I had to wait for a while to interview John Johannsen. Although over 90, he had work to do clearing some trees along a ditch line, which took a few weeks.
A former county commissioner in Montcalm County, Michigan, Johannsen’s responsibility was to review clean energy ordinances that the several townships were writing with “poison pills” to keep out clean energy. John knew then that those ordinances were illegal – and that quandary lead the State of Michigan to pass new legislation, which gave landowners and clean energy companies another pathway, through the Public Service Commission in Lansing, to get permitted.
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois, along with Michigan, all now have some form of State siting process for clean energy.
One more from John, below.