Bill Text: MI HB4778 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Natural resources; Great Lakes; off-shore wind development; prohibit lease, conveyance, or permit for use of bottomlands. Amends secs. 32503 & 32512 of 1994 PA 451 (MCL 324.32503 & 324.32512).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-05-29 - Printed Bill Filed 05/29/2013 [HB4778 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-HB4778-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL No. 4778
May 28, 2013, Introduced by Reps. Franz, MacMaster, Kelly, Somerville, Genetski and Bumstead and referred to the Committee on Energy and Technology.
A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled
"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"
by amending sections 32503 and 32512 (MCL 324.32503 and 324.32512),
as amended by 2012 PA 247.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 32503. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section,
the department, after finding that the public trust in the waters
will not be impaired or substantially affected, may enter into
agreements pertaining to waters over and the filling in of
submerged patented lands, or to lease or deed unpatented lands,
after
approval of the state administrative board. Quitclaim The
department may issue or enter into with any person quitclaim deeds,
leases,
or agreements covering unpatented lands may be issued or
entered
into by the department with any person, and shall contain
such
and containing terms, conditions, and requirements as that the
department determines to be just and equitable and in conformance
with the public trust. The department shall reserve to the state
all mineral rights, including, but not limited to, coal, oil, gas,
sand, gravel, stone, and other materials or products located or
found
in those lands, except where if
the lands are occupied or to
be occupied for residential purposes at the time of conveyance.
(2) The department shall not enter into a lease or deed that
allows drilling operations beneath unpatented lands for the
exploration or production of oil or gas.
(3) The department shall not enter into a lease or deed that
allows the use of unpatented lands for the siting, placement,
construction, operation, or maintenance of any structure to
research wind energy development, any wind turbine, or any
equipment or structure related to a wind turbine, including, but
not limited, to a transmission line.
(4) (3)
An agreement, lease, or deed
entered into under this
part by the department with the United States shall be entered into
and executed pursuant to the property rights acquisition act, 1986
PA 201, MCL 3.251 to 3.262.
Sec. 32512. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), unless a
permit has been granted by the department pursuant to part 13 or
authorization has been granted by the legislature, or except as to
boat wells and slips facilitating private, noncommercial,
recreational boat use, not exceeding 50 feet in length where the
spoil is not disposed of below the ordinary high-water mark of the
body of water to which it is connected, a person shall not do any
of the following:
(a) Construct, dredge, commence, or do any work with respect
to an artificial canal, channel, ditch, lagoon, pond, lake, or
similar waterway where the purpose is ultimate connection of the
waterway with any of the Great Lakes, including Lake St. Clair.
(b) Connect any natural or artificially constructed waterway,
canal, channel, ditch, lagoon, pond, lake, or similar waterway with
any of the Great Lakes, including Lake St. Clair, for navigation or
any other purpose.
(c) Dredge or place spoil or other material on bottomland.
(d) Construct a marina.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), the following
activities are not subject to regulation under this part:
(a) Leveling of sand, removal of vegetation, grooming of soil,
or removal of debris, in an area of unconsolidated material
predominantly composed of sand, rock, or pebbles, located between
the ordinary high-water mark and the water's edge.
(b) Mowing of vegetation between the ordinary high-water mark
and the water's edge.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to lands included in the
survey of the delta of the St. Clair River, otherwise referred to
as the St. Clair flats, located within Clay township, St. Clair
county, as provided for in 1899 PA 175.
(4) The department shall not grant a permit under this part
for the siting, placement, construction, operation, or maintenance
of any structure to research wind energy development, any wind
turbine, or any equipment or structure related to a wind turbine,
including, but not limited to, a transmission line.
