LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Michigan lawmakers passed some major clean energy bills late last night, and today people on both sides of the aisle are reacting.
Senate Bills 271, 273 and 502 were passed by the Michigan House late into the night. The package would set a standard for Michigan to be 100% carbon-free by 2040.
These bills aim to create an energy storage requirement of 2,500 megawatts that would power more than 1.5 million homes for an entire year. They also increase energy waste reduction and boosts the state’s cap on rooftop solar from 1% to 10%. There are even incentives to shift away from gas appliances.
Now there has been push back on these partisan bills. One Republican cited an analysis that showed these bills could cost Michigan residents around $200 billion dollars in additional energy costs.
Lisa Adams has put her heart and soul into turning her farm into a wedding venue. But now with clean energy bills heading to the Senate, she says the look and feel of her Laingsburg business could be in jeopardy.
One of the bills passed would give more power to the state to decide where large scale wind and solar projects will go, rather than local municipalities, which Adams says are more considerate of businesses.
“They’re putting ferns in and they’re putting in trees, and they’re putting setbacks so that it’s protecting the integrity of businesses and the property surrounding them. And we’re very concerned that those kinds of measures, the way it appears, will not be put in place once the state takes over.”
She expects that impact of a solar farm will chase customers away.
But others feel differently. Derrell Slaughter with the Natural Resource Defense Council feels this package of bills will be great for Michigan. He says giving power to the state will help keep things organized.
“It’s just another option, another way to streamline the process, again because there is a lack of uniformity across the state. This works to kind of solve that problem,” Slaughter said.
Slaughter went on to say that Michigan needs to do its part in driving down emissions.
“Passing these new reforms will unlock billions of dollars to Michigan that will again, spur economic growth, new jobs. And again, we are combating climate change and those longstanding health effects from fossil-based generation, which causes all types of health effects,” Slaughter said.
Lisa Adams has put her heart and soul into turning her farm into a wedding venue. But now with clean energy bills heading to the Senate, she says the look and feel of her Laingsburg business could be in jeopardy.
One of the bills passed would give more power to the state to decide where large scale wind and solar projects will go, rather than local municipalities, which Adams says are more considerate of businesses.
“They’re putting ferns in and they’re putting in trees, and they’re putting setbacks so that it’s protecting the integrity of businesses and the property surrounding them. And we’re very concerned that those kinds of measures, the way it appears, will not be put in place once the state takes over.”
She expects that impact of a solar farm will chase customers away.
But others feel differently. Derrell Slaughter with the Natural Resource Defense Council feels this package of bills will be great for Michigan. He says giving power to the state will help keep things organized.
“It’s just another option, another way to streamline the process, again because there is a lack of uniformity across the state. This works to kind of solve that problem,” Slaughter said.
Slaughter went on to say that Michigan needs to do its part in driving down emissions.
“Passing these new reforms will unlock billions of dollars to Michigan that will again, spur economic growth, new jobs. And again, we are combating climate change and those longstanding health effects from fossil-based generation, which causes all types of health effects,” Slaughter said.
Nothing is official, three of the bills must go back to the Michigan Senate for final approval. Before heading to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk. And the other two bills still have a few steps to go.
