Michigan township approves amendments in case of wind and solar projects
GENOA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — Thanks to a law that passed in 2023 and took effect late last year, the Michigan Public Service Commission has the final say over renewable energy sites.
Public Act 233, which took effect in November 2024, gives the MPSC the final say on large-scale renewable energy projects. But Genoa Township is one of more than 70 townships and counties suing to repeal the law.
"We do believe that the local level should have the most say in what happens," said Kevin Spicher, the supervisor for the Genoa Township Board of Trustees. "We view it as the state is taking away control from the local elected officials and we don't think that's correct."
In a meeting on Monday, the Genoa township's Board of Trustees approved new amendments that give local elected officials like Spicher a little more say in where a site could be placed.
"What it really did was just help us to be able to have a little more say in if this is forced upon us from the state level we can at least have a little more say in where it would go," he said.
Spicher said if the state decided to place a renewable energy site in the township limits, "then that's all they say we're going to have."
CBS News Detroit reached out to the Michigan Public Service Commission on Tuesday for comment but a spokesman for the agency declined an interview because litigation is ongoing.
"We'd kind of like to maintain as much of the life we've set out for ourselves and what our residents have come to enjoy here as we possibly can," said Spicher.
Officials in Genoa Township say no proposed energy sites are in the works for the moment, but they felt it was important to have the amendments on the books.
