LANSING – Democrats’ huge clean energy package, requiring utility providers to rely 100% on “clean energy” in the next 17 years and empowering Governor-appointees to certify commercial wind and solar projects, has passed both the Senate and House.
All but one bill in the seven-bill package – SB 277, which allows farmers with protected land to rent out to solar projects – passed on a party-line vote as the Senate shipped the legislation off to the Governor’s desk.
“I honestly didn’t think you could pull it off,” said Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton). “I didn’t think it could be done because quite frankly, I didn’t think a package of bills so poorly constructed, so secretly concocted, so adamantly opposed by the citizenry of this state could muster the 20 votes in the Senate and the 56 votes in the House. But here we are . . . we stand at the precipice of passing this package of bills despite the fact that it is jammed packed with state mandates, making family electric bills more expensive and creating the very real possibility that the lights won’t turn on when you flip on that switch.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said the legislation will have Michigan setting an example for how to navigate the deeply complex realm of energy policy.
She described the bills as promoting affordability and reliability, driving job creation and honoring “the role we must play in mitigating climate change.”
