The Michigan House Energy Reliability, Resilience, and Accountability Task Force has held a meeting in Benton Harbor to talk with southwest Michigan residents about energy policy and the electric grid. State Representative Joey Andrews hosted the meeting at Lake Michigan College Friday. The task force was formed this year in response to lengthy power outages in southeast Michigan. Speaking Friday, a representative of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said keeping the lights on and reducing the length of outages will require more line workers. He said the state has been losing many.
“There’s a huge knowledge loss just from the loss of retention, and a lot of that is because of the pay and people not staying here in Michigan. We are training, we are paying, and then they are leaving. That is a huge aspect for keeping power reliability in our state.”
Victoria Stewart with the League of Conservation Voters pushed new legislation that she said would give the state more power to address the issue.
“This legislation expands the Michigan Public Service Commission’s authority to better regulate utility companies, enabling the MPSC to direct energy providers to improve the grid and overall reliability.”
Speakers voiced their support for nuclear and solar energy. One said it’s critical for Indiana Michigan Power to have a plan for the eventual closure of the Cook nuclear power plant, although that is still decades away. Indiana Michigan Power COO Steve Baker said the company is responding to climate change by seeking net zero emissions by 2035, and that nuclear will be key to making that possible. The task force will hold one more meeting, in Pleasant Ridge, before putting together a bipartisan bill package. State Representative Pauline Wendzel said its meetings have been “a great first step.”
