LANSING – Though he is pleased with the recent Senate passage of the Blue Cross Blue Shield conversion legislation, Governor Rick Snyder said on Friday his next item up for grabs is a special message on energy and the environment in November.
In speaking to Gongwer News Service after helping graduate 78 state troopers, he said that message is likely to include items such as making a strategic plan for the state to respect land laws and seeing what the state can do about the Great Lakes, specifically with regard to aquatic invasive species.
On the energy side, Snyder said he would like to look at ways the state can be more efficient, but cautioned against Proposal 12-3, which will attempt to increase the state’s renewable energy standard to 25 percent by 2025 in the Constitution.
“I don’t think Proposal 3 is a good answer for the state, but I want to be proactive about our energy policy and look at our renewables and other opportunities,” he said. “But let’s do it by statute.”
Asked if he would be open to the possibility, then, of increasing the state’s standard legislatively, he responded affirmatively, but said the state needed to reach its current goal of 10 percent by 2015 first.
“We’re only in 2012. We have to get there,” he said. “So I’m not sure it has the urgency to reset that standard until we get more experience, but at some point that would be appropriate.”
What Proposal 12-3 lacks, he said, is looking at basic efficiencies such as weatherization or more opportunities to do better lighting in buildings, particularly state facilities.
“I think we’ve done some improvements over the last few years but we still have room and we can do better,” he said.
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