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Late last night, the Michigan Senate gutted the renewable
portfolio standards and energy efficiency bills that have been wending their
way through the legislature for the past 18 months. Reports from the front (the Senate Journal for yesterday is
not yet updated so details are only available from eye witnesses to the midnight
massacre) the Senate passed a substitute bill offered up by Senator Patty
Birkholz that calls for just a 7 % COMBINED Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Portfolio Standard by 2015 and opens up huge loopholes in the definitions of
renewables. Just a note -- Consumers Energy is thought to already have a
4% RPS -- and this is a pathetic level compared with the city of Senator Birkholz also was the prime speaker AGAINST the
version of the RPS bill that came out of the Energy and Technology Committee
with bipartisan support. Senator Olshove offered the substitute, but
apparently Senator Birkholz led the gutting and filleting that, if it were to
actually pass the full legislature, would make Add to this that the Senate also passed HB 5524, the bill
that the utilities and major manufacturers wanted that partially reregulates
the utilities -- no details on whether this contains the Integrated Resource
Planning provisions sought by environmentalists, but it can be expected that it
does contain the “deskewing” language (shifting costs onto
residential customers from manufacturers) and the removal of most of the
customer choice provisions in place in the past. A Friday night massacre like this in prime summer weekends
away season is a classic way to bury the bodies before the public wakes
up. The bills will need to go to the House, whose moderate bills look
positively visionary in comparison to this mess. The timing and manner of
House consideration is yet to be learned. House members, eager to keep
their jobs, have been expected to disburse after yesterday’s session,
although there are usually sessions scheduled one day a week through the summer
in the event there is a need for action. Sounds like there will be a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anne M. Woiwode, State Director Sierra Club Visit us at http://michigan.sierraclub.org/index.shtml Act Today: Join our Legislative Alerts System! http://mackinac.sierraclubaction.org Act FOR Tomorrow: Support the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter
- contact Wendi Tilden at wendi.tilden@sierraclub.org "The idea of shifting to a carbon-free society
appears to be technically feasible. The question is whether it's politically
feasible or economically feasible." Brian O'Neil, |