MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
INTEROFFICE COMMUNICATION
March 11, 2002
 

Mich. Admin. Rule R 323.1098 Anti-Degradation applies to Black Bear's request to discharge waste water from the Mt. Bohemia Ski Hill and reads as follows:

(3) Where, for individual pollutants, the quality of the waters is better than the water quality standards prescribed by these rules, that water shall be considered high quality and that quality shall be maintained and protected unless allowing lower water quality is necessary to accommodate important economic or social development in the area in which the waters are located. For high quality waters, no action resulting in the lowering of water quality shall occur unless the provisions of this rule have been complied with.

There is no established protocol or standard to evaluate necessary or, more significantly, what should be considered important economic or social development. Thus, we are faced with the necessity of making those determinations somewhat subjectively and on a case-by-case basis.

With respect to whether the lowering of water quality is necessary, all surface waters that provide feasible waste water discharge opportunities to the ski area are high quality with respect to phosphorous. Further, no zero discharge technology currently exists with respect to the disposal of human waste. Regardless of where the decrease occurs, lowering of water quality of some surface water body is necessary to accommodate the ski area.

Black Bear contends that their project will provide significant dollars to the local economy and also is an important source of employment to an otherwise depressed area. Rule 1098 provides no specific criteria (e.g. number of jobs created, amount of dollars generated, etc.) against which to judge the importance of these dollars or jobs. Clearly, if the ski area stays in business it will produce jobs and dollars and these will have a degree of importance attached to them. Further, in this specific instance, the lowering of water quality is inversely proportional to the success of the ski area. In other words, if skiers do not come to the ski hill, it will not generate jobs or dollars nor will it generate phosphorous.

For these reasons, we recommend approval of the 1098 demonstration and also recommend permitting the discharge.