Governor Whitmer’s proposed budget for EGLE centers clean water, climate action, and community revitalization

Protecting Michigan’s land, air, water, and public health is at the heart of what the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) does. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive budget recommendation (proposed budget) for Fiscal Year 2025 shores up EGLE’s commitment to protect Michigan’s environment, public health, and supports  communities and residents across the state in ensuring a vibrant Michigan.

Contractor connecting a new non-lead service line to a home in Benton Harbor. Courtesy Abonmarche Consulting. 

“Governor Whitmer promised a budget focused on fundamentals that make a difference in people’s lives—and she delivered. I can’t think of much that is more at the heart of people’s lives than the work EGLE does protecting public health and safeguarding our land, air, and waters,” said Phil Roos, EGLE director. “Our budget prioritizes clean water, climate action, contaminated and brownfield site clean-ups and redevelopment, improved customer service, and new opportunities for communities. These investments will help protect public health, increase economic opportunity, safeguard drinking water, fight climate change, revitalize communities, and reduce pollution across the state.”

The proposed budget for the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) includes an additional 88 full time employees for a total of 1,704 with a budget of 1.1 billion—more than half of which is passed through to local communities in the form of grants and loans. That is a 5 percent increase from FY 2024’s EGLE budget. The water infrastructure and climate dollars outlined in EGLE’s budget proposal will target at least 40 percent of the benefits for deployment in disadvantaged communities.

The Governor’s proposed budget includes the following recommendations for EGLE:

Removing lead service lines, rebuilding water infrastructure, and protecting our drinking water
Investments will help upgrade Michigan’s drinking water systems, improve the reliability of community water treatment systems, help control costs associated with providing water, and improve drinking water quality for communities and residents across the state.

• Supporting drinking water infrastructure to leverage federal dollars: $35M One-Time General Fund (GF); $5M Ongoing GF. Provides grants and loans to communities helping them replace lead service lines and other critical water infrastructure like water mains and pumps while encouraging a “dig once” philosophy when upgrading water infrastructure. Ensures Michigan pulls down every dollar available to us through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
• Supporting drinking water and clean water infrastructure projects. $21.5M Ongoing federal, $3.5M Ongoing GF. Expands funding for the State Revolving Funds which helps communities upgrade their water infrastructure and address critical public health issues like PFAS contamination, sewer overflows, and more.
• Making our communities resilient to climate impacts. $10M One-Time GF, $5.3M ongoing GF. Assists communities in adapting to and making their infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change like flooding, through the installation of stormwater diversion infrastructure including green infrastructure projects like rain gardens.
• Protecting our waters from source to tap. $5.9M One-Time federal. A variety of programs to better manage our water resources and coastlines and provide communities with support for critical local water infrastructure projects.
• Hiring additional staff to protect access to safe drinking water for all Michiganders. The proposed new staff will ensure our water systems are properly designed, inspect systems, review and approve permits for water infrastructure projects efficiently, and more. Additionally, the proposed budget includes new staff to implement the ‘Filter First’ program, ensuring that thousands of schools and child care centers provide access to clean drinking water for Michigan children.

  Implementing the MI Healthy Climate Plan, mitigating climate change, and leading on mobility Investments are critical to meeting the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, the state’s climate action roadmap, ensuring that Michigan stays the global leader in advanced mobility and vehicle electrification by removing barriers to clean mobility adoption.

• Deploying clean fuel and charging infrastructure. $25M One-Time GF, $22.3M One-Time federal. Helps fill gaps in electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the state, complementing federal funding, and supports the installation of chargers at multi-family homes and fleet parking lots to support commercial fleet transitions. Additionally, the proposed budget includes federal funding supporting the construction of hydrogen fueling stations for heavy duty vehicles.
• Transitioning fleets to clean and electric vehicles. $20M One-Time GF. $693k One-Time federal. Provides resources to municipalities, transit authorities, and key infrastructure hubs like ports and airports to replace medium to heavy-duty fleet vehicles with more climate-friendly alternatives like battery electric and hydrogen fuel-based vehicles. Additionally, the proposed budget includes funds to lower the cost of replacing old vehicles, engines, and equipment with all-electric technologies.
• Plugging wells and reducing methane emissions. $5M One-Time federal. Supports the plugging of marginal conventional wells that will help protect water resources from contamination and reduce methane emissions, a climate pollutant, across the state.
• Developing a path forward on class VI wells. $1.93M One-Time federal. Helps the state develop and implement Class VI well programs and apply for primacy, ensuring resources are protected while supporting the sequestration of carbon to mitigate climate change.
• Helping small agricultural businesses fight climate. $363k One-Time federal. Supports agricultural producers and small businesses in rural communities across the state make their farms and businesses more energy efficient or to install renewable energy systems.

Discouraging out of state trash, cleaning up contaminated sites, redeveloping brownfields
The budget proposes a change to the state’s solid waste surcharge, commonly referred to as the tipping fee, to discourage out of state waste, reinvest in communities with programs like brownfield redevelopment and responsible waste management, and enhance environmental protection across the state. The proposal would increase Michigan’s tipping fee from .36/ton to $5.00/ton, moving the state towards the Midwest average. This equals an investment of about 1 cent per day by the average Michigander and, supports economic opportunity, protects public health, safeguards our environment and discourages out-of-state trash.

Investing in Team EGLE, improving service and transparency, enhancing environmental protection
The budget proposes investments to support the recruitment and retention of Conservation Officers who protect Michigan’s natural resources, the environment, and the health and safety of the public through effective law enforcement and education. Increases staff capacity to make our permitting processes more transparent and efficient while improving outreach and engagement.