Saginaw official’s wetlands violations referred to attorney general

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has referred wetlands regulatory violations recently divulged by a Saginaw County public works commissioner to the state attorney general’s office for investigation.

In an interview with Michigan Messenger this month, the commissioner, Jim Koski, acknowledged that he has ignored DEQ regulations while acting on behalf of Hemlock Semiconductor in Saginaw County’s Thomas Township.

Koski — who was credited by Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw) as a drafter of legislation to end the state’s wetland regulation program — challenged the state to sue him for moving an open drain without a permit.

“I say, ‘Sue me,’” Koski told Michigan Messenger. “If they sue me, they are suing Semiconductor, and the governor doesn’t want to do that.”

The state classifies the county’s open drains as streams under the Inland Lakes and Streams Act. In the interview, Koski said that law has an exemption for work on county drains and stated that the Inland Lakes and Streams Act, like the wetlands program, should be abolished.

DEQ officials said that they have been aware of Koski’s un-permitted drain relocation work since 2007 but learned of his current plans for additional drain work only this month from Michigan Messenger’s reporting and have referred the matter to the AG’s office for investigation.

Violation of wetlands laws can result in civil or criminal charges and fines.

“It is puzzling why he is choosing to do this,” DEQ spokesman Bob McCann said of Koski’s defiance of wetlands regulations.

“We don’t want to go to court,” he said. “Resolving these issues out of court is always much better. Our goal is not to seek punishment.”

But Koski’s admission that he’s been ignoring current laws is more troublesome to the department, McCann said.

“If there is just going to be an attitude taken that ‘I don’t need to follow the law,’ that is a new problem. Mostly we deal with a lack of understanding of the law or people who are having trouble following the law. This is challenging the law itself. As a regulatory body, we are required to uphold the law,” he said.

The governor’s office and the attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Last week, the governor announced that the state would spend nearly $7 million of its Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop water infrastructure for Dow Corning’s Hemlock Semiconductor, which produces polycrystalline silicon for solar panels.

The rift between Koski and the department is playing out as a referendum on environmental regulations.

On Wednesday, in an editorial entitled, “Why do we need the DEQ?,” The Saginaw News supported Koski, calling him “an old hand” that the county is lucky to have. The newspaper wrote that the DEQ “is rogue, runs roughshod and is wrong” on wetland issues and called for passage of Sen. Roger Kahn’s bill to end state oversight all together.

Flood plain managers, drain commissioners and conservation groups argue that the state wetland program should be preserved because wetlands purify water, prevent floods and support healthy lakes that are critical to health, recreation and the tourism industry.

Forty-three Michigan townships have chosen to adopt wetland regulations more stringent than those of the state.