Michigan Politics
Politicians Warm to Energy Issues
By George Weeks

Ever so slowly, global warnings about global warming are impacting Michigan politics and state media coverage of politicians at all levels, who ponder how best to reduce carbon footprints through renewable energy and other environmentally friendly actions.

At the local level, there are stirrings in Ann Arbor, Lansing, and, most notably, Grand Rapids, where Mayor George Heartwell proudly hails that 20% of municipal power is generated by renewable resources. There's been a 10% reduction in municipal energy consumption since he took office.

Hybrid buses have been introduced into the city's fleet. Traverse City also has started in that direction.

Sierra Club Michigan Director Anne Woiwode, in a Friday posting on the Enviro-Mich Web site, said, "No one else in Michigan, especially not our Legislature, can claim to have made as much of a commitment nor as much progress as Grand Rapids and Mayor Heartwell. …There are even still people in the Legislature who want us to believe that some forms of coal for electric generation should be considered renewable - maybe that goes along with bringing back dinosaurs."

Last week, a state House committee approved a bill to require that within eight years, 10% of the electricity sold to Michigan consumers would have to come from renewable energy sources such as wind. It's a feeble first step.

Also at the state level, Governor Jennifer Granholm has created a 35- member Climate Action Council that includes environmental, business, academic, and state officials.

Let us hope its deliberations lead to more action in Lansing than did those of her Land Use Council, which she created at the outset of her administration with great fanfare, and limited follow up on its good advice.

It's all part of the same web. As noted by Traverse City attorney Jim Olson, a prominent environmental player in Michigan's water wars, land use planning at the local level, with all of its implications on auto traffic and other activities, can impact climate change.

At the national level, global warming as a presidential campaign issue is understandably eclipsed by the issue of the economy. That was especially evident in the Michigan GOP presidential victory of Mitt Romney, who vowed policies to preserve and add jobs in the state that has the nation's highest jobless rate.

Several Michigan newspapers cited global warming among issues where they examined positions of the contenders on how best to limit emissions.

Not surprisingly, much of the focus was on corporate auto fuel efficiency (CAFÉ) standards, which, said the Detroit Free Press, "unfairly single out the Detroit three (car producers), leaving vast sources of pollution untouched."

In defense of the auto industry, Attorney General Mike Cox last week testified on Capitol Hill against the effort by California and 15 other states to curb vehicle tailpipe emissions. He supported the Environmental Protection Agency's position favoring comprehensive federal standards - not state-by-state rules.

So it goes as Republican Cox, Democrat Granholm, and other Michigan officeholders increasingly warm to issues of climate change.

Among them is U.S. Representative Bart Stupak (D-Menominee), whose district borders three of the Great Lakes. He's chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee that is chaired by his mentor, House Dean John Dingell (D-Dearborn), Michigan's most powerful voice on climate change issues.

George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.