Michigan House Republicans are looking to do away with the state’s clean energy standards.
Their new energy plan would get rid of an overhaul passed in 2023, meant to push the state away from fossil fuels by the end of the next decade. It would also scale back some changes made in 2016 to limit energy waste.
House Energy Committee Chair Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-Watervliet) co-sponsors the package. She said the bills would focus instead on making energy cheaper and more reliable.
“It restructures utility planning, so the Michigan Public Service Commission approves energy plans based first on system reliability and minimizing costs to our ratepayers. It evaluates how the grid performs under peak demand and extreme conditions, which we’re seeing a lot more of,” Wendzel said during a press conference with House leadership Wednesday.
Republicans have long blamed clean energy policies for rising utility prices. They accuse utilities of asking for over a billion dollars’ worth of rate hikes in recent years.
Package sponsors are also criticizing grants to nonprofits and local governments to help residential customers adapt their own power usage as wasted money.
Democrats and climate groups, however, are deriding the Republican-backed bills. They argue less reliance on fossil fuels helps the state in the long run, especially in the wake of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran leading to spiking oil prices.
House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) told reporters clean energy is a safer bet for the state’s future.
“The 2023 mandates I think were ahead of its time in helping us diversify our generation portfolio here in Michigan to making sure that we’re producing the cheapest option available and have everything on the table to making sure that we can deliver the lowest rates,” Puri said.
Supporters of clean energy argue it reduces pollution, has fewer associated negative health effects, and can be created closer to home. Meanwhile, climate change is fueling increasingly unstable weather patterns in the state and global instability.
Even if the bills pass the state House of Representatives, they'll likely die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
