LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – After hearing testimony solely opposing a bill package that would reallocate control from local counties and governments regarding energy projects, the House Committee on Energy voted to pass the bills through. 

House Bills 5120-5123 have been criticized by some, as they would give authority to the Michigan Public Service Commission regarding the permitting for large scale solar and wind construction projects, rather than local governments. 

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The bill package passed with a slight majority (9-7) including a single vote to pass on the vote.  

A medical professional, Dr. Wanda Iza testified against the bill package on behalf of public health, particularly the proximity of windmills to farms and how it negatively affects livestock. She also voiced that she and others from Ingham County were not “stubbornly opposed to green energy.” 

“We actually have veterinarians, engineers, doctors, lawyers, and realtors opposed to this because we actually looked into the expert’s research on this,” she added, “We’re not stupid nimbees.” 

She also pleaded with the Democrat majority on the committee, mentioning that she is also a Democrat. 

“We really have to look at the detail,” she added, “There was no research on public health in the bill before it was pushed through, please don’t push it through that fast, without really understanding what’s going on.” 

Clint Beech, from Fowlerville spoke in opposition to the bills hearkening back to a former State Senator’s testimony.

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“It’s an unfair and unjustified power grab that allows these appointed and not elected managers to operate above the law and against the will of the people,” Beech said quoting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer when she was in the Michigan Senate. 

He went on to say that these new bills are exactly what she fought against a few years ago. 

“Local governing bodies are able to make decisions that affect neighbors, and communities that they themselves live in, have a stake in,” he said. “They do so with the help and voice of the people that live there, neighbors. They do so regardless of political affiliations. If they get it wrong, the people get to exercise their right to change the local governing bodies, [through] elections, recalls, special votes. The house and senate bills proposed will take that away; do not take away the local voice or the local vote.” 

Representative Pauline Wendzel, Minority Vice Chair for the committee, criticized the vote result.  

“In one meeting, Lansing Democrats promised to continue working with stakeholders to build consensus,” Rep. Wendzel said in a statement. “In the very next meeting, they bulldozed the first step of their radical Green New Deal through committee on a party-line vote. Democrats stripped authority from local communities and disenfranchised Michigan voters in rural communities across our state all to appease the climate cult. As these bills move forward, I’ll continue fighting to ensure Michiganders who made their will known at the ballot box are heard in Lansing.”

The bills will proceed to the Michigan House and be taken up by other legislators for consideration.