The cost analysis was the result of a site investigation prepared by Mason-based Strata Environmental Services Inc. in August.

The state of Michigan has rented the building on Harrison Road, owned by MSU, for $1 per year since the 1930s. In 2009, the state Legislature approved the construction of a new police headquarters in downtown Lansing and are in the process of returning the property to MSU.

State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said the state has refused to pay the requested costs for environmental cleanup.

Jones expressed disagreement with purchasing the building in the past, according to State News records.

“I talked directly with the governor’s budget director, Mr. (Bob) Emerson last week,” Jones said. “He said, ‘We don’t feel we’re under any obligation to take care of this.’ … I think it’s not only immoral, but possibly legally wrong, what the state is doing, and I’m voicing my displeasure with that and calling on the governor to make MSU whole again.”

Emerson’s office deferred comment to Kurt Weiss, spokesman for Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget, which deals with property owned by the state. Weiss said the state has every intention of paying for the cleanup, but still is working to find an appropriate source of money.

“Everyone understands there was going to be some cleanup,” Weiss said. “We are now turning to the Legislature. … They have to determine how to fund the cleanup.”

The costs were no surprise, and now the concern is who will fund the cleanup, Webster said.

“Asbestos was used in almost every building on campus in (the) era (it was built), so when you remodel a building or get rid of a building, you have to get rid of that,” Webster said. “So it was nothing particularly exotic, but it has some expenses to it.”

MSU presented the costs to the state, asking when the property will be returned to the university and reminding them it should be returned in the same environmental condition in which it was given, Webster said.
“Unfortunately, the questions come at a time (when) there’s a 20 percent structural deficit, so I think it’s going to take some time for the administration there to sort through,” Webster said. “(It is a) pretty normal negotiation, but what makes it difficult is it comes at a period of time where dollars are at a premium.”

However, Jones said the government has made no effort to find the money.

“(Gov. Jennifer Granholm has) made no attempt to request the money,” Jones said. “She has known there was a problem for many months, way before the election. I believe they tried to conceal it.”

Jones said that MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson, the developer on the new police headquarters, also is “disgusted” with the state’s handling of the problem.

Ferguson declined to comment Thursday.

The future of the site remains uncertain. One of the costs listed in the analysis is to demolish the building, and Weiss said MSU’s intent to remove the structure was clearly communicated to him. Webster had no comment on the site’s future.

Webster said despite the dispute between the legislative and executive branches, he remains confident the issue will be resolved.

“I think it will be resolved in a really reasonable time frame and in a reasonable way,” Webster said. “This is the usual Legislature communicating with the governor, and that’s what their role is in government.”

Staff writer Andrew Krietz contributed to this report.