A package of bills working its way though the Michigan Legislature could be dubbed "The Fox Guarding the Hen-house Act of 2017," its critics contend.

The bills, with Escanaba Republican state Sen. Tom Casperson as lead sponsor, would set up new, private-sector-based panels to oversee most decision-making by the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The boards — an Environmental Rules Review Committee, a Permit Appeal Panel and an Environmental Science Advisory Board — would not include DEQ representatives, and would have the final say on permits and rules on air quality, water resources, wetlands, everything the agency oversees.

"It's essentially an attempt to allow industry to write their own rules," said Charlotte Jameson, government affairs director for the nonprofit Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

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James Clift, the policy director at the nonprofit Michigan Environmental Council, concurs. The council is an umbrella organization of more than 70 environmental, conservation and faith-based groups located across the state of Michigan.

"This is one of the basic roles of state government, protecting health and public safety," he said. "How can you hand that over to someone who has a financial interest in the outcome? 'How clean do I have to make a contaminated site? Let's let industry decide.'"

Casperson, however, said the bills are being necessitated by DEQ staff who are too often arbitrary and unreasonable in their decisions, leaving citizens and business owners harmed.

"We want to protect the wetlands; we want to protect the environment," he said. "But there's got to be some common sense and some grace put into this process. And right now, there doesn't seem to be any."

Laws such as the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act would still need to be followed, Casperson said. But problems are arising where DEQ staff has discretion, he said.

"It's not rules and laws they are following; it's an agenda," he said. "They're going to save the planet, no matter what."

Environmental groups' voices, and that of their scientists, seem to dominate the process, Casperson said.

"It doesn't cost them anything, these rules," he said. "They have no idea of the cost of having to live with them.

"We want people involved who are regulated, because they are the ones who understand what it means to be regulated," he said.

The model, Casperson said, follows that of the state of Indiana, where a 16-member Environmental Rules Board, made up mostly of governor appointees, adopts rules that regulate air pollution, solid and hazardous waste, and water pollution. The body includes representatives from agriculture, small business and manufacturing, among other constituencies.

The provisions under consideration in Michigan don't have conflict-of-interest provisions in them, meaning a representative could support appeal of a pollution permit ruling directly to the benefit of the company or trade they represent.

Casperson said he was "certainly open" to adding conflict-of-interest protections, but added, "I wouldn't want it to go so far that you can't have anybody on the board."

Under the bill establishing a Permit Appeal Panel, only the applicant for a pollution permit could appeal a DEQ ruling.

"When I first read the Permit Appeals Board bill, I thought there are a lot of communities across Michigan who would love to appeal permit decisions — southwest Detroit, for example," Jameson said.

"But only the applicant of the permit can appeal. If you're an impacted resident, you still have no say in the permit decision. The bills do nothing to increase community or citizen involvement in the permitting process. It's all about handing the keys over to industry to self-regulate."

Casperson disputes that.

"I have yet to see the (DEQ) lean on the side of the citizen when they have discretion; it has always gone the other way," he said.

"If I want a permit, and the rules and laws say I should be able to get that permit, but the department doesn't like the idea of something I want to do — say, mining in the U.P. — all of a sudden; guess what happens? That permit gets delayed and delayed and delayed. Costing thousands of dollars, and in some cases, millions of dollars."

The bills, Senate Bills 652, 653 and 654, not unexpectedly are popular with business and manufacturing groups. They were approved out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee Dec. 7, and are now being considered by the "committee of the whole," prior to a potential Senate floor vote. Similar legislation is being introduced in the state House as well.

"We're worried this may get through the Legislature," Clift said.

Gov. Rick Snyder has not yet reviewed the bills, his spokeswoman, Anna Heaton, said.

"He is fully committed to working with the Legislature to address any concerns they have with departmental decision-making, at the DEQ or any other state department," she said.

Though the bills take direct aim at DEQ, agency officials aren't firing back.

"While the department recognizes the need for and supports transparency, we do not have a position on the bills at this time, as we are working through some of the details of how the bills will be implemented if enacted," DEQ spokeswoman Melanie Brown said.

Casperson acknowledged that the bills add layers of bureaucracy to state government — something conservative Republicans typically don't favor. And that a possible future shift in power in Lansing to the Democratic Party could have these new panels turning out environmental decisions he finds less favorable.

"I wish we didn't have to do it," he said. "I wish we could just work with the department and go through the process. But there's too many cases where they've got an agenda.

"We've got to get back at least some level of thinking about the people and their private property rights, and understanding people have to make a living."

Contact Keith Matheny: (313) 222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.