LANSING — A fight over access to gravel near residential areas is escalating in Lansing, and it may have the potential to impact anyone who drives Michigan roads, as well as many who live in suburban homes.

A new bill, backed by the gravel industry, would largely strip the powers of local government to deny permits to land owners for gravel mining operations.

Proponents tie passage of the bill to the road funding debate, saying easy access to gravel used for road building is essential to containing costs and stretching Michigan’s limited road dollars.

Opponents say the bill is an attack on local control to benefit industry. They say its passage would mean gravel mines, along with the associated noise, trucking and dust, could pop up within 300 feet of any suburban home. They also question a purported gravel shortage that is a major justification for the legislation, noting that the Free Press revealed in June that the Michigan Aggregates Association recommended the consultant and set out the terms of reference for a 2016 Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) study that concluded such a shortage was pending in some parts of the state.

In recent developments:

Sen. Adam Hollier, a Detroit Democrat, in August introduced Senate Bill 431, which would bar local governments from denying permits to gravel mines, as long as the resources available on the site are valuable ones and unless “very serious consequences” would result from their extraction.

The gravel industry’s lobbyist, the Michigan Aggregates Association, has asked the Internal Revenue Service and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to strip the charitable status of a group fighting both the Senate bill and a proposed huge new gravel mine in Michigan’s Thumb Area. The complaint says the Metamora Land Preservation Alliance is not an educational nonprofit but a vehicle used by a few wealthy families to block the proposed mine.

The Michigan Court of Appeals said Aug. 29 that it will hear an appeal of an April ruling by a Jackson County Circuit Court judge that has been hailed by opponents of gravel mining near residential areas. Judge John McBain overturned a decision of the Grass Lake Township Planning Commission to approve a new gravel mine over nearby residents’ objections. The judge cited harm to nearby property values and potential health hazards from airborne dust he said would be generated by the mine.

The Michigan Auditor General's Office confirmed Wednesday it is conducting an investigative audit requested by the Metamora Land Preservation Alliance. In a June letter, the alliance asked the auditor to investigate whether the gravel industry's role in the MDOT study amounted to fraud, waste or abuse of public resources, or a violation of state contracting laws. The report is expected by mid-October, spokeswoman Kelly Miller said. A separate audit overseen by the State Transportation Commission is expected by Oct. 1.

Hollier's bill is similar to one sponsored by former Republican Sen. Tom Casperson of Escanaba, which died during the 2018 lame-duck session in the face of strong opposition from residents and businesses in Metamora Township and the Village of Metamora.

Hollier said Wednesday he does not know when his bill will get a committee hearing, but he hopes it will be soon.

Hollier said there should be uniform rules across the state on the siting of gravel mines, and, in his experience, claims of infringement on "local control" come from communities of wealth and influence, resulting in unwelcome developments being shunted to less wealthy and influential areas like parts of his Detroit-based district. He said he's prepared to hear concerns about issues such as public health and amend his legislation if such concerns are valid.

More:Emails show MDOT let lobbyist steer report on gravel shortage for Michigan roads

More:Congressman wants EPA oversight of Metamora mine, citing gravel industry influence on MDOT

"We can't build roads without aggregates and the cost is overwhelming to move the materials," making it essential that road contractors can access gravel close to where roads are being built and repaired, he said.

Judy Allen, director of government relationsfor the Michigan Townships Association, said local governments have limited authority to stop property owners from extracting stones or minerals from their properties under existing law, and the Hollier bill goes even further than the Casperson bill did in further removing local control.

"We don't think that there is a problem," either in terms of the way the system now works or in terms of any gravel shortage in at least the next decade, Allen said.

Michigan Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rich Studley expressed support for Hollier's bill on Twitter on Aug. 25, calling it a cost-saving reform he urged Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and GOP legislative leaders to support in ongoing talks aimed at reaching a new road funding deal.

Though the bill would have implications statewide, a proposed 500-acre gravel mining operation on property in Metamora Township, leased from the Boy Scouts of America, remains the central focus in the pending fight over SB 431.

Last month, the Michigan Aggregates Association filed complaints with both the Internal Revenue Service and the charitable trust section of the Michigan Attorney General's Office, asking that they strip the Metamora Land Preservation Alliance, which opposes the new Metamora mine, of its tax-exempt status.

Rather than being devoted to land preservation and education, as stated, "we believe (you) will find the MLPA was organized by wealthy landowners and businesses to fund litigation and legislative lobbying activities to promote their individual, personal interests," Michigan Aggregates Association President Doug Needham said in a letter to the AG's Office.

Kelly Rossman-McKinney, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dana Nessel, said the complaint is being reviewed.

The MLPA on Wednesday released to the Free Press its tax filings for 2018, 2017, and 2016, complete with schedules that list donors who gave $5,000 or more to the alliance. Those schedules with donor names and addresses must be disclosed annually to the IRS, but do not have to be released to the public.

The biggest donors to the alliance from 2016 to 2018, based on those records, were Top and Sandy Cornell of Metamora, who gave $35,000, Kevin Adell of Metamora, who gave $20,000, and David and Alice Hoisington of Bloomfield Hills and Wayne and Amelia Inman of Dryden, who gave $15,000 each.

Sandra Cornell works as a financial adviser, according to campaign finance records. Adell is a broadcasting executive who is CEO of The Word Network, 910 AM Superstation, and WADL-TV, according to his website. David Hoisington is a consultant, according to campaign finance records. Wayne Inman is an attorney and MLPA board member, records show.

"MLPA has had over 100 unique donors since 2015," spokesman Matt Resch said.

The alliance received $132,000 in donations from 33 donors in 2017, for an average donation of $4,000, he said. In 2018, it received $36,208 from 12 donors, for an average donation of $3,017, he said.

The Michigan Court of Appeals on Aug. 29 agreed to hear a contentious case involving a proposed gravel mine in Grass Lake Township, east of Jackson.

In April, McBain overturned a 2017 approval the township planning commission gave to L&L Development Ltd.'s proposal for a gravel mine on 80 acres on Norvell Road.

Among other findings, McBain concluded that the planning commission made its decision to approve the gravel mine prior to a required hearing at which many of the roughly 275 residents in attendance spoke against the proposal.

McBain said there are schools within about a mile of the proposed development and the commission did not give proper consideration to concerns about potential health hazards from dust and the impact on nearby businesses and residents from air and noise pollution.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.