Posted on 11/29/2023 7:08:59 AM PST by Red Badger
On November 28, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer signed bills that will revamp electricity generation in the state.
The new measures include a requirement for utilities to achieve a 100% clean energy standard by 2040. The measures also transfer authority over large-scale wind and solar projects from local governments to the state’s Public Service Commission.
Whitmer emphasized that Michigan is well-equipped, both in terms of its workforce and the newly enacted legislation, to foster robust economic growth in the clean energy sector. The impact of the new laws will be felt in areas such as project locations, electricity sources, and power bills, though there is disagreement about the financial implications.
Whitmer claimed that the measures would lead to a $145 annual reduction in household energy costs. Meanwhile, Republicans argued that banning fossil fuels in Michigan would make life more expensive, as renewable project costs would be passed on to customers.
Whitmer is basing her optimism on the projected decline in the cost of renewable energy generation. A UK study earlier this year forecasted that solar generation costs would decline 60% between 2020 and 2050.
The 100% clean energy requirement
According to The Detroit News, the bills will require Michigan utilities to obtain 80% of their power from clean energy sources between 2035 and 2039. By 2040, the Michigan grid must be 100% clean, and fossil fuels will be banned.
The legislation defines renewable sources like wind and solar as clean energy sources. Other power sources that are considered clean include nuclear power and natural gas systems with high carbon capture capabilities. Natural gas systems must be able to capture at least 90% of their emissions to be considered clean.
The laws have attracted criticism from environmental groups for their endorsement of carbon capture technology. Many environmentalists consider carbon capture to be an impractical solution to climate change.
Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that companies will need to spend $3.5 trillion on carbon capture to limit global warming. This is equivalent to the global oil and gas industry’s entire annual sales.
Simplifying clean energy project approval
The bills also streamline the process for launching large-scale wind and solar projects across Michigan. State officials view the growing opposition at the local level, particularly in rural areas, as a significant obstacle to the clean energy transition.
At present, local government entities such as townships, cities, and counties possess the authority to establish zoning regulations and other policies that impede the development of large wind and solar projects within their jurisdictions.
This has been a recurring issue in Michigan, as demonstrated in Keene Township in Ionia County. Township officials, who previously supported a solar project capable of generating 100 megawatts of energy across 500 acres, were subjected to a recall earlier this year.
The new laws grant the Michigan Public Service Commission, a state-level entity composed of three appointees of the governor, the authority to approve large-scale wind and solar projects. This provides developers with an alternative route to bypass resistance at the local level.
Critics argue that these changes will erode local control. However, proponents believe they will protect personal property rights, allowing landowners who wish to host wind and solar projects to proceed without obstruction.
Sigh...I’m in Michigan.
These types of “technology dictations” that are based on “future advancements yet to be discovered” should be illegal. There’s nothing that says such a goal can be achieved.
Why not just declare all new cares much reach 200mpg by 2025? The government might make and change laws but NOT The laws of physics!
The ‘renewables’ don’t provide enough energy density. Europe has already proven this. Without nuclear it can’t happen.
I assume this also means that we’ll have to pay for the overhaul of the power grid (lines, transformers, distribution centers, etc.) BEFORE 2040? ...otherwise it’ll all just melt down.
These people are dictating science that isn’t real.
The only way Michigan can hope to come anywhere close to this goal is to go full-in on nuclear power. Which is apparently an allowable option under the bill.
Aside from being costly and unreliable, large-scale wind and solar projects are going to face increasing local opposition in the future. Setting up a three person board, all appointed by the governor, to override all local planning and zoning ... well, that will probably backfire politically. If it stands, it will simply be a matter of the big blue cities outvoting the enslaved hinterlands. Sooner or later, it will be time for the rural areas to fence off the cities, blow up the bridges, water lines, electrical transmission lines, etc., and demand that the cities become self-sustaining. Maybe cut off the food while they’re at it.
“Ban Whitmer instead.”
What I want to know is where in the hell did the people of Michigan dig Whitmer up from and why did they vote for this ‘wanna-be’ dictator. When I read anything about Jezabel (sp) in the Bible, I think of Whitmer and how she must be a copy of Ahab’s wife Jezabel.
Even if climate change was true for every geographical region that gets affected by rising ocean levels there will be even greater areas of the world that previously weren’t inhabitable that wil become productive regions for people to live, as you say the climate of this planet has been evolving and changing since the day it was created
Go back to Detroit in it’s heyday. Tell them that one day Michigan will have a socialist female governor and a lesbian AG who want to ban cars as they are surrounded by radical moslems... who even have a terrorist as a congresswoman.
They would have thought you insane.
She just wants to be president when Joe is taken out. It means nothing. 2040 is so far in the future that their might not be an America at that date.
There are ROMAN docks and ruins under water all around the coasts of southern and western Europe.
Those chariots caused the seas to rise, no doubt.............
:: why did they vote for this ‘wanna-be’ dictator ::
Legal recreational weed.
C***s on parade.
Send them all lumps of coal. About fist size. At least 60mph.
Who can't see it coming?
In Florida where I live they regularly find shark teeth in the center of the state which at one term was covered by the ocean
Sharknado.................
Isn’t it strange that all the DEM edicts are to ‘go into effect’ LONG after the current bill signers are out of office & even possibly no longer alive???
How about I sign papers to BUY Mar A Lago-—in 2050.
I am only 84 right now.
Someone is an expert at peeing into their own soup.
Even if, for sake of argument, you want to say that we should have electricity generated by windmills and solar, we do not have the ability to generate all of the power that we use by those methods as of today.
This is all true. However,
Aha! Another racist unmasked! (/liberal)
The fuel industry should just boycott Michigan right now. It's nearly December and winter in the upper Midwest usually provides shut-ins the perfect conditions for rumination.
2040? Why so soon? < /sarcasm >
Dem governors like to appoint secretaries of state who promote cheating. Funny how that works.
Somebody needs to introduce Gruppenfuehrer Whitmer to United Solar, a Michigan based solar panel manufacturer.
Their entire factory was on the grid. Zero of it used their own products to produce power for their plant.
H wait, she can’t meet them. They went bankrupt.
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