Two Michigan men have asked a federal judge to strike down as unconstitutional a state law that restricts the way property owners may manage 6.5 million acres of land.

The men, Joshua Wenzlick of Freeland and Paul Satkowiak of Bay County, are represented by attorney Philip Ellison from the law firm Outside Legal Counsel in Hemlock.

The lawsuit names Phillip Roos, the director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Attorney General Dana Nessel and state inspector Brian Marshall as defendants.

Paul Satkowiak’s 15-acre property in Bay County is 10 miles away from any large body of water. State officials, though, say he violated wetland protection laws when he placed dirt on his Mount Forest Township property and built a barn there to store his excavation equipment.

State employees abuse the vague wetland statute that requires a permit if a property has a “bog, swamp, or marsh, inundated or saturated by water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, hydric soils and a predominance of wetland vegetation or aquatic life,” Ellison told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a phone conversation.

Ellison first filed the lawsuit Feb. 10 and on March 23 he added Wenzlick, a man whom the environmental agency could fine up to $1.7 million for expanding a separate pond, CapCon reported in January.

The lawsuit, filed with the U.S District Court in Lansing, asks federal Chief Judge Hala Y. Jarbou to strike down certain provisions of Part 303 of Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act for violating the U.S. Constitution.

Satkowiak’s “property is not on any body of water, or adjacent to, or nearby any body of water,” Ellison told CapCon. Yet, he said, state regulators claim it’s a wetland.

The suit alleges that Michigan's wetlands laws triggering fines of up to $25,000 daily violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment.

“If you’re going to assess someone a fine of $25,000 a day, it’s really a criminal statute,” Ellison said. “It’s not like a parking ticket.”

Michigan has used the law to fine businesses $300,000 for allegedly violating wetland rules. The environmental agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit asks for Satkowiak’s case to be heard by a jury instead of a judge, a right the Sixth Amendment guarantees to individuals alleged to have committed a crime.

“Juries allow the average, everyday person to be a check on not just the government bringing the case, but the judge on the case too,” Ellison said. “Because the judge isn’t the one who makes the ultimate decision. It’s the citizenry.”

Part 303 of the Michigan law allows the environmental agency to hear complaints in an administrative court in Lansing or the local jurisdiction. The agency usually chooses Lansing.

The attorney said that he’s challenging the authority of state employees to enter private property without a warrant.

In March, a federal judge ruled that a separate lawsuit against environmental quality analyst Justin Smith and inspector Brian Marshall could proceed. The lawsuit accused Smith and Marshall of violating Satkowiak’s Fourth Amendment rights in March 2024 by trespassing on a separate piece of property he owns along M-13 just south of Pinconning.

“My office has sued six different EGLE officials for violating the Fourth Amendment over the last two years,” Ellison said.

The state must respond within 20 days of March 23, the date the lawsuit was amended.

For decades, Michigan lawmakers have sworn that corporate subsidies create prosperity. Yet the Strategic Outreach Attraction Reserve, Michigan’s largest subsidy program, has spent $670 million in three after its inception and has not created any jobs, according to a new report.

Politicians promised that the SOAR would create 8,812 jobs.

In 2021, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 844, which created the Strategic Outreach Attraction Reserve and authorized the state to hand out $1 billion to select companies. “Today, I am proud to sign another bipartisan bill that will build on Michigan’s growing economic momentum, attract billions in investment, and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs,” Whitmer said in 2022. “The bipartisan legislation will help us grow, attract, and retain businesses in Michigan, ensuring we can lead the future of mobility and electrification and bring supply chains of chips and batteries home to Michigan.”

Two significant projects attracted by the fund have either been paused or shrunk as few Michigan consumers have adopted electric vehicles. About 50,000 EVs are registered statewide, according to the federal government. The biggest barriers to EV adoption are higher cost compared to standard vehicles, range anxiety, and a sparse charging network, according to S&P Mobility, Science Direct and Kelly Blue Book.

General Motors received $480 million to redo its Orion Township assembly plant to build full-size EV pickups. The plant will produce the GMC Sierra Denali EV and the Chevrolet Silverado EV, according to GM’s website.  It has created zero jobs so far.

Ultium Cells LLC received $120 million. It has created no jobs.

The firm Our Next Energy, which was founded in 2020, received over $70 million. In 2023, the company laid off 25% of its employees, CapCon reported.

Ford made headlines with its promised EV factory in Marshall before it cut projected spending by $1 billion and 800 jobs, securing a 2023 award for the worst economic development deal of the year.

The Michigan House road funding plan would cut $1 billion from business subsidy programs and instead use it to fund roads. It also would draw on dedicated corporate income tax revenue, taking it away from the state’s general funds and putting it toward roads.

The SOAR was poorly designed, said James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

“It allows companies to cash in on taxpayer subsidies without having to create jobs,” Hohman told CapCon. “Lawmakers must wait years to ask for taxpayer money back if deals fail to deliver. It’s good that the House lawmakers are working to redirect this money to roads.”

Only one of every 11 jobs promised by Michigan public officials in business subsidy announcements actually gets created, according to a Mackinac Center for Public Policy study that analyzed two decades of government grants to private businesses.