LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. John Damoose, along with State Reps. Parker Fairbairn and John Roth on Monday called for the Department of Natural Resources to end its plan to displace hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat after recent reporting exposed a DNR proposal to replace over 400 acres of forest, located just west of Gaylord, with solar panel installations. The legislators said the DNR, which is funded by taxpayer resources, should not be involved with green energy technologies that remain unreliable and unpopular.
“I think this is a terrible idea,” said Damoose, R-Harbor Springs. “We don’t even know how well solar works in an environment like ours, but we do know it would take hundreds of years to regrow a forest like this. I think we need to slow down the solar frenzy and concentrate on the energy solutions we know are reliable. I am equally appalled that the state of Michigan would encourage something that destroys 400 acres of forest for what amounts to a feel-good public relations stunt.”
In the fall of 2023, legislative Democrats rammed through radical green energy legislation mandating 100% “clean” energy by 2040. The laws also gave the Michigan Public Service Commission, a three-member panel of state bureaucrats, authority to approve green energy projects, taking away local communities’ discretion over the placement of wind turbines and solar farms.
“As the administration’s appointed stewards of our lands, waters and resources, the DNR needs to ensure that the best interest of Michigan’s residents is at the heart of everything they do, and not the furtherance of political policy initiatives,” said Fairbairn, R-Harbor Springs. “This administration has shown blatant disregard for local control and the input of local residents in crafting policy around alternative energy initiatives, and this is one more example of how it seeks to utilize our state resources to achieve political goals. We need to turn that approach on its head and make the concerns and desires of Michigan residents the starting point for all policy decisions.”
The new laws effectively close reliable natural gas plants and increase dependence on less reliable wind and solar power. An expert analysis projects that average monthly electric bills could nearly double because of the new laws.
“If private companies want to invest their money in green energy, so be it. But the state should not be treating our wildlife like poker chips they can trade in exchange for solar panels,” said Roth, R-Interlochen. “The DNR has gone too far with this one. I don’t care how they try to explain it — solar panels are not a natural resource. The DNR must immediately stop wasting money on these projects and get back to doing the job they signed up for: protecting our natural resources.”
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