This National Climate Week, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that Michigan is feeling the impacts of climate change. Severe weather events have caused hundreds of thousands of Michiganders to lose power. We have seen and will continue to see intense rain, floods, and sewer backups.
We know that Michigan will be a destination for people seeking safe water, clean air, and a pleasant peninsula or two. We must face climate change head-on and grow the economy. Too often, these objectives are thought of as tradeoffs. We can protect our natural resources and produce more affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy. We can bring supply chains home and lower costs for families.
Michigan has already taken steps towards a cleaner future. We are the number two state nationwide for clean energy investments, with 24 new projects announced in the last year alone. Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we have created nearly 16,000 jobs, with 167,000 clean energy jobs projected in the next ten years.
But we must continue to take action to become a national clean energy leader, lower costs, and protect our land, air, and lakes for future generations. We do this by:
- Enacting a 100% clean energy standard. Produce all our energy from clean sources like wind, solar, nuclear, or other commonsense sources.
- Improving energy efficiency programs to lower utility bills. The cleanest form of energy is energy you don?t use.
- Empowering the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), our state?s utility regulator, by giving them more tools, and by authorizing them to incorporate climate and equity into regulatory decisions.
- Streamlining permitting of clean energy projects through the MPSC to move faster, create more jobs, and get shovels into the ground.
A majority of Michiganders approve of these clean energy proposals to protect our natural resources and enhance our state?s resiliency to climate change. ?Let?s get these done so we can ensure that our air, water, and lakes remain protected for future generations.
