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This summary is part of Beyond the Beltway: A Report on State Energy and Climate Policies produced by the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law
Rick Snyder, the Governor of Michigan, has been evasive regarding his views on climate change. But in February, 2016, he joined a group of 16 other governors (including Jerry Brown) to endorse renewable energy, energy efficiency, vehicle options such as biofuels and electric cars, and grid improvements.[1] Michigan’s reliance on coal has dropped quickly in recent years. According to the EIA, coal provided half of the state’s electricity in 2014, but by 2016 coal’s share was down to about a third.
At the end of 2016, Snyder brokered a deal to raise Michigan’s renewable portfolio standard from 10% to 15%. Snyder applauded the plan as “a statewide energy policy that will save Michigan residents millions of dollars on their electricity bills, alleviate concerns about having enough capacity to power the daily activities of 10 million and find new ways to use our existing energy grid more effectively.”[2] This may appear to be a minor shift when compared to the aggressive standards being set and achieved in other parts of the country, but it is a welcome development for the region and for a state under Republican leadership.
- “Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future” (February 16, 2017), https://www.eenews.net/assets/2016/02/16/document_pm_02.pdf.
- Robert Walton, “Down to the Wire, Michigan Passes Sweeping Renewable Energy, Retail Choice Reforms,” Utility Dive (December 16, 2016), https://www.utilitydive.com/news/down-to-the-wire-michigan-passes- sweeping-renewable-energy-retail-choice/432528/.