Michigan’s 100% clean energy goal faces a potentially imperiling challenge from a petition that would repeal a new law giving state regulators the authority to decide where to locate large wind and solar projects.
An initiative petition from a group called Citizens for Local Choice would undo a part of the new law preempting local policies that are more stringent than the state’s zoning requirements for constructing clean energy and storage facilities.
Last week, Citizens for Local Choice cleared a key hurdle when the state’s elections panel approved a summary of its petition as well as the form for collecting voters’ signatures.
In the final weeks of the 2023 legislative session, Democratic lawmakers approved wide-ranging legislation outlining clean energy goals.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the package last November, creating new clean and renewable energy generation requirements, an office designed to assist workers with the transition to the clean energy economy and — perhaps most contentiously — the authority for state regulators to override local authorities that deny applications to construct clean energy facilities such as solar farms and wind turbines.