Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer [pictured, right] signed several climate bills into law, placing the state on the ambitious path to total carbon-free energy generation by 2040 — one of the top five most restrictive clean energy commitments in the nation.
Whitmer has also set the goal of generating 50 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2030, giving the state just six years to increase the current 12 percent renewable generation more than four times over. [emphasis, links added]
It’s hard to see these goals as anything but detached from reality, especially because the state ranked 11th in energy consumption in 2021, depending mostly on imports from outside the state.
“We import 100% of the coal, 92% of the natural gas, and 97% of the oil and petroleum products we use,” said Martin Kushler, a senior fellow with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Whitmer’s final goal might be unrealistic, but it perfectly sets up the Democrat-controlled state government to do what they do best: centralize power and mooch federal funding.
State Government Gains New Veto Power
Michigan Democrats ran into a small hiccup in their green transition plan. The renewable energy sources in the package — solar, water, and wind — require massive investment and vast swaths of land.
As of this year, 17,000 acres are used for wind and solar power. To meet the goal of 60 percent renewable energy, the footprint needs to explode to 209,000 acres — more than 12 times the current acreage.
To preempt any potential resistance to this vast expansion, Democrats gave the state’s Public Service Commission the power to overrule local government decisions regarding clean energy projects. It’s not hard to predict where this expansion will take place.
There’s little room for massive projects like this in the dense urban districts responsible for electing the Democrats supporting the plan, but there’s plenty of space in the less populated Republican districts up north.
“Michigan’s rural communities will be upended as the governor’s hand-picked bureaucrats veto local decisions and put wind and solar farms in any community they please,” said Rep. Mike Harris.
Whitmer only looks north of the state capital when she’s heading to her vacation home, so it’s no surprise that she’s willing to allocate the burden of her green energy transition to regions she doesn’t think of. Out of sight, out of mind.
h/t Steve B.
Read rest at American Spectator
The Wolverine States in serious Jeopardy from this old Bat