Many turbines are located near farms. Courtesy | Facebook

Local officials across Michigan recently lost the ability to deny green energy projects, prompting a referendum seeking to restore local control.

“We use local zoning regulations to protect our land use future, to preserve our rural way of life,” Lenawee County Commissioner Kevon Martis said. “Now that’s been stripped away.”

When Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed SB 271 into law last November, she set ambitious climate goals for the state’s utilities. And HB 5120, approved the same day, took power over green energy projects away from communities and gave it to the Michigan Public Service Commission.

So Martis helped start Citizens for Local Choice in December, a ballot initiative aiming to restore local control over green energy projects. He said officials approved the initiative’s language Jan. 19. The group is beginning to circulate the petition, according to WWTV, and it needs at least 356,958 signatures to reach the ballot this November.

Hillsdale County residents have pushed back against wind farms multiple times in the past, with voters denying a wind farm in Reading and officials later approving a wind farm in Wheatland Township. 

But according to Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the new law eliminates communities’ ability to refuse such projects. He said wind and solar projects may return to the area, even where they may have been blocked in the past, as the state pursues its climate goals. 

“I don’t believe that these green energy projects, whether they be windmills or solar, will be able to provide adequate, reliable, affordable energy that we have been able to produce in this country through power plants fueled by coal, gas, or nuclear,” Hillsdale County Commissioner Brent Leininger said.

“Townships and counties had the authority to make final decisions on whether or not a new wind or solar development was going to be in a certain location,” Hayes said. “Now that has switched over to the state.”

Under SB 271, utilities must rely on green energy for 50% of their electricity by 2030, for 60% of their electricity by 2035, and for 100% of their electricity by 2040. They can purchase credits to help meet these goals until 2035. 

Martis said he expected Democrats to push green energy policies after winning a majority in the state legislature in 2022. 

“When they picked up both houses in the legislature, we started acting and organizing groups to oppose the legislation,” Martis said. “When we lost that battle, we said, ‘Well, you only have one card left to play, and that’s an initiative.’”

The state commission has not taken a position on the referendum and has no comment on the effort, according to Public Information Officer Matt Helms. But Helms said if the referendum were to pass, it would make it more difficult for the state to meet its green energy and climate goals. 

“It would likely increase costs to meet the renewable energy goals outlined in the 2023 energy legislation by making it harder to find locations for wind, solar and other renewable energy developments,” Helms said. “For the same reason, it also would make it more difficult to add the necessary resources to maintain reliability.”

In an October testimony, state commission Chair Dan Scripps supported the legislation giving his group authority to approve local green energy projects.

“Local siting and permitting limited the consideration of these newer, lower-cost renewable resources,” Scripps said in his testimony. “Local opposition blocking projects that are a key part of maintaining reliability, and forcing all of us to pay more for our electricity. That’s the status quo.”

The state commission is composed of three members, all of whom have worked for green energy companies or interest groups in the past. 

Scripps was a Democratic state representative, according to Ballotpedia, and worked for green energy groups including Advanced Energy Economy, according to LinkedIn. Commissioner Katherine Peretick worked for groups including wind turbine company Vestas Wind Systems, and commissioner Alessandra Carreon worked for green energy nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute and at Ford Motor Company where she implemented Environmental Social Governance, or ESG.

Hayes said since the governor appoints Michigan’s state commissioners, the agency tends to reflect the opinion of the current governor. He called the commissioners “some of the most powerful people in the state.”

Still, Helms said the state commission conducts itself openly and without bias.

“Commissioners take care to set aside personal biases and decide cases based on the evidentiary record in each case and compliance with Michigan law and regulation,” Helms said.

But Martis said he questions the process.

“Do we expect the communities will get a fair shake there? No,” Martis said. 

Martis said he initially had no opinion about turbines when he was a planning commissioner in Riga Township in eastern Lenawee County, but that changed when J.W. Great Lakes Wind LLC proposed a project in the area in 2009. 

“We didn’t know what to think of it. Then our planning commission spent a couple of years researching it and wondering if we even had the ability to limit the scope or scale of the project,” Martis said. “We didn’t think it was fair to put those big devices next to peoples’ homes without their ability to negotiate.”

Martis said turbines can pose issues with constant noise and the blades casting flickering shadows. He said he had friends living 1,100 feet away from turbines who moved into their basement to escape the noise.

“Some people can’t sleep and are really tortured by it,” Martis said. “It’s not a natural noise. Some people report pressure in their ears and deep discomfort from living next to that noise; it’s annoying.”

Martis pushed against the Riga Township wind farm by helping form a group called the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition. The group scored a victory in 2011 when local officials adopted a zoning ordinance lowering the noise limit and requiring a buffer zone between turbines and homes, according to The Daily Telegram in Adrian. 

“We adopted regulations that permitted the project to go forward but required them to negotiate with each of the neighbors for a nuisance easement. The developers didn’t want to do that, so they left,” Martis said. “My phone has never stopped ringing since.”

Martis said he has now spoken against turbines in 10 states, offering his experience dealing with the issue as a township zoning administrator.

Turbines came to southern Michigan with the Crescent Wind Farm in Hillsdale County’s Wheatland Township, which began generating electricity in 2021. The 166-megawatt project involves 60 turbines.

Chicago-based green energy company Invenergy developed and built the wind farm, fighting for approval from Wheatland Township officials in 2018 and 2019, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. Many residents opposed the project, and in 2020 some ran for office to stop the turbines. 

But Invenergy finished the turbines, and Consumers Energy bought the project for $250 million in 2019, according to MLive.

The Crescent Wind Farm appeared in the 2021 Fox Nation documentary “Blown Away: The People vs. Wind Power.” The documentary’s producer, alumnus Charles Couger ’12, interviewed Martis near the project.

“Never try to site a wind project within 30 miles of a Starbucks coffee shop,” Martis said in the documentary. “The demographic that’s willing to pay a premium price for quality coffee is the same demographic that typically has the education and financial wherewithal to resist irresponsible wind projects.”

The Crescent Wind Farm is close to 30 miles away from the nearest Starbucks in Jackson.

Couger said some farmers he had spoken with complained that wind developers often approach them with turbine contracts when commodity prices fall, though he was unsure if it happened in Hillsdale County.

“They approach the farmers and offer them a contract. It’s a legal document and therefore hard to read. You can hire a lawyer to go through it and explain it to you, but that’s going to cost a lot of money,” Couger said. “Farmers don’t typically go through that process, and they just sign it and are prohibited in their contract from criticizing it or disclosing the terms.”

Wheatland Township Supervisor David Stone said Invenergy began leasing land in the area before announcing its plans. 

“We didn’t have any problems working with Invenergy. I mean, you’re talking about a company out of Chicago – they understand rural areas, but I don’t think they understand rural areas that well,” Stone said. “Nobody figured it was ever going to come in.”

Many Wheatland Township residents organized to oppose the project, making for contentious township meetings. 

“I tried to play the devil’s advocate. I tried to be the one that would say ‘No, and this is why.’ I did a lot of research. I did a lot of studying,” Stone said. “I couldn’t find a reason to say no.”

Some citizens claimed some local officials had turbine leases with Invenergy creating a conflict of interest, and asked Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to investigate the matter in 2019, according to the Hillsdale Daily News. 

Martis said financial incentives can sometimes play a role in the local approval process.

“Harvest the officials then you can harvest the wind,” Martis said. “They come in and lease up people that will write the laws that will permit their project to go forward. Those people should recuse themselves because they have a financial interest in the outcome.”

But while one official had a turbine lease with Invenergy and others had family members with turbine leases, Stone said those officials excused themselves from the proceedings. 

“We didn’t allow one member on our board who has windmills to have any vote whether a windmill should be approved or denied,” Stone said.

While the Crescent Wind Farm approval was heated, Stone said he was grateful for the process and thinks green energy companies would prefer to work with communities rather than the state commission. 

“They started out with one setback, we came back with another setback, and we compromised. Compromise is extremely important to make sure both sides are happy,” Stone said. “If you don’t have that, then you’ve got some disgruntled people in an area where you’re forcing something they don’t want. This will not end well.”

The Hillsdale County Commission was not involved in approving the Crescent Wind Farm as it was a township issue at the time, according to Leininger. 

“As this project does not produce food or fiber, I will not refer to it as a farm,” Leininger said. 

Still, Leininger said, the Crescent Wind Farm generated additional property tax revenue for the county, which saw a revenue increase of more than $8.5 million from 2021 to 2022.

Stone said the township ended up trying to respect property rights, but banning turbines within 1,000 feet of an occupied dwelling.

“If somebody wanted a wind turbine on their land, then they should be entitled to have a wind turbine on their land. We wanted to just make sure that we put regulations on it,” Stone said. “Not that they make a lot of noise, but if they’re too close to a residential house, you’re going to hear them running because they tend to sound like an electric dryer.”

Stone said some residents still complain about the noise, the flickering shadows from the blades, and the lights. But he said he rarely notices the turbines, and they have had little effect on local wildlife which the Michigan Department of Natural Resources monitors.

“I’m not concerned with windmills. We don’t have two-headed deer. We don’t have birds dying like crazy. The DNR comes out and checks on a lot of birds and bats,” Stone said. “I’m not going to say they don’t kill some birds. Of course they do, but your car is going to kill just as many.”

If another turbine project returned to the area, Stone said the township would work similarly to reach a compromise. But the state commission currently possesses the authority to approve such projects, and the current turbines have taken up the capacity of the area’s electrical grid, according to Stone.

“They can only put so many kilowatts into a grid unless they update the grid, and it’s really expensive to do that,” Stone said. “If all the windmills are running, they’ve maxed out how much can be put on that grid.”

Stone said he supports returning local authority over such projects.

“These decisions are being made by politicians that live in urban areas where they know they’re not going to have a solar farm or windmill, so they don’t care. That’s what the Democrats are showing in Lansing,” Stone said. “They have proven they do not care about 90% of the state, they only care about their voter base.”

Professor of Economics Gary Wolfram said wind turbines create a “negative externality” by imposing the costs of noise and disrupted views on nearby residents. 

“Members of the state government, be they in the administrative or legislative branch, will not generally be affected by the negative externality and will not take this into consideration,” Wolfram said. “The government of the local community should be the one to approve or disapprove projects.”

Before Invenergy developed the Crescent Wind Farm, Duke Energy tried to install a wind farm near Reading in 2011. The proposed project would have encompassed 12,000 acres, but residents pushed back successfully and banned the turbines. Under the new laws, Hayes said, the state commission could override this local ordinance. 

David Guertin said he and his wife, originally from a small town south of Chicago, bought a lake cottage in the area in 1972. He worked for Ford at that point, and some coworkers agreed to invest in land near Reading. They slowly bought more and more land over the years, and Guertin said Duke Energy took notice sometime between 2009 and 2010. 

“The wind turbine guys called me, they wanted me to get involved and contract my land to put up wind turbines,” Guertin said. “I wasn’t really high on doing that, I’m more of a conservationist.”

Guertin said he often hunts for deer, ducks, geese, and pheasants on the property, and was concerned turbines would cause issues with the wildlife.

He began researching, and after speaking to other Reading Township residents with concerns, they formed an anti-turbine group called “Save Reading.” The group spoke at township meetings and organized opposition to the wind farm. 

Though Duke Energy withdrew from the project in late 2012 citing a lack of proper infrastructure, voters decided in a 2013 referendum against more permissive noise regulations that would have allowed turbines. 

“We wanted to stop and not approve these changes that Duke wants,” Guertin said. “We won very handily.”

Guertin said he supports the referendum that would return authority over green energy projects from the state to communities. He said the state is trying to “stuff this down the throat” of areas that oppose green energy projects.

“It’s a free country, or it’s supposed to be,” Guertin said. 

Guertin said he first became concerned about turbines after researching potential issues such as noise, flickering shadows, and even small ground vibrations. 

“A lot of people end up selling their houses or can’t live in them,” Guertin said.

Ted Hartke of rural Vermilion County, Illinois, did just that. 

Hartke said when Invenergy built the California Ridge Wind Farm around his 11-acre property near Fithian, he and the family left to escape the noise.

Invenergy finished construction on the wind farm in late 2012, and after the wind farm began operating, Hartke said his family began having “severe sleep deprivation” because of the noise in January 2013. 

“We never complained or said anything negative about wind energy until we actually started experiencing these problems,” Hartke said.

Hartke said later that year, over Christmas weekend, they abandoned the home. 

Hartke’s family lived in a double-wide trailer until they bought an older house in 2015, and they finally sold the home near the turbines in 2016.

“I’m extremely bitter,” Hartke said. “Try to help other communities avoid the same outcome.”

Stone said communities should be able to work out their own compromises with developers, finding a middle ground that works best for all involved. But he said the state taking away local authority makes any dialogue difficult. 

“I was opposed to the state taking over in the first place because if we don’t control our own land in local communities, the state has no clue what a local community needs,” Stone said. “It’d be like us, down here in Hillsdale County, making a determination for property that’s in the U.P.”

The Collegian reached out to contacts with Invenergy, J.W. Great Lakes, and Duke Power, but did not hear back with comment in time for publication.