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Controversy Stirs Around Bill Limiting Information Requests on Infrastructure

Melissa Benmark, WKAR

The public would not be able to obtain certain information about pipelines and other infrastructure under legislation in the state House. Supporters of House Bill 4540 say it’s an attempt to protect critical infrastructure from being attacked.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that the industry shares with us all of their information without the concern that that information could be used against them by a bad actor who wants to do damage to their systems – either physically or through some kind of a cyber-attack,” said state Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth Twp.), who introduced the bill.

“The bill does not impact safety reports, inspection reports, the permitting process in general, MISS DIG, or anything like that.”

But Democrats say the bill’s language is too broad. They say it would erode Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and put the environment at risk.

“Maybe (someone is) concerned about some pipelines going near their neighborhood, and the environment. And then someone’s going to say, ‘Oh, he has an evil motive. Let’s not give him the information.’ It’s just nonsense,” said state Rep. Rose Mary Robinson (D-Detroit).

Robinson is the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Ethics Committee, which held a second hearing on the bill on Wednesday. The panel is expected to hold at least one more hearing on the legislation – at which point Heise says he expects some changes to be made in order to make the bill’s language more clear.

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