“Broken Bottle Bill” would strip millions of dollars from contaminated site cleanup

LANSING – The Michigan League of Conservation Voters today issued the following statement after beverage industry businesses renewed their call to make damaging changes to our state’s bottle deposit program that would strip millions of dollars from the cleanup of contaminated sites threatening our drinking water.  The legislation, House Bill 5423, which Michigan LCV dubbed the “Broken Bottle Bill,” stalled out in the Legislature earlier this year amid opposition, and is now seeing a renewed push from beverage distributors.

“This back-door, ill-conceived attempt to strip funding away from environmental cleanup comes at a time when we have more reported contamination sites than ever before and further puts our health at-risk,”  said Bob Allison, deputy director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “Our state’s bottle deposit program, a model nationally, was passed overwhelmingly by Michiganders to protect our drinking water and lakes. Any lawmaker that votes to gut this critical cleanup funding at a time like this will be held accountable by voters in November.”