Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, released a statement today regarding the Democrats radical energy package removing local control for large-scale solar and wind construction and giving it to the Michigan Public Service Commission.

“Democrats can scream ‘local control’ from the rooftops; it doesn’t mean they do anything to support it. You can call stripping zoning power away from communities whatever you want, but ‘local control’ would be my last choice.

“Democrats are trying to say that they left time for communities to create their own ordinances and still be a part of the process. But that’s only until a community denies a project. Then a developer can go running downstate to the MPSC who will override the local community and put the project in anyways.

“The only instances where projects can be denied are when there are serious health and safety concerns, or the applicant doesn’t meet the necessary criteria. There will no longer be any regard for the zoning considerations of a community. Local governments are technically allowed to set their own standards, but only if they are no stricter than the rules laid out in the package.

“What Democrats are calling local control is just an illusion of an oasis in a desert of terrible policy.”

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