Michigan wetlands near Porcupine Mountains (Photo: clare and ben via Flickr.com)

 When Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced a plan to do away with state wetlands regulation during her State of the State address last month, the timing seemed a bit odd to a former director of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

“I found it a little curious that this was announced about the same time as the coal moratorium,” Russ Harding said, referring to Granholm’s Feb. 3 executive order requiring that coal plant proposals receive enhanced environmental review. “It suggests to me that there is the potential that some trading is going on here.”

Harding, who served as DEQ director during then-Gov. John Engler’s administration, is now director of the Property Rights Network of the Mackinac Center, a Midland-based free-market think tank. He told Michigan Messenger last week that he served as a consultant in the development of pending legislation introduced by State Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw) that would eliminate state wetlands regulation and transfer oversight responsibilities to federal authorities.

“One advantage [of turning regulation over to federal authority] is that it would provide greater uniformity and consistency with other states,” Harding said.

The bill’s language was drafted in part by a Saginaw County public works commissioner who has admitted to violating state wetlands regulations at least twice, saying current requirements stifle business and industry.

Harding pointed out that stopping coal power plants has been a high priority for many environmental groups and suggested that some key constituency groups may have agreed to “quietly acquiesce” on the wetlands regulation measure.

Anne Woiwode, executive director for the Michigan Chapter of Sierra Club, said she’s seen no evidence of “horse trading” over environmental policy. “We are going to be joining with the entire environmental community and others in fighting the state’s effort to transfer [wetlands regulatory oversight] to the federal government,” she said.

Erin McDonough, spokeswoman for the Michigan United Conservation Corps, said that her group had not agreed to “quietly acquiesce” on wetland regulations, though she said the group had not yet determined whether preserving the current system is the best approach for keeping Michigan waters healthy.

Harding’s theory “doesn’t compute well, and not because I think highly of Granholm’s environmental policy,” Dave Dempsey, an environmental policy observer and blogger, said via e-mail. “The only way it makes any sense is that it would mean the environmental community got snookered again, which is not improbable. I know that several of my acquaintances in Lansing were more muted in their response to the wetland repeal in light of the ’slowdown’ on coal plants.”

The governor’s office did not respond directly to a request to react to Harding’s comments and referred the matter to DEQ spokesman Bob McCann, who said that although the wetlands plan and the coal plant moratorium were announced in the same speech, they’re not connected.

“I’m not sure where [Harding is] getting this idea from,” McCann said, noted that many groups have been loudly protesting the proposed move on wetlands.

And while Kahn acknowledged that there is a general buzz in Lansing about some kind of a trade-off, he said he has no knowledge that would support or diminish the theory.