LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, released the following statement on Wednesday after the Democrat-led Senate voted to shift local decision-making regarding solar and wind farms to state bureaucrats:
“It is clear that Democrats in Lansing will stop at nothing to realize their dream of a green energy future, no matter how bad the outcome will be for ordinary Michiganders. The Senate recently jammed through a complete overhaul of the state’s energy policy, which was bad enough, yet today they approved bills that would cause further harm by stripping away decision-making power on wind and solar farms from local governments and shifting the power and control to unelected bureaucrats.
“Most people I talk to don’t want wind and solar farms in their communities, and decisions on whether those farms should be allowed should be left to be made by the people who live in those communities. Green energy idealogues don’t care about the costs that must be borne by hardworking taxpayers to achieve their goals. The reality is hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland will need to be sacrificed upon the altar of green energy to locate unsightly and arguably ineffective solar and wind farms.
“Farmers could lose their livelihoods. Home and property values will likely decline. Food and energy prices will increase as more and more farmland gets transformed for wind and solar projects. These are not policies that will help Michigan families and businesses struggling to get by in this economy. Rather, these policies will make our economic challenges more difficult to bear. I voted no on every green energy bill because their extremist approach is not what people need, want or can afford. We can and must do better.”
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