States with big climate goals strip local power to block green projects

LANSING, MI — Clean energy developers had planned a 75-turbine wind farm in central Michigan’s Montcalm County before local voters rejected the idea in 2022 and recalled seven local officials who had supported it.

About 150 miles southeast, Clara Ostrander in Monroe County found herself at the center of a similar conflict when rising medical costs forced her and her husband to consider selling land her family had owned for 150 years.

Leasing a parcel to a prospective solar farm could save the property, but local residents complained so vehemently that Ostrander said the city had changed the zoning ordinance to block the project.

“There are people in this township I will never speak to again,” she said.

Local restrictions in Michigan derailed more than two dozen utility-scale renewable energy projects last May, according to a study by Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Nationally, at least 228 restrictions have been imposed in 35 states to halt green energy projects.

The conflicts have hampered many states’ aggressive timelines for transitioning to cleaner energy production, with the ultimate goal of eliminating carbon pollution within the next two decades.

Michigan and more than a dozen other states are trying to improve the decision-making process by seizing the power to override local restrictions and allow state authorities to approve or disapprove sites for utility-scale projects.

The shift has sparked a political backlash that could escalate as more states try to simplify the process of getting approval and construction of green energy projects.

“We cannot allow projects of statewide importance that are critical to our state’s energy security to be vetoed over purely local matters,” said Dan Scripps, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Scripps and two other committee members now have the power to build large-scale renewable energy projects in the state under legislation passed by Michigan lawmakers and signed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November.

Michigan joined Connecticut, New York, Oregon and Minnesota in requiring utilities to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity generation by 2040. A sixth state, Rhode Island, is targeting 100% renewable energy by 2033. The goals align with the Biden administration’s goal of making electricity free of carbon pollution by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. Other states have long-standing targets of less than 100%.

But many local officials say giving states the power to build large-scale energy projects runs counter to cherished American political principles. Local officials, they say, are the officials closest to voters and most directly accountable to voters. They argue that this is especially important when it comes to land use and what is built near homes.

In Kansas, Osage County’s moratorium on commercial solar and wind projects in 2022 came after multiple hearings. County Commissioner Jay Bailey said the decision reflected the concerns of most residents. Even after all the hearings and discussions, he said he felt he didn’t have enough information about the impacts of large turbines or solar farms.

“This is the difference,” he said. “If you let them, you can’t go back and change it, but if you don’t let them, you can always change it.”

In other places, like Kansas’ Flint Hills — home to most of the nation’s remaining tallgrass prairie — moratoriums on energy projects stem from environmental concerns.

But even with the restrictions in place in parts of Kansas, renewable energy there has boomed. Wind farms now provide 47% of the state’s electricity, up from 7% in 2010. The gains came as the clean energy lobby worked steadily to counter opposition from the Republican-controlled state Legislature.

Elise Caplan, vice president for regulatory affairs at the nonprofit American Council on Renewable Energy, said local rules restricting green energy facilities are “not really based on science.” Projects can benefit the local environment by retiring fossil fuel-powered power plants, she said.

Michigan has pursued its clean energy goals by rapidly developing facilities where there is sufficient agricultural land. It’s a choice that can divide rural communities, as in the Monroe County case, in which Ostrander wanted to lease land for a solar farm.

Michigan’s new settlement law could revive the project.

“No one is forcing us to do this,” Ostrander said. “This was something we decided and thought would be good for us to build to keep our property in the family.”

Michigan is unusual in that its 1,200-plus townships have the power to enact and enforce zoning ordinances. Twenty of the state’s 83 counties have passed ordinances blocking or slowing wind and solar energy development.

Scripps, the chairman of Michigan’s Public Service Commission that can now lift those restrictions, has said an additional 209,000 acres will be needed for projects to meet the state’s 60% renewable energy goal by 2035. It is a huge increase from 17,000 hectares. acres (6,880 hectares) currently in use.

Developers will still have to go through local communities to approve projects, Scripps said. But if the project is rejected and meets the state’s criteria to proceed, the three-member commission can override the local decision and approve solar projects with a capacity of 50 megawatts or more and wind projects with a capacity of 100 megawatts.

A 2023 law in Illinois limits the power of local authorities and bans moratoria on clean energy projects. In addition to Michigan, the Columbia University study reported that state boards or agencies in California, Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island control site project decisions. Local rules can also be circumvented by the state in Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Florida and South Dakota.

Local government groups in Michigan have overwhelmingly opposed the new law that gives the state the power to locate projects, saying it creates a “one-size-fits-all” process. Citizens for Local Choice, a group that includes four state lawmakers, announced in early January that it will seek to put the issue before Michigan voters in November, which would require nearly 357,000 signatures by May 29.

Green energy advocates are frustrated by what they often see as the driving force behind local opposition to projects: the fear of change, the widespread spread of misinformation about wind turbines and solar panels, and the desire of suburban residents moving to rural areas to express their views. retain.

Josh Svaty, who helps renewable energy companies seek approval at the county level and lobbies for it at the Kansas Statehouse, decries how opponents can make life “absolutely miserable” for local officials. Yet he still believes in local decision-making.

“County governments – city governments in the same way – are designed to be accessible to their citizens,” Svaty said. “So you can go to that planning and zoning meeting and if you want to express your opinion, you can do so. ”

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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.