Energy News Network (https://energynews.us/tag/michigan/)
Environmental and public transit advocates are dismayed by their exclusion from a new council charged with shaping a vision for “future mobility” in the state.
Last month Gov. Gretchen Whitmer set a goal for Michigan to be carbon-neutral by 2050, a bold move that will bring more jobs and industry to the state. This executive order will continue to increase demand for innovative, business-driven solutions to reduce the impact of climate change. But three decades is a long time, so it may be difficult to imagine how achieving this goal will change Michigan’s economy. Fortunately, though, we do not have to look out into the distant future to see how increasing the use of renewable energy, battery technology to store energy, electric vehicles (EVs) and energy efficiency—some of the advanced energy technologies that will be most important to achieving carbon neutrality—can deliver economic benefits. We can measure the economic growth and jobs that these energy innovations have already brought to Michigan and can continue to bring—not in 10, 20 or 30 years, but right now.
Skeptics worry the plan will give polluters an inexpensive and imprecise option to meet future emission targets.
Voters will decide next month whether to shift oil and gas royalty spending from land acquisition to park development.
The Michigan utility aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, but its compensation packages still include rewards for “coal plant reliability.”