Residents and state lawmakers in northern Michigan are outraged after learning that the state Department of Natural Resources wants to clear 420 acres of forested land to expand a privately owned solar farm.
DNR officials had hoped to lease a total of some 4,000 acres of public land from around the state to help offset dwindling revenues and help the state meet its goal of 100% “clean” energy by 2040, MLive reported. As part of that effort, the DNR settled on 420 acres of forested area just west of Gaylord, a city of some 4,200 residents in the northern region of the Lower Peninsula, about an hour from the Mackinac Bridge.
The site offers two key advantages, according to Scott Whitcomb, director of the DNR Office of Public Lands. For one thing, it is located near an electrical transmission corridor, he said, meaning some of the necessary transmission infrastructure is already in place and easily accessible.
Moreover, a private solar project in the area has already been approved. “It seems to be a site where it would be a viable project if you made it a little bit bigger,” Whitcomb explained.
Additionally, the site is “less than pristine,” Whitcomb said, since some of it had already been cleared and then replenished with red pine seedlings while other areas are used for oil and gas extraction.
Still, Whitcomb admitted the proposal is “not incredibly popular with everyone.”
He’s right about that.
‘The bottom line is, we have to pay for the activities of this agency somehow.’
When the MLive report went viral last week, both residents and lawmakers were aghast, feeling blindsided by the project, which already appears to be in the works as officials are expected to open lease bidding sometime in the coming days.
On January 2, state Reps. Ken Borton and Mike Hoadley and state Sen. Michele Hoitenga, all Republicans representing Northern Michigan, issued a joint press release slamming the proposal and calling for firing the DNR officials involved, according to WPBN/WGTU.
“Mind-numbing decisions like this are absolute proof that the DNR is completely rotten to its core,” said Borton (R-Gaylord). “This deforestation will destroy habitats and effectively kill wildlife. Let me make that clear, the DNR is choosing to kill wildlife so they can build solar panels.”
“The people who made this absurd decision signed up for a job to protect our natural resources. Their department is supposed to stand up for outdoor enthusiasts; instead, they sold us out,” added Hoitenga (R-Manton).
“Rural areas were always going to bear the brunt of this government overreach, even when a lot of rural areas don’t want these projects and their elected officials voted against bills that pushed them,” said a statement from Hoadley (R-Au Gres). “What good is so-called green energy when we’re cutting down hundreds of acres of trees to put in the infrastructure that will support it?”
The three Republicans noted that the DNR may not even be allowed to authorize the project since the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan discourages “land-use conversion that causes a net increase in (greenhouse gas) emissions,” and research from Harvard University and from China suggests that deforesting land to build solar energy infrastructure leads to a net increase of greenhouse gas emissions, MLive reported.
Whitcomb said he already reached out to the supervisor of the township where the site is located to apprise him of the project. The DNR will also “consider” opening the project up to public comment if enough residents express interest, WPBN/WGTU said.
The Michigan United Conservation Clubs has already demanded a public comment period, noting in a letter addressed to DNR Director Scott Bowen that a solar farm would limit public access to the area and seems to go “against the department’s mission, Governor Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan, and MUCC’s member driven policies.”
Whitcomb indicated to MLive that the lease idea will at least defray some of the DNR’s operating costs. “We don’t give this land away for free,” he said. “That lease revenue can go into natural resources management. So I wouldn’t say it’s the only reason, but it is something we think about.”
“The bottom line is, we have to pay for the activities of this agency somehow.”
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Gaylord, Michigan, Department of natural resources, Dnr, Solar farm, Politics