Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed a sweeping clean energy package that will make Michigan the second swing state to transition to 100% clean energy by 2040. The move has been widely welcomed by climate change advocates but criticized by some environmental justice groups. The Clean Energy and Jobs Act includes several bills that would improve the state’s energy efficiency requirements and streamline the permitting process for solar and wind projects. It would also require the state’s electric utilities to shift 100% of their electricity sales to clean energy sources by 2040.
Michigan has recently experienced a resurgence in sustainable jobs, with clean energy and transportation jobs increasing by an estimated 5% over the past year. Whitmer said the state’s new clean energy policy will add more than 160,000 additional clean jobs to Michigan’s growing green economy. Before signing the bill in Detroit on Tuesday, Whitmer said, “America’s workers will earn family wages and produce America’s energy.” In a state that ranks 10th in the nation for carbon emissions, the bill is an important step toward reversing decades of environmental neglect, said the policy director of Evergreen Action, a nonprofit environmental group. said Advocacy Manager Courtney Bourgoin. More than 20 states, including California, Louisiana, and New York, have adopted clean energy goals aimed at reducing or offsetting emissions over the next 20 years. More stringent goals for states and territories, including Rhode Island, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, require the power sector to fully transition to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower.
Michigan’s 100% clean energy goal, established in Senate Bill 271, directs the state’s utilities to convert 60% of their electricity generation to renewable energy. Energy sources such as nuclear, hydrogen, and natural gas combined with carbon capture account for the remaining 40%. Some environmental justice advocates opposed the bill, which would allow fossil fuels to be classified as clean energy, and criticized the inefficiency and high cost of carbon capture technologies. In October, a coalition of three Michigan-based nonprofits said the policy would “adequately reduce greenhouse gas emissions while reducing pollution for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities.” published a letter accusing the government of not doing so. Huang John Chun, co-executive director of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, said carbon capture technology does not address the air pollution associated with burning natural gas, and that the burden of local pollution typically falls the most. It added that it would affect vulnerable communities living nearby.
Power supply plants are often located in Michigan’s poorest areas. “This bill actually redefines what is considered clean energy,” John Chong said. “This makes natural gas a clean energy source. For us, 100% clean energy will not be 100% clean by 2040.” Michigan-based energy efficiency consulting firm Walker Miller Energy Services Director of Community Partnerships Ben Duweke expressed concerns about including carbon capture in the plan. energy package. But he said the bill is a victory for Michigan to lead the nation on climate change while restoring its reputation as an exporter of American products and services.