People from all over the country have been hearing about this story from Otsego County in Michigan’s northern tip. It’s made it to Fox News, and to Pakistan and back.
It’s a cautionary tale about the global reach of the fossil fuel misinformation machine.
For generations, few paid much attention to the unremarkable plots of trees and grasslands on the edge of town.
Over the years, red pines were planted, logged and replanted. Utility transmission lines sprung up, along with oil and gas wells and the occasional human visitor.
So it went for years and years on these humble 420 acres of state-owned land, as Michigan managed the property with sometimes competing missions of providing money from logging and oil and gas extraction, habitat for plants and animals and recreation to the public.
Then in early January, Michigan announced a proposal to lease the land to a solar energy developer.
All hell broke loose.
Republicans opposed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “green energy agenda” joined neighbors, solar energy skeptics and some environmentalists in blasting the plan, prompting online petitions and a call for mass firings over the prospect of felling trees for solar power.
Misinformation ran rampant, with some falsely claiming the land might be sold rather than leased, or that solar panels might cover a beloved local hiking and skiing trail.
DNR Director Scott Bowen, who authorized the lease proposal, admits he was “surprised by the anger and the vitriol.”
Energy policy experts weren’t.
“There are land-use implications of an energy transition that we haven’t really come to terms with,” said Sarah Mills, a University of Michigan researcher who has spent years studying how communities react to renewable energy development. “We haven’t grappled with how we’re going to do it, and where does it make the most sense?”
The battle over 420 acres reveals a key barrier to Michigan’s energy transition: While solar panels and wind farms emit none of the greenhouse gases and lung-choking pollution caused by fossil fuel power plants, they take up a lot more space. And there is no agreement about where to put them.
Despite a new law that gives state energy regulators the power to approve solar farms despite local opposition, the scenario in Gaylord shows public attitudes still matter a great deal.
While state officials ponder what to do in Gaylord, they’re pausing consideration of additional solar leases while they revisit the agency’s process for vetting proposals and engaging with the public.
“We have to do a better job of explaining what’s motivating us,” said Bowen.
Marginal land or a valuable resource?
The world’s leading climate scientists say society has mere years to transition from fossil fuels and avoid “tipping points” marked by catastrophic warming that threatens life on earth.
Michigan’s biggest utilities have worked toward carbon neutrality for years. In 2023, Democrats in the Michigan Legislature passed a law requiring a statewide transition to 100% clean energy by 2040.
For now, that effort relies largely on replacing power plants with solar farms. Assuming that doesn’t change, Michigan’s power providers may need to install 209,000 acres-worth of solar panels in the coming 15 years — an area roughly the size of Leelanau County.
Nationally, the estimate is up to 22,000 square miles. (note: that would be 1.5 percent of US ag land – Peter)
The state is Michigan’s largest single landowner, owning 4.6 million acres or roughly 1/8th of the state. So the DNR has long been involved in conversations about where to put clean energy.
In recent years, the agency has assessed tens of thousands of acres for potential solar farm viability, ruling most of them out over concerns about habitat, recreational access or other concerns.
So far, officials have signed solar leases or lease options on two abandoned industrial sites near Iron Mountain and Grayling, and about 1,050 mostly-forested acres near Roscommon.
When Bowen took over the agency in 2023, he pressed his staff to find more — a directive motivated by climate change and concerns about the department’s financial stability.
With limited general fund dollars devoted to managing Michigan’s forests, parks, fish and wildlife, the DNR’s $534 million budget relies heavily on royalties from oil and gas drilling on state land.
Bizarre posting below from a Pakistani registered website, featuring what looks like the Costa Rican rainforest, and an obviously tailored click-bait headline.
This actually got reposted to at least one Michigan based anti clean energy Facebook page.
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