Displaying items tagged: Environmental Law and Policy Center

A Midwest environmental law group is launching a “major new” initiative this year to work with utilities, municipalities and conservation groups to study the potential reuse of Michigan coal plants as public parkland as well as renewable energy production.

Environmental and ratepayer advocates are withholding their full-throated support for Consumers Energy’s new long-term energy plan that eliminates coal usage by 2025, citing concerns over potential rate effects and the scale of ongoing fossil fuel reliance.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order in late September creating a long-term climate change plan calling for the state to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer aims to create more clean energy jobs in the state by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and becoming carbon neutral within 30 years.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 22 other states in challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era automobile fuel economy standards.

Nearly two years after announcing its initial plan, the Trump administration issued a final rule on March 31 that rolls back Obama-era automobile fuel economy standards and requires modest fuel efficiency increases in forthcoming internal combustion models.

Michigan’s contribution to a key project aimed at stopping the spread of invasive Asian carp has been put on hold as the state shifted funds last week to help respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

State officials announced more than $8.7 million in grants this week for Michigan school districts to purchase buses powered by clean diesel and propane, but environmental groups say the money would have been better spent on electric models.

Michigan ranks among the top Midwestern states for clean energy jobs, but environmental advocates say further policy changes are needed to push the state from “good” to “great.”

A large penetration of electric vehicles is not in Michigan’s near-future, so advocates say EV drivers shouldn’t be hit with steep fee increases based on the state’s road funding formula. That is the prospect under a road funding law enacted in 2015, but clean energy groups hope the issue is revisited before electric vehicle drivers potentially see some of the highest registration fees in the country.

The Michigan Public Service Commission has started what could be a two-year process to govern how renewable energy projects are connected to the electric grid. The plan to make new interconnection rules seeks to resolve an unprecedented backlog of requests from independent power producers to build solar projects at a time when utility customers increasingly are turning to solar for self-generation.