Michigan’s latest dam safety crisis revives calls for reforms, funding

As waters recede from Michigan’s latest dam failure crisis, Michigan leaders are once again vowing action on reforms that could help prevent similar crises in the future.

Next week, a state House committee is expected to take up a bill that would strengthen flood control standards at Michigan dams, require greater assurance that owners can afford to maintain the expensive structures, increase inspection frequency and require federal regulators to coordinate more closely with their state counterparts on dam safety.

The reaction from members of a state task force who first recommended such reforms six years ago: Better late than never.

“We’ve been kicking a can down the road, and that’s not a good strategy,” said Dana Infante, chair of the Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, who sat on the Michigan Dam Safety Task Force.

The bill is a second attempt at reforms the group first proposed in the aftermath of the 2020 Edenville dam failure.

Lawmakers at the time vowed to enact the proposals but never did.

A key sponsor of the latest legislation told Bridge Michigan he’s confident Michigan’s latest costly, dangerous dam safety scare will spark success this time around.

“It shows you that the need for strong, sustainable water infrastructure is more important than ever,” said Rep. Bill Schuette, R-Midland.

But the proposal comes as House lawmakers are also considering steep cuts to the agency that regulates dams — an indicator, advocates say, of lawmakers’ struggle to prioritize safety when it competes with other concerns such as cutting regulations and spending.

Big talk, little action

The Midland dam failures of May 2020 exposed multiple weak points in the regulatory system governing Michigan’s 2,600 dams, from low flood control standards to a lack of staffing and poor communication between federal and state officials who split jurisdiction over dams.

In circumstances similar to the ones surrounding the Cheboygan Lock and Dam’s ongoing failure scare, the Midland area dams were old and undersized, privately owned, poorly maintained and on regulators’ radar for years before a massive spring flood destroyed them.

The resulting emergency forced 10,000 people to evacuate and inflicted hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, much of which taxpayers have paid to repair.

In the aftermath, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered state officials to investigate the incident and recommend solutions to prevent a repeat disaster. Two separate task forces blamed the catastrophe partly on weak dam safety standards, which allowed owner Boyce Hydro to operate the dams with spillways too small to handle a major flood while pleading poverty as regulators pushed for upgrades.

Lawmakers initially vowed swift action.

“We are going to lock the state into a real plan big enough to actually fix the problem and fast enough to start delivering results in our most vulnerable areas before it’s too late,” then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, said at the time.

The bills never even got a committee hearing.

Lawmakers did free up $50 million to help cash-strapped dam owners repair or remove the structures and another $6 million for emergency repairs. It didn’t go far in a state where experts say dams need $1 billion in investment.

More than 160 state-regulated dams are classified as having high hazard potential, meaning a failure could kill people downstream. About 15% of them are in poor condition or do not have a current rating. Nearly 100 dams with lower hazard ratings are also in poor condition.

“Policy often moves in Lansing when there is visibility to the issues, and dams aren’t super visible until there’s a big challenge,” lamented Liesl Clark, who directed the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy during the 2020 failures and sat on the dam safety task force. “And then unfortunately, our memories are short.”

Five years later, lawmakers are trying again with a bipartisan bill that contains many of the same provisions.

Rep. David Martin, R-Davison and chair of the House Natural Resources and Tourism Committee, said he is scheduling a hearing on the bills for next week. He said he wants to deliberate on the proposal while the latest crisis is still fresh in lawmakers’ minds.

“Almost everybody has more than one dam in their districts,” said Martin, adding that ongoing flooding has sparked “a will” to prioritize dam safety.

While some in the chamber’s controlling party push for greater regulations, others have proposed deep cuts to the state department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy budget, which agency officials say will hinder their ability to monitor problem dams.

Last Thursday, a House budget subcommittee advanced legislation that would roughly halve EGLE’s budget to $470.6 million.

EGLE spokesperson Dale George said that includes cutting several positions in the dam safety unit, where staffing currently stands at eight.

That’s more than the two employees on staff during the Midland failures, but still short of the 11 recommended by the dam safety task force.

“The proposed reductions would eliminate dozens of currently filled positions and cut funding for the staff actively responding to flooding and dam safety issues statewide,” George said.

An ongoing crisis

While lawmakers ponder their next steps, state dam safety officials remain on alert while floodwaters recede.

“The crisis is still very much ongoing,” said EGLE dam safety chief Luke Trumble. “But we’re breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief.”

At one point during the flooding, Trumble’s unit was monitoring about 40 dams that threatened failure.

Floodwaters destroyed several small, low-hazard dams in the northern Lower and Upper Peninsula, while multiple larger dams in Cheboygan, Hesperia, Bellaire and other communities came within inches of disaster.

Moving forward, “the whole thing has got to be replaced,” Hesperia Village President Mike Farber said of the old, undersized dam his municipality owns.

It’s not clear how the community of roughly 1,000 people will come up with $20 million for the project.

At nearly the last minute, emergency crews managed to repower the privately owned hydro plant adjacent to the state-owned Cheboygan Lock & Dam, increasing the complex’s ability to pass floodwater that had crept within inches of overtopping the dam.

Crews remain onsite 24/7, monitoring the dam’s condition and clearing flotsam from its gates. They are also monitoring the upstream Alverno, Tower and Kleber dams, privately owned impoundments that could trigger cascading breaches if they fail.

Beyond those efforts, “we’re watching the weather,” Patrick Ertel, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which owns the Cheboygan dam. “We’re still at risk of a large rainfall event having us right back out here.”

Costly repair needs, limited funding

It will be days before the waters dip low enough to inspect dams across the region for signs of lingering damage, Trumble said.

Officials also have not begun discussing how to settle the bill for repair costs that taxpayers fronted at the privately owned Cheboygan hydro plant. Those repairs are temporary, meaning further action will be needed to bolster the facility against future floods.

Beyond the decrepit hydro plant, the entire dam’s spillway is too small to pass a probable maximum flood and upgrades could cost millions.

The Cheboygan dam is one of 201 owned by the Michigan DNR, whose leaders have long complained they lack the money to adequately maintain them.

Whitmer’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget called for $15 million additional funding, but the number was whittled down to just shy of $4 million by the time lawmakers finished negotiating.

“We continue to seek sources for additional funding,” agency spokesperson Ed Golder said.

Clark, the former EGLE director and dam safety task force member, described Michigan’s latest dam safety crisis as the kind of predictable event that will only become more common as climate change intensifies Michigan’s cycles of rain and drought.

A failure to strengthen Michigan’s dam safety standards and adequately fund repairs, she argued, will leave residents vulnerable when waters inevitably rise again.

“Thank God we haven’t had a fatality,” she said.

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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.