Five months after Michigan began allowing developers to directly petition the state for constructing large renewable projects, a heavily supported bill in the House of Representatives aims to give local governments back their control in preventing clean energy projects.
Legislation to give Michigan’s local governments the power to prevent landowners from using their land for large-scale renewable energy projects passed the House Energy Committee and is headed to the full chamber for a vote.
The pair of bills amends Public Act 233, which was passed by the formerly Democratic-controlled House and signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2023. The act laid out a new statewide clean energy standard, requiring 80% clean energy by 2035 and 100% by 2040. It also allowed developers to petition the state when towns or counties try to prevent landowners from using their land for a renewable energy project despite its state compliance. The law grants the Michigan Public Service Commission with authority to grant permits if a local government fails to adopt a compatible renewable energy ordinance, fails to make a decision within 120 days of an application, or denies a permit for an application that meets state requirements.
The law went into effect just five months ago, but local governments have taken several various measures to take back their power. For example, more than 70 counties and townships in Michigan filed a lawsuit against the state last November, arguing that the Public Service Commission (PSC) exceeded its authority by taking over zoning authority for large-scale solar and wind facilities.
One of the new bills is HB 4027, and it removes the requirement that zoning ordinances be subject to that standard. The other new bill is HB 4028, which amends a measure from the Public Act 233 that shifted control of the certification of certain wind and solar energy facilities and energy storage facilities to the state, as well as the regulation of certain local ordinances. The two new bills are heavily backed with the weight of 50 representatives from the Republican-controlled House co-authoring the bill, including Rep. Gregory Alexander (R) as the bills’ author.
During the House Energy Committee, Rep. Joe Tate (D) asked what alternatives landowners would have if they want to use the land for a second source of income or are not able to make ends meet.
As an alternative, Rep. Alexander suggested farmers choose a different crop to plant. Rep. Alexander responded, “It should be up to them to decide what they want on their property. They shouldn’t be mandated to put [something] into practice,” he said. “Property rights is what it should be and that happens at a local level.”
To be clear, the current law does not impose eminent domain. Instead, the law helps landowners who chose to lease their land for a renewable energy project but were prevented because the local government did not want their land to be used for a renewable energy project.
More than 20 people testified in front of the committee Tuesday, with a majority of them in support of the bills and restoring power to the local level.
If the bills pass the House, they will need to pass Michigan’s Democratic-controlled Senate before making it to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Prior to Public Act 233, renewable energy developers faced an array of siting approval hurdles in Michigan, such as strategic zoning maneuvers, repressive ordinances, and jurisdictions refusing to review certain projects by enacting moratoriums while they developed ordinances to keep the renewable energy project out.
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law said at least seven townships had either prohibited or substantially restricted solar development in districts zoned for agricultural use as of the end of 2023, a considerable increase from just two townships reported the prior year.
In some cases, local governments have successfully thwarted clean energy projects without creative, or even straightforward, legal maneuvers. Instead, some cases have taken a more vitriol approach, such as in Ostego County, when backlash led developer RWE to bow out of a deal for land offered from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Despite the strong local opposition and measures taken by local governments to restrict renewable energy development across Michigan, most Michiganders say they support the state taking measures to develop more clean energy projects.
People who say they believe it is “not that important” or “not important at all” for Michigan to make it easy to get new clean energy projects approved for build are in the minority, with 8% of democrats and 32% of republicans saying it is not important, according to Data for Progress and Evergreen Action’s survey of 566 Michigan voters in January. Additionally, only a minority of Democrats (6%) and Republicans (35%) surveyed said they oppose Michigan taking steps to ensure the state generates at least 50% of its energy from clean and renewable sources by 2030.
However, public support does not always hold up when it’s in the public’s own backyard.
With 1.88 GW installed across the state, Michigan is ranked 26th for its solar capacity, according to Solar Energy Industries Association.
