House passes partial open burning ban; Senate direction unclear

Late last year, the House passed legislation to ban the open burning of certain household materials. House Bill 4207 would ban the open burning of household waste that contains plastic, rubber, foam, chemically treated wood, textiles, electronics, chemicals or hazardous materials beginning 180 days after the effective date of the legislation, should it be signed into law.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Ken Kurtz (R-Coldwater) and serves as a compromise from earlier Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rules that were scheduled to go into effect April 1 of last year that would have essentially banned the open burning of all household waste. The compromise was worked out with officials from the governor's administration. HB 4207, as originally introduced, would have stopped the DEQ from promulgating rules prohibiting the open burning of household waste from a one-family or two-family dwelling at the location of the dwelling.

The House-passed version of the bill was substituted to specifically ban the items listed above and stipulate that the department shall not promulgate or enforce a rule that extends the prohibition to materials not listed in the bill. The bill passed the House overwhelmingly and now goes over to the Senate where it has been assigned to the Senate Natural Resources, Environment and Great Lakes Committee.

Meanwhile, Sen. Judy Emmons (R-Bushnell Twp.) recently introduced Senate Bill 889 to address this same issue. Her bill is the same as Rep. Kurtz's original bill that stipulates that the department shall not promulgate rules to prohibit the open burning of household waste from a one-family or two-family dwelling at the location of the dwelling. This bill has also been assigned to the Senate Natural Resources, Environment and Great Lakes Committee.

It will be interesting to see which version of the bill ultimately comes out of the Senate committee for action on the Senate floor. Many feel that the department should not be implementing any restrictions on the burning of household waste, especially in this economy, and that enforcement of a partial ban would be more difficult than a total ban. However, it appears that the administration would like to see some restrictions put into place for environmental and health reasons. As with most pieces of legislation-stay tuned.