More on the hot war around clean energy siting in Michigan.
Some months ago, I published amazing interviews with farmers and local officials who talked about the harassment, intimidation, and physical threats directed against those who wish to site clean energy on their land.
The ruckus has risen to the level of the state legislature, as major industries and utilities in the state have made it clear that clean energy goals can’t be attained if the confluence of far right politics, social media’s conspiracy culture, and active coordination by fossil fuel interests, keeps roiling a toxic political stew across rural areas in the Midwest.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio have adopted, with varying success, policies that mandate clean energy siting clearance at the state level, usually a Public Utilities Commission.
Now there is a suite of bills to place that power with Michigan’s Public Service Commission, just as it has been for a century in cases of pipelines, transmission lines and power plants.
Important to know that some of the most effective clean energy advocates across the state have been conservative Republicans like Ed Rivet, above. Ed is Director of the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum (MICEF) and also coordinates a companion group Land and Liberty, that I have collaborated with over the last 4 years or so. Ed and I have become good friends in that process, and I’ve come to regard him as a reliable guide to the thickets of state politics.
In that process, I’ve learned a lot about my state, made a lot of friends from opposite sides of the political spectrum, and, I hope, helped get some clean energy steel in the ground.
The Michigan House committee on Wednesday began considering a four-bill package that would give a state commission authority over site permits for large solar and wind farm projects — a proposal that would sidestep local governments that have been blocking the developments in recent years.
Residents from rural Michigan, lobbyists and lawmakers packed the Lansing committee room for the first House Energy Committee hearing on the bills introduced Tuesday.
Currently, townships, cities and counties are able to set their zoning and permitting standards as it relates to solar and wind installations. But the proposed legislation would allow landowners and utilities the option of going through either the local community or the Michigan Public Service Commission for projects generating more than 50 or 100 megawatts.
The legislation pits local control against state agency oversight as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and the Democratic-led Michigan Legislature seek to fasttrack renewable energy goals for Michigan.
Rep. Abraham Aiyash, a Hamtramck Democrat who is a lead sponsor on the package, argued that for years urban areas have born the brunt of coal and gas production. But the ability to spread renewable generation across the state allows for a fairer distribution, a cleaner form of energy, the creation of new jobs, and the use of farmland that an owner might otherwise have to sell.
Below, Ed appeared on an evening news report for WJRT in Flint, MI.