration, according to George. They include Muskegon, Van Buren, Lake, Mason, Ottawa, Oceana and Manistee counties, he said.
“The governor can declare an emergency if there’s an imminent danger; however, that’s typically not done because we like to get all the information to validate and verify the reasoning for it,” he said in an interview. “That’s why we’re encouraging [local jurisdictions] to work with their emergency managers.”
In response to the December letter, Whitmer’s office issued a statement, saying that Michigan State Police (MSP) would respond to requests from local emergency management officials, adding, “To this point in time, MSP has received no requests for resources from county emergency managers.”
Afterward, the signatories had a conference call to discuss the issue with the governor’s office.
Brad Paquette, R-Niles, said he felt surprised at how “erratic” that call was, without a clear itinerary or sense of whom to ask questions of. He said that the representatives were told their local municipal funds would have to be exhausted before a state of emergency could be requested, but added that it is hard to calculate what that looks like.
“We would love to have more interaction” with the governor’s office, Paquette said. “The Great Lakes, we all share in them, whether we live on them or not. … I think this would be a great opportunity for her to build a bridge.”
State Rep. Terry Sabo, D-Muskegon, the lone Democrat to sign onto the letter, told MLive that he views the letter as a way of raising awareness about the issue. He said that during the conference call, the governor’s office “really outlined how they didn’t feel it was within the governor’s jurisdiction to issue such an order, so therefore there has been no such order.”
“I know she’s very much concerned about it, and I think she’s doing everything within her powers to come address it,” he added.
At last week’s State of the State address, Republican state Rep. Mary Whiteford and another signatory to December’s letter, brought Allegan County Emergency Manager Scott Corbin as a guest in order to draw attention to the issue of erosion and flooding. Whiteford’s district includes the Lake Michigan shoreline cities of Holland, Saugatuck, Douglas and South Haven.
During her State of the State address, Whitmer mentioned record-high Great Lakes water levels, but didn’t expand upon the issue. She said she’d have more to say in “the coming weeks.”
Whiteford did not respond to multiple requests from MLive for comment.
On Friday, Jan. 24, U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, toured a chunk of the coastline, from Saugatuck to Ludington, in a helicopter, and told reporters afterward that he thought an emergency declaration from the governor would free up federal resources.
“It seems to me that the state should declare a state of emergency on that,” he said at the time. “That will then at least help us make the argument with the Army Corps [of Engineers] and FEMA and others, that we need their attention.”
A formal declaration must be applied for under the parameters of a 1976 law that dictates, among other things, that a locality must first exhaust its own resources.
“In order to get the declaration, locally, we have to expend all of our resources,” said Rich Warner, Muskegon County’s director of emergency services. “We have not done that. Not even close.”
The cause of the emergency must also have a clear beginning and end. That’s easy to identify in a weather event like a tornado, but not for a slow-acting problem like erosion, said Nick Bonstell, director of emergency management for Ottawa County.
“Erosion is one of those things that doesn’t currently meet the criteria, because we don’t have a start date, we don’t have an end date, we’re in the middle of responding to it, and we’ll probably be in it for the next year or so,” he said.
What’s more, a declaration of emergency covers only critical, public infrastructure – roads, bridges, utility structures – and not private property. Warner said that, while he hears from concerned homeowners, no government-owned, critical infrastructure is “in jeopardy as of right now.”
On Tuesday, the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution requesting that the governor declare the shoreline a disaster area and seek federal assistance from Congress and the president.
Many other jurisdictions – including, last week, Van Buren and Berrien counties – have recently passed similar resolutions. Norton Shores is poised to issue one this week, according to their public agenda.
But those have no teeth, said Bonstell.
“Resolutions that are passed by local units of government are just bringing attention to the issue,” Bonstell said. “It’s basically saying, ‘Hey, we think the state should be paying attention to this erosion issue.’”
But if a major weather event takes place and pulls at those same eroded bluffs, causing damage to public infrastructure, that could trigger a formal declaration process, he added.
“If (jurisdictions) have a need for a resource, call me, and we’ll see what we can do,” said Warner. “But a resolution is not a step in the local declaration process.”
MLive followed up with Whitmer’s office about whether she plans to visit the areas of the coastline affected by erosion, but did not immediately hear back.
Source: mlive.com
