Audit: Michigan Office of the Great Lakes didn't keep track of money
LANSING — Michigan’s Office of the Great Lakes broke federal grant-writing rules, failed to keep track of money and hasn’t updated some plans to clean polluted sites in years, according to an audit published Friday.
Michigan’s auditor general, Doug Ringler, examined how the office charged with protecting and restoring Michigan’s Great Lakes works with universities, nonprofits and others to remove contaminants and restore wildlife habitats in 14 “areas of concern” — lakes and rivers facing heavy pollution from industry and other development.
Ringler found the program, which doled out $10.4 million in grants from 2016 to 2017, “moderately effective.” He flagged a litany of deficiencies but did not list some specifics about grants, including parties involved. The audit found:
• The Office of Great Lakes awarded one unnamed university a $328,000 grant through an informal, poorly documented process that lacked a work plan. The office “could not assess whether a grant agreement met its needs.” The grantee created two classes to teach graduate students about the pollution program and its public outreach.
• The office failed to comply with federal and state grant requirements, prompting the state to issue $13,667 in unallowable or unsupported costs — such sponsorship of a watershed festival, including advertising and charter boat trips. The office accepted financial and program reports from six grantees weeks and even months past deadlines.
• The office seldom updated “remedial action plans” for the polluted sites despite vowing to do so in agreements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• The office hadn’t updated its plan for remediating Houghton County’s Torch Lake since 2007, and it hadn’t updated plans for the Detroit River, St. Clair River and Rouge River since 2008. The lack of updates limits the public’s involvement in efforts to clean up those sites and delist them from the program, the audit found.
• The office did not consistently notify the public about its removal of certain restrictions on waters in the program as conditions improved — including those related to dredging or eating fish and wildlife, for example.
Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/audit-michigan-office-great-lakes-didnt-keep-track-money