EGLE highlights dam safety grant spending and says FERC data-sharing can complicate oversight

Jared Sanders, EGLE's Water Resources Division director, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy that dam safety is an aging-infrastructure concern and described recent grant funding and coordination challenges with federal regulators.

Sanders said the average age of dams in Michigan has passed the 50-year design life and that dam safety carries public risk as infrastructure degrades. He described a one-time, approximately $45 million pot of grant funding the state distributed after mid-Michigan dam failures; that package was delivered in three allocations, including a final $15 million pot split over three years.

On interagency coordination, Sanders said EGLE interacts with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) but that information sharing can be limited when FERC retains oversight of a facility. "In some of the situations ... FERC does not release some of that information," Sanders said, adding that the department has had "pretty significant challenges" in Mid-Michigan events where timely information was not always available. He said EGLE meets with FERC routinely but that transitions of dam oversight from FERC to state jurisdiction can create gaps in available data and timeliness.

Sanders also described the state's dam safety grants and technical programs, including safety assessments, removals and upgrades funded through the grant program. He said the last pot of the special dam risk reduction money was getting ready to be awarded.

Committee members asked questions but did not take formal action on dam policy or new funding during the meeting.