A package of bold laws puts Michigan on track to renewable energy

The Michigan Senate gave final approval Wednesday to a bundle of clean energy bills, transforming a state at the center of industrial America into a leader in the fight against climate change.

The legislation, which passed both chambers of the Statehouse with narrow Democratic majorities, marks a turnaround for a state that has long blocked policies to curb pollution from the factories that have supported the economy for generations.

It is based on a 58-page “MI Healthy Climate” plan proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat with a rising national profile who has promoted progressive measures on labor, gay rights, guns and the environment.

The centerpiece of the new climate package, which Governor Whitmer is expected to sign into law later this month, would require the state to generate all of its electricity from wind, solar and other carbon-free sources by 2040, eliminating climate-warming pollution . generated by coal- and gas-fired power stations.

The legislation would also tighten energy efficiency requirements for electric utilities, allow more residents to enroll in a rooftop solar program and streamline permitting for new wind and solar power.

“With the passage of these groundbreaking bills, Michigan will become a national leader in clean energy,” the governor said. “People want to know they can start a family, career or business in a state that offers them strong economic opportunities and can fight for their children’s futures.”

Support for the legislation, which would once have been unthinkable in such an industrialized state, has grown as Michigan has experienced the economic toll of climate change, Governor Whitmer said. She pointed to increasing flooding in Detroit, the spread of toxic algae in the Great Lakes and the decline of the state’s cherry and other fruit crops.

In 2022, coal and natural gas each provided about a third of Michigan’s electricity, while nuclear power generated 22 percent, according to figures. data collected by the Energy Information Administration. Renewable energy sources, primarily wind energy generated along Lake Huron’s shoreline, made up about 12 percent of the state’s energy mix.

More than half of states already have laws or regulations requiring utilities to transition to clean electricity, but only a handful require the transition to occur at the rapid pace set by Michigan law. For example, under its new law, Michigan would transition to climate-friendly, zero-emission electricity sources even faster than California, which has been at the forefront of the state’s climate action for decades. There is no federal mandate for clean energy.

“The 100 percent clean electricity standard is game-changing for the industrial heart of the Midwest,” said Dallas Burtraw, an energy policy analyst at Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan research organization. “This puts Michigan among the highest tier of states when it comes to pursuing clean energy transformation, and that’s just a short list of half a dozen states.”

Policy analysts say aggressive state action is essential if the United States is to meet President Biden’s goal of cutting the country’s emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050, which scientists say all major economies must do to tackle the most catastrophic avert the consequences of the climate. change.

While Mr. Biden signed a landmark climate bill last year and has proposed regulations to clean up pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes, these policies alone are not expected to achieve their goals. This would require additional measures from the states.

Republicans joined major Michigan business groups in condemning the new legislation.

“This extreme, impulsive strategy, brought together by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and legislative Democrats, will set Michigan on a disastrous economic course, stifling growth in our communities,” said Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt. “Radical ideological approaches to energy policy usually result in having to correct course and return to traditional fuels and nuclear power, which will make people’s lights come on when they flip the switch.”

Michael Johnston, a lobbyist for the Michigan Manufacturers Association, which represents Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Dow Chemical and more than a thousand other companies, said his members opposed the bill because they feared the rapid transition would drive up energy costs and would threaten reliability. of the electricity supply.

“We are the manufacturing state and energy is a primary cost input for everything we make,” he said. “And if the price of energy rises above what companies in Michigan can afford, the less likely we are to build products here.”

Mr. Johnston predicted that resistance from manufacturers to the new laws could help turn the state, which voted for Donald J. Trump in 2016 and Mr. Biden in 2020, back toward the Republican Party.

A recent New York Times poll shows Mr. Trump, a Republican looking to retake the White House next year, leading Mr. Biden in Michigan, a crucial 2024 battleground state.

“When the ballot box comes, manufacturers in particular will be deprived of these votes,” Mr Johnston said.

Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said it was unclear how Michigan voters would view clean energy legislation in next year’s elections.

“This is such a big shift after a few decades of very limited progress toward clean energy in this state of struggle, and it presents a very interesting election test on whether a big pivot to clean energy will pay political dividends results,” said Mr. Rabe said.

Senator Sam Singh, a Democrat and lead sponsor of the legislation, said he expected Mr. Biden’s climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, would ensure that the costs of Michigan’s energy transition would not be borne by Michigan businesses and residents borne, but by the federal government. The law provides $370 billion in federal spending for clean energy, including tax breaks for electric utilities that transition to clean energy.

“There is a unique opportunity for us to leverage federal dollars through the IRA that have never been available before,” he said. “That became a guiding force for us, which ensured that we could position ourselves in the best possible way. We wanted to make sure that the goals we set are achievable.”

DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, the state’s two largest electric utilities, have remained publicly neutral.

That’s partly because Democrats changed the original legislation, authored by Mr. Singh, that required companies to generate 100 percent of their electricity from clean sources by 2035 instead of 2040.

In other concessions to electric utilities, Democrats also amended the final legislation to allow utilities to continue burning natural gas, as long as 90 percent of the planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution produced by the gas was captured and stored, rather than being discharged into the energy sector . atmosphere. That emerging technology is not currently in widespread use.

Environmentalists said that while they hated these changes, they still saw the legislation as a victory.

“While there are things I would certainly have added or changed, this bill is a bold plan that shows Michigan is taking climate change seriously and puts the country in strong leadership nationally,” said Lisa Wozniak, executive director of the Michigan League. of Conservative voters.