The Michigan House of Representatives voted Tuesday to erase the state’s clean energy standards.
Under the current law, Michigan needs to rely entirely on clean energy by the end of the next decade.
There are also policies meant to cut back on energy waste, consider environmental justice in policymaking, and grants for groups meant to advocate for ratepayers. In the past, those grants have gone to groups like the Michigan Environmental Council and Citizens Utility Board of Michigan.
The bills passed Tuesday would get rid of all of those.
State Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-Watervliet) co-sponsors the package. She said her bills would push the state’s energy policy to instead prioritize the cheapest forms of energy.
“They replace politically constructed mandates with a framework grounded in the realities of the grid we actually have. And they end the practice of forcing ratepayers to subsidize outside groups arguing against them in commission proceedings,” Wendzel said during a floor speech ahead of voting.
Democrats mostly voted against the bills, which passed the House by margins of 58-47 and 57-48. They argue spiking fossil fuel prices demonstrate why the state needs to move toward renewable and nuclear energy.
State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) co-sponsored the 2023 clean energy law that set the 2040 standards in the first place. She said the law helps the state with energy independence, since nuclear plants can be operated and renewable energy can be captured in Michigan.
Pohutsky made the case that fossil fuels, by contrast, are more sensitive to global instability from events like Iran closing a major oil shipping corridor in response to the U.S. and Israel starting a war with Iran.
“The crisis that we’re dealing with on multiple fronts at the federal level is driving up costs all the around and that includes fuel. The further that we can move away from that, the better for the pocketbooks of the people of Michigan,” she told reporters after the House vote Tuesday.
The bills now go to the Democratic-led Michigan Senate, where they’re likely to die.
For years Michigan has pursued clean energy policies in response to concerns that burning fossil fuels threatens the environment. Before Democrats pushed the 2023 energy policies, then-Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed bipartisan laws aimed at boosting clean energy.
Republican state Rep. Dave Prestin (R-Cedar Springs) is the vice chair of the House Energy Committee. He said precursors to the current energy standards have also hurt the state.
Prestin told reporters clean energy, especially in northern Michigan hasn’t keep up with needs while residents have had to pay for new technology.
“We’ve really lost our sense of priorities when it comes to what’s important for ratepayers in Michigan, what’s going to keep the lights on and what’s going to keep it affordable,” Prestin told reporters.
But Pohutsky argues the 2023 standards tried to account for potential changes.
“We worked with our partners in labor to make sure that the transition was going to be something that was workable. We did work with the utility companies to the greatest extent possible to make sure that this was something that they were ready for too,” she said.
Energy policy is likely to continue being a talking point for Michigan policy as the state gets closer to the November general election.
