December 15, 2016
Michigan

County board says renewable energy requirement should not increase

Brenda Battel, Tribune Staff Writer | Huron Daily Tribune | Thursday, December 15, 2016 | www.michigansthumb.com

BAD AXE – The Huron County Board of Commissioners this week opposed an increase in the state-mandated renewable energy capacity and implored the state to continue to allow local control of wind energy.

Currently, the Michigan House of Representatives is debating changes in Michigan’s Clean, Renewable and Efficient Energy Act of 2008.

Under current law, electric providers have to produce 10 percent of their power from renewable sources.

The bills under consideration would raise the minimum power from renewable sources and energy conservation to 15 percent by the end of 2021 and set a non-binding goal of meeting 35 percent of Michigan’s electricity needs by 2025.

The resolution called the Act “a utility scale wind energy mandate.”

It cites “growing opposition to wind development in rural townships,” which has caused wind developers to lobby the state to “strip from Michigan counties and townships the right to local control of wind zoning regulations.”

The resolution also points out that “wind energy, due to its intermittent nature, does not eliminate the need for other sources of energy, and is actually dependent upon conventional gas and coal-fired power plants to produce supplemental electricity.”

A copy of the resolution has been forwarded to 84th District Rep. Edward J. Canfield (R-Sebewaing), State Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair), the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Michigan Association of Counties.

The measure passed the state Senate, and Pavlov voted against it.

Canfield told the Tribune recently that a suggested goal would be better than a mandate.

Today is the last scheduled voting day of the legislative term.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/12/15/county-board-says-renewable-energy-requirement-should-not-increase/