Late last Friday night our Michigan Senate watered down and passed energy legislation that took months to put together. There was no attempt at bipartisanship here. As a result Michigan has a pretty shabby RPS or Renewable Portfolio Standards compared to surrounding states. What took the wind out of the sails of this legislation was the deletion of mandates. There will be no mandates on business, which means business may or may not choose to reduce it’s consumption of fossil fuels by choosing other sources of energy.
The Senate decided to go the route where state government would lead by example and be the first to reduce it’s dependency on fossil fuels by choosing alternative energy and also through conservation. The idea is that business would likely follow suit—but they don’t have to!
The positive side of this move by the senate is that taxpayers will be spared the cost of switching to alternative energy sources, and struggling business in MI won’t have to spend more to comply with any mandates. The state will bear the burden for moving forward. This is protectionism and admirable, but it also degrades Michigan’s RPS to nothing. States that have a strong RPS have reaped big rewards in economic growth as a result. Michigan is missing the importance of a strong RPS. It equates to jobs and investment into the economy.
So the biggest downside is that Michigan’s economy will not likely pick up soon despite the “Green Gold Rush” that is on right now. On top of that, among all the cities in the country that had dismal spring housing sales where that market dropped again, Detroit area home sales were actually up 8%. That was on the news. So Michigan is primed and salivating for economic growth from anywhere that more than likely will not happen thanks to this senate’s quick and rash decisions last week.
Also, Michigan ranks in the top fifteen states in the country for wind generation, but there were few incentives and little interest in wind production in the bills. Yet according to an article on Metro Mode’s website, “[A] fully harnessed wind industry could result in up to 50,000 Michigan jobs, ranging from construction to assembly to engineering to research.” In this instance, the Republican lead Senate in Michigan is actually blocking progress and job growth. Wind is nothing to overlook in Michigan where there are constant shoreline breezes.
The last negative to the final version of the bills is whether or not the environmental changes that take place within the state government will require outside contracts. I don’t like the sound of government contracting. Senator Waxman has uncovered billions of wasted dollars in contracts on the federal level both in Afghanistan and Iraq. This kind of thing looks like just another opportunity for friends to get paid.
Environmentally friendly voters should drop a line to our state senate. The cons outweigh the pros for their decision on this latest round of energy bills relative to the loss of a lot of new jobs, and new money into our economy from somewhere else besides the auto industry for a change. Michigan’s economy is supposed to be undergoing change remember?
Read about RPS in MI: http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/03/12/renewable-portfolio-standards-environmental-resume-for-states/
Entire article on Metro Mode about MI windpower: http://www.metromodemedia.com/features/MichiganWindPower0064.aspx
Huh? More of that “fossil fuel” nonsense. Nothing complicated about hydrocarbons – mix a little hydrogen with a little carbon and Voila! Fuel! And no fossilized dinosaur dung to sweep of the floor! And when you burn it, we get Plant Food! Yessiree, genuine carbon dioxide for your hungriest trees! Hurry though, these conservation nuts are gunna make sure it costs you dearly for some new-fangled Crimes Against Nature, but it’s actually just an excuse to shake you down to support the OneWorlders at the UN, not really a crime at all. Thousands of our good-paying manufacturing jobs have gone south of the border or otherwise out of the country but it’ll be alright – we’ll just replace them with a couple wind turbine helper people jobs! Unfortunately, guys, your 70.000 Federal Reserve Notes a year job making something useful just got mildly reduced to a 10,000 Federal Reserve notes per year version trimming weeds and picking dead birds off the ground under some wind turbines somewhere where they get enough wind in Michigan to actually make the things spin around. It’s called “Green Gold” if you despise your fellow man and worship at the altar of Mother Nature instead… Or maybe that refers to the green grass we’ll be eating for two meals a day trying to feed ourselves and our families…not sure. Might have to ask an EcoNazi for more info…
You’re a follower of the UN is the new world order of evil. What a crock! I heard more than one religious sect hang on to that belief because that’s what their preacher told them. If the UN had any power, we wouldn’t be in Iraq. The UN has suffered from crooked leadership too much lately to be a power. It’s a nice little idea that this will be the one world order but it doesn’t fit the bill and I doubt the Great Deceiver is going to allow his evilness to be that easy to see.
This you believe but knowing full well through congressional investigations that politics not only interfered but blocked scientific reporting about the environment is too far fetched for you? Even Bush admitted to the BBC way back in 2002 that fossil fuels and human beings contributed to accelerated global warming.
We’ve lost jobs because we’re lagging behind on all types of new things, relying on the old fossil fuel industry that’s done nothing but rape us. You’re not up to date about new innovation at all. The company that represents the only wind power in the state of Michigan is disgusted at our politicians lack of foresight relative to wind power. He knows we could be doing so much better.
You pooh-pooh wind power relative to a handful of jobs but results from other states with strong RPS’s are drawing green business in the millions, like Minnesota—250 million in new green business just from implementing a wind generation program. Yeah, wind power is a big nothing, that’s why GE can’t keep up with the demand by big business for their wind turbines.
Mother Nature is the right hand of God. Mess with it, mess with God. And, I worship God before fellow man thank you. There will be no Eco Nazi’s helping anyone that didn’t help his fellow man by helping the earth that sustains us all, so you’ll be chewing green grass for quite a while.
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[...] to other states because our senate failed to produce a strong (RPS) Renewable Portfolio Standards. http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/07/mi-senate-decisions-discourage-economic-opportunity/. [...]