Commission backs concurrence seeking redeclaration on unfunded lead-and-copper rule

The Mount Clemens City Commission approved a concurrence supporting a petition asking the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to reconsider its lead-and-copper rule, which local officials characterized as an unfunded mandate that could force extensive water-service replacements.

Administration said the petition, filed by the Great Lakes Water Authority, Detroit Water & Sewerage and the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner, challenges the validity of MDEQ’s requirements and seeks a declaratory ruling. "The petitioners are asking for the support of communities by submitting the attached concurrence form to the DEQ," administration said during presentation.

Commissioners expressed mixed feelings: several referenced Flint as evidence of water-treatment failures but emphasized that the proposed rule’s cost — described in the presentation as potentially in the tens or hundreds of millions if private service lines must be replaced — would be financially crippling for small communities. "You're talking probably $100,000,000," an administration speaker said when outlining the potential scale; commissioners added that if the state requires replacement to private residences it should provide funding.

One commissioner who had read the draft concurrence said it presented a single side and called for consideration of the other side’s technical and regulatory reasoning. The city attorney and administration recommended approval of the concurrence as a means to seek clarification at the state level. The motion carried by roll call as recorded in the meeting transcript.

The concurrence does not itself change local law; it asks the MDEQ to revisit or clarify the rule and its application to local water systems. The commission’s action directs the city clerk to file the concurrence form with the department as presented at the meeting.