ST. CLAIR COUNTY – County officials in Michigan’s Thumb face a lawsuit from the state’s largest electric utility after they placed new restrictions on solar farms, claiming noise and “visual pollution” from the arrays endanger public health.
DTE Electric Co. sued St. Clair County on July 3, challenging its unique use of county health department rules to impose limits on big solar farms and grid-scale battery installations, which county officials believe is a first in Michigan, MLIVE reports.
DTE argues the new requirements amount to zoning regulations illegally masquerading as public health protections. The county medical director’s justification for the rules “was not supported by any scientific or medical evidence,” the utility’s lawsuit reads.
The county has pledged to fight the lawsuit.
The case will test its novel use of health authority to effectively circumvent parts of state law passed in 2023 by Democrats, meant to prevent communities from blocking or heavily restricting large renewable energy projects necessary to meet state climate goals.
In May, the majority-Republican St. Clair County board approved the rules, developed by its health department with its authority under Michigan’s Public Health Code. The unanimous vote prompted applause from onlookers at the board’s meeting.
The energy facilities pose “risks and dangers to public health,” reads the county resolution.
They require large solar and battery projects to be completely screened from public view, ensure power inverters don’t emit “tonal noise,” require projects generally meet 45-decibel noise limits and force developers to post $100,000 per megawatt bonds with the county for project decommissioning.
Projects would have to pay a $25,000 nonrefundable fee to apply for health department approval.
The health department restrictions notably exceed standards in the 2023 law that gives the largest renewable energy projects the option to go to the state for review if local rules are more restrictive than a set of minimum requirements.
Read the rest of this story at MLIVE
