LANSING – Michigan lawmakers on Thursday rejected Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive order reorganizing the state's environmental agency, signaling an early power struggle between the GOP-controlled Legislature and the state's newly elected Democratic chief executive.

At the crux of the dispute is one aspect of Whitmer's much broader environmental order — the abolition of industry-dominated panels created by the Legislature last year to review environmental rules and permits.

The governor said Thursday she will issue a new and similar executive order soon, possibly as early as Tuesday.

The Legislature's action “is not going to hamper my effort to get it done because people are counting on me," Whitmer told the Free Press.

The Senate voted 22-16 Thursday to reject Whitmer's executive order after the House took similar action on Feb. 6, in a 58-51 vote.

It's the first time in 42 years the Michigan Legislature has voted to reject a governor's executive order, Gongwer News Service reported.

Whitmer's order, which reorganized the Department of Environmental Quality as the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, with greater emphasis on safe drinking water and responding to climate change, also abolished three panels that could review and overturn departmental decisions on environmental rules and permits.

The Legislature created the committees by statute just last year. The state Constitution, along with an earlier attorney general's opinion, make it clear both that Whitmer has the power to abolish the committees and that the Legislature has the power to overturn her order through majority votes in both chambers.

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Whitmer "did not expect this, because it's about fixing the drinking water and protecting the Great Lakes," Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said soon after the vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said lawmakers rejected the order to "protect Michiganders from overzealous bureaucrats."

On Thursday morning, the Senate Oversight Committee, in a party line vote, approved a resolution rejecting the executive order and sent Shirkey a letter explaining its findings from recent hearings on the resolution.

"The success of any Republican form of government depends on the strength of its most democratic institutions, the consent of the governed, and the rule of law," said the letter from Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, and two other GOP committee members.

"Elimination of these essential panels, as well as the oversight and transparency that they provide, does not provide justice or improve government for the citizens of this state," the letter said. Instead, "it is an objectionable step backward."

Sen. Jeff Irwin, D- Ann Arbor, said the committees were stacked with representatives of corporations putting toxic chemicals into air and water. He called the committee "polluter panels," and said the children and other citizens of Michigan are counting on the Legislature to protect them and the environment.

Shirkey has invited Whitmer to submit a new executive order without the objectionable language related to the review committees, but Whitmer has said she has no intention of backing down over who has the final say on environmental rules and permits.

Whitmer, who delivered her first State of the State address to the Legislature on Tuesday and met Thursday with the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press, said she would be issuing a new executive order very soon that might be "a little bit different."

"If their real goal is to make sure that business has a voice, I’ll work with them on that, but to hamper our ability to act swiftly, to give oversight to the regulated over the regulators is inefficient," Whitmer said.

Brown said Whitmer looks forward to continued dialogue with GOP legislative leaders. Shirkey also said he looks forward to meeting with Whitmer. But it wasn't clear whether any talks were scheduled.

Whitmer said the three panels she sought to abolish would slow down environmental work. They have only met twice since their creation and they are not based on science, she said.

"One of the mandates I heard from people on the campaign trail is that we’ve got to clean up our drinking water in Michigan," Whitmer said. "This is a problem across our state. Flint, we know, was based on decisions made by the last administration, but PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used in firefighting foam and other products) is leaking into water all over the state," she said.

“I wanted to create a department that would efficiently and quickly move real strategies to clean up drinking water. It’s going to be staffed with the finest, scientifically based decision makers. We’re going to move quickly.”

Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, called the resolution a Valentine's Day "love letter to corporate polluters."

But McBroom told the Senate he was disturbed by Whitmer's allegations that those who supported the resolution were opposed to clean drinking water or clean air. Nothing could be further from the truth, he said.

Whitmer has asked Attorney General Dana Nessel, also a Democrat, for an opinion on whether the panels, which Democrats say impinge on the executive authority of the governor, are legal. That opinion is still awaited.

Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said Democrats in the Legislature won't back down in a fight to protect the Great Lakes.

“After all of the environmental catastrophes we’ve suffered during the last eight years, we should be relieved that our governor has real plans to keep our water safe, not fighting back at every opportunity," Ananich said.

McBroom said that without the panels, the balance of power between the state environmental agency and citizens is tipped too much in favor of the department.

"It costs the department and its personnel nothing to enter litigation against a citizen or to defend its decision," McBroom said in his letter to Shirkey. "Meanwhile, without these panels ... the citizen has to bear the full costs to attain justice through the courts."

The executive order rejected by lawmakers was Whitmer's first nonemergency executive order since she took office Jan. 1. She had earlier declared a state of emergency over bitterly cold temperatures resulting from the polar vortex.

Environmental groups denounced the Legislature's move.

“Instead of joining Gov. Whitmer to protect public health, lawmakers are launching partisan attacks over unnecessary layers of bureaucracy that will only slow down, block and delay cleanup of polluted sites and protection of our water,” said Lisa Wozniak, executive director of Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

“We need bold, swift action to protect our drinking water and the health of Michigan communities."

But the Michigan Chamber of Commerce testified in favor of the Legislature's action, saying the panels provided for a "more cooperative rule-making and permit process."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.