Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Democrat-proposed energy bills Tuesday, giving the state some of the most rigid energy mandates in the nation.
The Democrats’ green energy plan — a package of three bills passed along party lines — requires utility providers to transition to completely carbon-free energy generation by the end of the next decade, the Associated Press reported. The mandate, which is even more fast-tracked than the green energy bill passed in California, will force utility companies to generate half of their energy through renewable sources by 2030, 60% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.
“With passage of these game-changing bills, Michigan will become a national leader on clean energy,” Whitmer said in a statement earlier this month. “These bills will help us make more clean, reliable energy right here in Michigan, creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, and lowering utility costs for every Michigander by an average of $145 a year.”
Still, some far-Left environmental activists were not completely happy with the legislation, criticizing the mandate for allowing utility providers to use carbon capture technology and saying that it fails to “adequately reduce greenhouse gas emissions while bringing more pollution to Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor communities.”
Republicans in the state House and Senate on the other hand said the mandate would effectively ban natural gas and take control of hundreds of thousands of acres of land for renewable energy.
Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt told The Daily Wire in a phone interview that Michigan’s power outage problem, which is already double the national rate, would only get worse thanks to the Democrats’ bill.
“This does nothing to correct the issues on the distribution system. All this does is increases the likelihood of power outages and decreases reliability,” said Nesbitt.
Nesbitt added that the law will also “industrialize” Michigan farmland, meaning that the law’s land requirement for renewable energy will “preempt” residents from having any say in how local land is used.
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“Currently, 50,000 acres are used for renewable energy. This will mandate that over 350,000 new acres of land will have to be pushed into renewable energy,” he said.
An analysis from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy also found that the new green energy mandate will cost residents an extra $2,746 a year while giving them less reliable electricity. Republican House Floor Leader Bryan Posthumus told The Daily Wire, “Without a doubt, these mandates will lead to higher costs and lower reliability.”
“In government, you literally get what you pay for,” Posthumus added. “By mandating wind and solar, only the governor has taken many other necessary and useful options off the table to score points with the coastal elites. Michigan could have been the national leader in how to do renewable the right way. Instead, Whitmer chose the strong-arm approach with an eye on a 2028 presidential run. It really is truly disappointing.”
Many residents of Marquette Township, Michigan, which is in the state’s Upper Peninsula, voiced frustration with their Democratic Representative Jenn Hill after she joined Democrats in passing the energy mandate. After a meeting last week, Forsyth Township Supervisor Joe Boogren said questions were not being answered on the issue, TV6 reported.
“We can read. We’re not as dumb as you think we are or make us out to be, and we wanted to talk to you as elected officials to elected official and ask you questions that mean something, not go for this,” Boogren said.