Energy gathered from the sun or wind is often seen as a solution to climate change, but there’s a rising conflict in small towns throughout the state over large-scale renewable energy projects. This election season there's been much discussion about how local township and county races have focused on this issue.
Roger Kerson, a Michigan-based writer for Barn Raiser Media, detailed why residents in these communites are pushing back against renewable energy and how discontent goes back to the early 2000s.
“You have to start going back to when Governor Granholm first put in a renewable energy standard at ten percent requirement for utilities to have renewables as part of their utility generation," said Kerson. While utility companies started rolling out projects to meet the new standard, opposition soon followed with some questioning climate change altogether.
"Other folks said [wind turbines] 'they're too tall. They're too noisy. We think green energy is a scam. We're not convinced climate change is really a problem. We don't want that stuff here.' And many folks won the day in their local elections." Kerson says, at the same time many farmers welcomed the opportunity for extra income by leasing they're land to the utilities who would in turn install the wind turbines.
In late 2023, the Michigan legislature with the support of Governor Gretchen Whimter created a bill that would give the state authority over the siting of renewable energy projects with the idea of limiting conflict in these local townships. As opposition continues, Kerson says the biggest winners might be the utilities.
"The key fact at the moment is that low carbon translates into high profits for these companies. Solar and wind is right now, in the current energy economy, the lowest cost way to generate electricity. The product you sell that comes in at a lower cost, you have the potential to make to earn higher profit... that's the direction the utilities are going."
Listen to full conversation with Roger Kerson on the Stateside podcast.
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GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Roger Kerson, Michigan-based writer for Barn Raiser Media
