This op-ed first published in the Detroit News
by Nicholas Jansen, Rural Clean Energy Organizer, Groundwork
and Peter Sinclair, climate activist and contributor to Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
Critics say Michigan’s new Renewable Energy Siting Laws, PA 233 and 234, “strip away local control.” We even saw the Michigan Farm Bureau come out in favor of the effort to repeal the laws. But what these critics are missing is that there is nothing more local than a farmer’s right to manage their own land. With the new laws, farmers who want to build these projects on their land, can do so.
Many farmers see local clean energy projects as a means to diversify their income with a legal land use, keep farms in the family, protect their communities against urban sprawl, provide huge new local public revenues for schools, fire departments, sheriff patrols and other services, and to ensure a livable future for all of our grandchildren.
Steve Gross runs Gross Dairy Farms in Beal City. It’s a third-generation dairy farm on 800 acres; he welcomed a wind project onto his land in 2020. In a recent interview, he shared how that wind project has benefited him and his community.
“[With the tax revenue], there were school projects. We found out a lot of them were funded strictly from the money they generated from these wind farms. So we figured, it’s a plus for the whole community. We were able to do things on the farm, update some equipment and stuff we couldn’t before … I’m using it in my trust so my wife is set up. She’ll still have revenue coming in after I’m gone … A lot of peace of mind.”
Unfortunately, some farmers who want similar projects on their own land are being told “no.” Twenty of the state’s 83 counties have passed illegal “exclusionary ordinances” blocking or delaying wind or solar developments. This means that farmers who need an extra source of income can’t turn to local wind and solar, even when the project is on their own private property.
This patchwork approach for local, clean energy has become a major issue here in Michigan. According to Ed Rivet of the Conservative Energy Forum, “over the past five years, roughly 100 projects have been turned away by local communities.”
That represents a significant loss for our farmers, rural landowners, and anyone who wants to see an affordable transition to local, clean energy.
If we are going to reach the state’s goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2050, we need to invest in this local, clean infrastructure today. Farmers and their land will be pivotal in reaching those goals. That land could be used in tandem with crops or livestock and clean energy, a process known as agrivoltaics; or they could simply transition that land away from agriculture. Regardless of the reasoning, farmers should have the right to choose what to do with their own property. And this is why PA 233 is so important for farmers’ rights.
Who are we going to listen to when it comes to allowing clean, local energy on private land? We’ll leave you with the thoughts of Mike Cockerill, a farmer in White Lake, who has a solar farm. “Well for me it’s really a no brainer. … My great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, and my wife and I worked pretty hard for this land, and I don’t want to sell it. And this was a way for me to keep part of the farm in farming and get a better income, a steady income.”
Cockerill continued to explain that not every year is a good year for farming but by having that steady income from the solar field, “It’s really something that works out pretty well for a farm.”
Peter Sinclair is a Michigan-based independent videographer specializing in climate change and renewable energy solutions. Nicholas Jansen is a rural clean energy organizer for the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities.
