The initiative hopes to regain local support over green energy projects. Kalli Dalrymple | Collegian

A ballot initiative aimed at returning control of large-scale green energy projects to local communities is on track to secure its place on next November’s ballot, according to organizers.

The initiative, Citizens for Local Choice, would reinstate local governments’ power to decide whether those projects are developed in their jurisdictions. HB 5120, signed into law last November, gave that power to the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Kevon Martis, a Lenawee County commissioner and part of Citizens for Local Choice’s leadership team, said the effort hopes to “initiate a piece of legislation that will repeal the state’s preemption of wind and solar zoning.” 

Martis said the group is formally working with numerous organizations statewide, including The Michigan Association of Counties, Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Townships Association, and Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan to gather petition signatures.

Martis said this ballot initiative began as a response to legislative overreach by the state government.

“The state took away townships’ and counties’ ability to regulate wind and solar installations and battery energy storage last November,” Martis said. “We are strongly opposed to that, and we’re seeking to gather 550,000 petition signatures by May 29 to get this matter on the ballot so that people can decide.”

Martis said although the law has already been passed, it will only go into effect this November unless it is repealed by the ballot initiative. He said support for the ballot initiative in Hillsdale County has been encouraging.

“Our volunteerism is much higher than other similar campaigns,” Martis said. “We have an amazing lady leading the effort to gather signatures in Hillsdale County. Her name is Ashley Risher, and she’s knocked it out of the park.”

According to Risher, captain of Hillsdale County’s Citizens for Local Choice group, the county government has responded positively.

“The county commissioners are actually drafting a resolution in support of Citizens for Local Choice,” she said.

One of the commissioners, Steve Lanius, has been a strong supporter of the initiative and said the state government’s actions have gone too far.

“I’ve been watching it for years, and they’ve slowly and incrementally been taking away our rights,” Lanius said. “Now they’re being a little more adamant about it, and it’s starting to come to our doorstep.”

While Hillsdale County failed to pass a resolution in favor of the ballot initiative at a meeting on March 26, Lanius said he is hopeful it will join others across the state that have already passed similar resolutions.

“I think at our next meeting, we’re going to have a little more public support,” Lanius said. “I believe it’s the right thing to do.”

Freshman Josiah Jones, treasurer of the Hillsdale College Republicans, said he thinks the state’s actions were brazen and antagonized local governments.

“Democrats seized zoning authority from democratically elected township officials and conveniently gave it to Governor Whitmer’s hand-picked cronies in order to force green energy projects on municipalities that may not agree with them,” Jones said. 

According to Martis, Citizens for Local Choice is in an ideal position for challenging the state government.

“We’ve already distributed sufficient petitions to gather 600,000 signatures, which is far in excess of what we need,” Martis said. “Now we’re in the process of getting those back into our possession and getting ready to go before the board of canvassers at the end of May.”

Risher said volunteer efforts within the county have been strong even though the number of volunteers is low.

“They’re slow, but the people that are helping are very involved,” Risher said. “I’ve got one gal that’s been going door-to-door and getting signatures. My parents have been helping out — when they’ve been able to, they’ve had booths.”

Risher said Citizens for Local Choice ran a booth last Saturday in nearby Frontier, and she said the group will soon be increasing its efforts.

“Once the weather gets nicer, we’ll be up at the fairgrounds on weekends and we’ll be doing more booths around the county,” Risher said.

She said other groups in the county have been supportive of the ballot initiative.

“The Hillsdale America First Republican group has also been helping us gather signatures,” Risher said. “When they have events up at Liberty Hall, they’ve been doing petitions there when they have their monthly meeting.”

Lanius said he thinks these problems stem from legislators’ infidelity to the people.

“If I raise my right hand and swear an oath, that’s my word, and I’m going to do the best I can to uphold that. I don’t see that from a lot of state representatives,” Lanius said. “That’s why we are where we’re at right now. We’re going to have a ballot initiative because they raised their right hands for no reason.”

He said he feels the state’s refusal to respond to the will of local governments is largely the cause of this friction.

“There’s no reason why we should be in this position right now. Fifty seven counties wrote resolutions against these laws that they’ve passed, and the government did it anyway,” Lanius said. “How did that happen? And why did that happen?”

Martis expressed concerns similar to those of Lanius.

“This is truly a slippery slope,” he said. “The state has already, at least for now, taken away local zoning for wind, solar, and utility-scale battery storage. They’re next looking at taking away local control of sand and gravel extraction. These special interest groups in Lansing are using the tools of the federal government or the state government to create value for their shareholders.”

Martis said he thinks this fight is important to everyone in the state, including college students. 

“Students should understand that the government that’s closest to them will be the most responsive to them,” Martis said. “To lose that voice, and have it trampled on by the public service commission – who are political appointees and not directly accountable to the electorate – is the worst of all solutions, particularly when several of them have deep ties with the renewable energy industry.”

Risher said these policies affect people from all kinds of areas.

“This isn’t just a rural thing,” he said. “Under current state legislation, battery power plants and storage units can be put up within city limits. If they can do this kind of overreach right now, what are they going to go after next? It’s not just going to affect us out here who have to deal with these installations on a day-to-day basis.”