There is a growing awareness that Michigan is incredibly well poised to take advantage of opportunities in the renewable energy field. With incredible wind potential, a number of idle manufacturing plants that could be retrofitted for renewable energy manufacturing and a skilled workforce, Michigan should be a global leader in renewable energy production and innovation. With events like the Michigan Energy Fair, held this last weekend in Onekama, Northern Michigan is particularly well positioned to lead in the area.

Unfortunately all of this has seemed to escape the attention of the Republican-controlled Michigan Senate. Late Friday night, just hours after Governor Granholm announced that Michigan will be home to the world’s first Cellulosic Ethanol plant and helped to kick off the energy fair the Michigan Senate passed legislation that makes a mockery to the broadly shared goal of being a leader in the renewable energy field. The specific legislation calls for a watered down renewable portfolio standard of just 7% which would put Michigan at the bottom of the pack in terms of states that have enacted an RPS. Worse, the legislation actually calls for a combined 7% between energy efficiency and the production of renewable energy. And to add insult to injury, the republican controlled Senate has included coal-gasification as a renewable energy source. Simply put, the legislation passed by the Senate does nothing to bring renewable energy jobs to Michigan and indeed hurts our ability to compete on a global stage in this exciting and growing field. It’s not that the Senate shouldn’t have known better, earlier this month, Jim MacInnes, CEO and co-owner of Crystal Mountain Resort, called for an energy efficiency goal of 25% an ambitious portfolio of policy recommendations, including a renewable portfolio standard. (Not yet posted on the Michigan Senate Energy Committee’s webite).  In addition a report released last year by NextEnergy, showed that of the various options being considered, the more ambitious renewable portfolio standard, the more jobs would be created. It is in the face of all this evidence that the senate offered little more than more of the same. We need more than the same tired old Lansing thinking if we are going to get Michigan moving again, and the legislation passed on a party-line vote late last Friday night, does nothing to help with these efforts.

To see pictures of my visit to the Energy Fair, check out my Flickr page here.