<p>LANSING, Mich &mdash; A lawsuit that accuses the state of Michigan of failing to regulate and enforce safety regulations on a dam that failed, causing an estimated $200 million in damages and destroying 2,500 structures, may not be resolved soon, an attorney representing nearly 300 clients said Monday.</p>
<p>Attorney Ven Johnson joined affected residents for an update on litigation over the Edenville Dam in Midland County days before the one-year anniversary of its failure. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/13be6d52732d84f867912745dc7714cc">The Edenville dam’s failure caused another dam to fail just two hours later,</a> and damage was widespread.</p>
<p>No lives were lost, but the small village of Sanford lost 10% of its residents and 78% of its businesses, Village Councilman Carl Hamann said.</p>
<p>“Some of them are coming back and some of them aren’t," Hamann said. “It’s been very passionate for me because I’ve got a lot of people that I see that went through some real horrendous situations and I just want people to know that we’re coming back, and we’ll have celebration this week to commemorate the losses we’ve seen from one year ago.”</p>
<p>Johnson’s law firm in June 2020 sued the ownership of the Edenville Dam, which had a history of safety violations, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Owner Boyce Hydro’s license for the nearly century-old dam was revoked in 2018 for continued failure to address safety regulations, including some measures to withstand floods. The state then took over regulation of the dam.</p>
<p>Boyce Hydro was fined $15 million for safety violations by FERC in April, but Boyce was approved for bankruptcy earlier this year. Johnson said he isn’t hopeful for much of a payout from Boyce.</p>
<p>The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) which was granted regulatory authority of the dam, said in a <a href="https://perma.cc/7KAP-24S9"> 2018 report</a> that though there were concerns about the dam’s spillway capacity, the dam was in “fair structural condition” and it found “no deficiencies that would be expected to cause immediate failure”.</p>
<p>Johnson said with all the warnings dam regulators gave Boyce, the state ultimately did not properly regulate the dam to ensure the safety of nearby residents and their properties.</p>
<p>“What we should have done is we should have pushed that button and gone to court and… forced a sale to get somebody in there who’s going to make the fix, but in 2018 when the state of Michigan took over, they knew all this, they knew they had a bad actor, they had already gone through this stuff with FERC because the state of Michigan was involved,” Johnson said. “We should have been on this, and we blew it.”</p>
<p>EGLE did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.</p>
<p>Johnson argued his case against the state in Michigan’s Court of Claims last November. He said he expects the state to appeal if he prevails, a process that could extend litigation into 2024, he said.</p>
<p>Johnson’s clients represent just a fraction of those affected by the flood. Several lawsuits have been filed against Boyce Hydro and the state seeking compensation for some 3,000 claimants.</p>
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<p>Anna Liz Nichols is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org/">Report for America</a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.</p>