EAGLE RIVER — Keweenaw county, along with 82 counties of the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) voted in support of a repeal of Public Act 233, which goes into effect in November of this year.

The MAC backs a coalition of groups called Citizens for Local Choice that is campaigning for a statewide vote to repeal sections of PA 233 that, it contends, put an unelected state panel in final charge of siting of energy generation facilities.

At its regular March meeting last Wednesday, the Keweenaw County Board adopted a resolution expressing support for the Citizens for Local Choice.

It is a grassroots coalition of local officials and community organizers across Michigan working to amend a Clean and Renewable Energy and Energy Waste Reduction Act, including the repeal of Part 8, as added by Public Act 233 of 2023.

The repeal, states the resolution, will restore local control of land use to ensure reasonable regulation in the widely diverse communities.

According to the Michigan Public Service Commission, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bill 5120 into law in Nov. 2023, as PA 233 of 2023. The Act provides siting authority to the Public Service Commission for utility-scale wind, solar, and energy storage facilities under specified conditions.

The Public Service Commission argues that the Act does not strip control from local landowners, stating that participating or not participating in a renewable energy or energy storage project is a decision for individual landowners.

Commission approval of a siting certificate under PA 233 does not confer the power of eminent domain or require landowners to participate against their wishes.

Citizens for Local Choice disputes the Service Commission’s claim. The group contends that the new law, which becomes effective in Nov. 2024, will force communities to go through the Service Commission in matters of zoning authority of utility-scale wind and solar projects. The resolution states that the legislature passed, and governor has signed, the Act, which strips away local community control.

A March 13, 2024 Citizens for Local Choice release stats that MAC consistently opposed the legislation as it worked its way through the State Capitol last year, testifying on the consequences of usurping local control and suggesting changes that could facilitate the generation of clean energy without making the state Public Service Commission the final answer on local land use.

This is not the first time Keweenaw County joined other counties in pushing back against attempts by Lansing to strip local governments of regulatory control. In July, 2023, Keweenaw County joined the U.P. Association of County Commissioners in supporting opposition to an attempt by downstate lobby groups to eliminate local control over sand and gravel mining operations, placing all regulatory control in the hands of the state.

A motion made by Commissioner Randy Eckloff and supported by Commissioner Bob Demarois, unanimously carried to join the U.P. Association of County Commissioners (UPACC) in opposition to House Bills 4526, 4527 and 4528 regarding local preemption for the siting and regulation of aggregate mines — gravel pits.

The resolution opposing state control of energy citing included similar wording to the resolution Keweenaw County adopted in opposition to the aggregate mining bill:

“Keweeanw County is opposed to corporation-prioritized action such as building utility-scale wind and solar projects in our community.”