A California Billionaire Sets Michigan’s Energy Policy

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 22, 2018 | Jason Hayes

[reaganaut1]

Michigan’s two largest electricity companies struck a “breakthrough agreement” last month with billionaire California environmentalist Tom Steyer to boost the Wolverine State’s clean-energy requirements. Earlier this year, Mr. Steyer had funded a ballot initiative slated for August to force Michigan’s electricity providers to source 30% of their overall sales from renewable options such as wind and solar by 2030. But under the new agreement, the utilities will aim to produce a minimum 25% of their energy from renewable sources and a further 25% from energy-efficiency measures by that same year. This 50% green-energy goal will effectively govern the state’s energy policy for at least the next decade.

News of the deal between Mr. Steyer and the utilities— DTE Energy and Consumers Energy—has left many in Michigan wondering what happened to the established process for setting energy policy. The deal hasn’t been approved by state officials or voters. How is it possible that two utilities and a single special-interest group can independently agree to raise the state’s renewable energy mandate and get away with it?

If DTE and Consumers Energy were private businesses operating in a free market, the specifics of their contracts with outside organizations would concern only their investors and boards. But the companies are state-regulated monopolies, shielded from competition by Michigan’s laws. And the going has been good for them recently: The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved 15 separate rate increases for the two companies since 2003.

The role of national environmental groups in driving the agreement has deprived voters of influence even as proponents of green energy gripe about the interference of advocacy groups opposed to their measures. The Sierra Club complained in 2014 that corporate money is “polluting our democracy and our environment,”

[Gay State Conservative]

It would break my heart if that billionaire Maoist were to be killed by a flesh eating bacteria.

[FLT-bird]

That will just drive up Michigan’s energy cost and continue the state’s steady relative decline since manufacturing jobs will not return thanks to this stupidity. Well done Michigan.

[taildragger]

"That will just drive up Michigan’s energy cost and continue the state’s steady relative decline since manufacturing jobs will not return thanks to this stupidity. Well done Michigan."

Like Laura Ingraham says in regards to illegal immigration, we had no say in this.....

Their is more going on here IMHO....

* Lake MI has Billions of barrels of Oil under it. It is too politically incorrect to go after it, Steyer's runs the block here.
* Fracking. Yes MI has Oil & Gas and Shale, again he runs the block.
* Higher energy cost means less revitalization of Mining in the UP....

The if a modern extraction program was initiated in the UP, it would be the 8th richest country in the world. Wrap your head around that one.

Someone needs to tell this chap to sell crazy someplace else, and shame on the Utilities here for not having the balls to tell him to take a hike.

15% of our energy here comes from a gas fired Jet-Turbine-Boiler Combined Cycle facility in Midland Michigan.

Their are more combined cycle and gas plants slated to be built or are being built here in MI. Again Steyer's needs to take a hike here. We are finally getting are sea legs after getting our @$$es kicked for 30 yrs and he wants to nix it?

BTW, the Shale formation here is Antrim....

[Ben Ficklin]

The price of fossil fuel will continue to go up and the price of renewable energy will continue to fall.

The boom-bust cycles of fossil fuel and the boom-bust effect on the US economy will eventually disappear

[taildragger]

I don't disagree. A gnome in my circles that I lost track of told me 2 yrs ago that yes Solar in CA is making inroads to the point of the Utility model in his professional option was on its way out. Not added to that discussion which I have learned in the last couple of months is the utter toxicity of photovoltaic panels as they loose their output abilities after 20 yrs. and with a lack of a recycling program, where do we put them, Yucca Mountain?

On wind, it is a totem pole to Nuevo-Socialism, Commrade, here is your ugly green energy in your face, suck on it, as it destroys vistas and those that have them near loose their resale value because of it and the low hum causes ear problems with those that live close. No Thanks....

Where is the discussion of a Manhattan style program to make Thorium Reactors a national priority, A constant source of E-power will be needed, the Electric Car Revolution is closer than anyone will tell you, I am seeing the signs all over the place. It is either Thorium Reactors or Co-Generation units in your basement that heat/cool/hot water and supply electricity to your home and electric car.

[wjr123]

What a bunch of idiots.

Central Michigan is only exceeded by Homer, Alaska in the number of cloudy days per year. So, PVs won’t do much good. Even if you discount the cloudy days you are north of the solar efficiency line.

There is no geothermal anywhere in Michigan. When you have to literally build a hill to ski then you have little hydro.

So, what you have is only wind energy generated by marxist bloviators.

Californians are like the boll weivel — whoever they go they destroy everything — even the top soil.

[catnipman]

“The price of fossil fuel will continue to go up and the price of renewable energy will continue to fall.”

i can’t tell if you’re being facetious or not ... if serious, i’d be interested in seeing graphs of rising fossil fuel well-head production prices during the last couple of decades overlaid with falling “renewable” energy prices ..

[catnipman]

“I am seeing the signs all over the place”

yeah, me too. I saw A Tesla for the first time in my town of 100,000 a couple of days ago. Also saw a Leaf a year or so ago. Have yet to see any charging stations here, though i think there are a couple in Boulder now ...

[taildragger]

Look deeper catnipman.... This week alone I believe their were at least 3 major Auto and or Battery manufacturers that took equity stakes in and or threw money at major battery upstarts in the arena of Solid-State batteries. Why? it is the next gen 3 to 5 yrs over the horizon w/ energy densities 2 to 3X where we are w/ the chance of fires gone and faster charge times. I have lost track of the number of battries 25+ now that could be game changers, the Billion vs 500 million last yr to make all this happen, my guess is for 2018 it may approach 2 billion that is just a guess, and the major car manufacturers coming out with 4dr, 4wd, SUV’s all electric in 2020 including Jag, Rover and Ford....

[M Kehoe]

Here comes the higher electricity rates for the Wolverine state. Enjoy.

5.56mm

[cicero2k]

True if Musk really has a scalable better battery. Not sure yet, but more likely than going to Mars.

[catnipman]

“This week alone I believe their were at least 3 major Auto and or Battery manufacturers that took equity stakes in and or threw money at major battery upstarts in the arena of Solid-State batteries.”

i didn’t ask about batteries, i asked about support data for your facile claim that fossil fuel costs would rise and “renewable” energy costs would drop, namely:

“i’d be interested in seeing graphs of rising fossil fuel well-head production prices during the last couple of decades overlaid with falling “renewable” energy prices ..”

[taildragger]

"i didn’t ask about batteries, i asked about support data for your facile claim that fossil fuel costs would rise and “renewable” energy costs would drop, namely: “i’d be interested in seeing graphs of rising fossil fuel well-head production prices during the last couple of decades overlaid with falling “renewable” energy prices ..”

I didn't say fossil would rise, I did denote anecdotally via my contact that his research (he was a high end marketing expert and geologist to boot) Solar was more than competitive in CA, that may not work elsewhere. I do not have the charts you asked for. I think we maybe cross-talking here, but that is ok.

[catnipman]

“I didn’t say fossil would rise”

you’re correct. I was confused: Ben Ficklin posted that.

I need to be more careful when multiple folks are posting to me ...

[Ben Ficklin]

Say what? I think you are a big boy and know how to do google image search for oil price, solar price, wind price or battery price. But I will tell you of a couple battery changes announced last month.

Tesla announced that his battery prices had fallen to below $100/ kwh. The original price was over $400, then fell to $190 in 2016.

Nissan announced that they were offering rebuilt batteries for the older model leafs(2011-2016) with the smaller batteries @ $2830.00

I also feel sorry for you because you are poorly informed, so I am going to give you some names of websites that you can use.

The first 3 are aggregaters that list renewable energy news: Utility Dive, Clean Technica, Governors Wind Energy Coalition. Governors cuts and pastes everything onto their website so you don't have to worry about paying or registering to read an article.

Enviro websites are a dime a dozen but here are two that are very credible: Green Tech Media and Inside Climate News.

The old Google News Search is still a good way to search a keyword like renewable. The new Google news site is limited.

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

On any reasonable comparison of non-subsidized cost wind & solar, (and batteries if that tickles your fancy) are not even close to cost efficiency of fossil coal & gas. Most particularly in Michigan.

[catnipman]

you’re the one who made the unsubstantiated BS claim that fossil fuel prices are rising and “renewable” energy prices are falling, so proof it, otherwise we all know you can’t and you’re just making up fake stuff ...

[familyop]

One-time ping to Governor Dinwiddie.

Steyer was born in Manhattan. How few generations of Americans is he descended from?

Tom Steyer
Wikipedia

NextGen America
In 2013, Steyer founded NextGen Climate (now NextGen America), an environmental advocacy nonprofit and political action committee.[6] NextGen Climate provided the environmentalist movement with significant capital and political influence.[16] Steyer spent almost $74 million on the 2014 elections.[33][52]

In October 2017, NextGen America donated grants totaling $2.3-million to eight national immigration law service organizations, including the University of California Immigrant Legal Services Center, the Immigration Law Clinic at UC Davis School of Law, UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, Asian Americans Advancing Justice — Asian Law Caucus, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Center for Community Change, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.[53]

[Impy]

You know what, ballot initiatives suck. Seems like most that get approved are bad. In this case the people behind it blackmailed the state of Michigan to withdraw it in exchange for these concessions, that’s a new one.