Shoreline Protection Bill Signed

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Governor Rick Snyder has signed legislation from state Representative Kim LaSata intended to strengthen a program for the clean-up of waterways in the state. LaSata tells WSJM News confusion was created several years ago when the Michigan Departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality were combined. After they separated, it was not clear which one was to run the Adopt-a-River and Adopt-a-Shoreline programs.

“After a while the departments discovered that this was something that’s already on the books, but they didn’t know who oversaw it,” LaSata said. “So we are just clarifying it, making the Department of Natural Resources in charge.”

LaSata tells us the two programs enable anyone to get state information on a given waterway so they can use it as part of a clean-up effort. She got to work on the legislation after noticing trash in a local river and wondering if groups of citizens could adopt that waterway.