The vast majority of Michigan counties are suing the governor-appointed Michigan Public Service Commission over new rules that override the ability to vet large-scale wind and solar projects.

Seventy-five counties spanning both peninsulas filed a claim last week with the Court of Appeals to request the court vacate the MPSC’s order implementing the new rules and grant an injunction against enforcing them when they go into effect on Nov. 29, MLive reports. There are 83 counties in Michigan.

“We are deeply concerned that the MPSC’s ruling undermines the democratic process by removing the voices of local residents and local officials in decisions that directly impact their communities,” said Michael Homier, attorney at Foster Swift Collins & Smith who is representing the counties, said in a statement.

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“Local governments have a longstanding responsibility to ensure that developments align with their unique priorities, and this decision threatens to leave them powerless in the face of large-scale renewable energy projects.”

The rules, finalized by the MPSC in October, stem from legislation approved by Democrats in the Michigan legislature through party-line votes last year to move permitting of large-scale wind, solar, and battery storage facilities to state regulators.

The move came in response to strong local opposition in many communities that posed a problem for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s climate goals and forced transition to “clean” energy.

Whitmer signed the legislation into law in November 2023 alongside other bills that forced a 100% clean energy standard by 2040, created a new office dedicated to transitioning workers to the industry, and tasked the MPSC with considering “climate and equity” in energy decisions.

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The “Clean Energy & Climate Action Package,” Whitmer said in a statement, “will lower household utility costs by an average of $145 a year, create 160,000 good-paying jobs, and bring nearly $8 billion of federal tax dollars home to Michigan for clean energy projects.”

Republicans opposed what they described as a “brown-out bundle” of bills they predict will make the state more vulnerable to outages and increase energy prices for Michiganders, assertions backed by federal regulators, regional grid officials and a new study of the impact of “net zero” energy plans that predict it may be lights out in Michigan by 2032 if the state doesn’t change course.

House Republicans repeatedly attempted to amend the legislation to halt the changes if energy rates increase too much, but where shot down by Democrats who control the lower chamber, Bridge Michigan reports.

The MPSC is comprised of three members appointed by Whitmer, while the counties that oppose the siting change are headed by elected officials who represent millions of residents.

The law – which applies only to large solar, wind and battery storage developments that can span hundreds of acres – allows developers to seek local approval for projects first, but it severely limits how local officials can regulate those facilities, while also providing a mechanism for developers to appeal for a permit directly to the state if denied.

Local officials can secure specific rights and benefits, including $2,000 per megawatt payments from developers, if they enact zoning ordinances that are no more restrictive than state law, known as Compatible Renewable Energy Ordinances.

“Even for the smaller projects, like a 50 megawatt solar project, that’s $100,000,” Sarah Mills, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for EmPowering Communities, told MLive. “It matters for the bottom line, what the developer need to pay.”

In the complaint, the 75 counties contend rules adopted by the MPSC that prevent them from adopting compatible ordinances that include items not spelled out in state law constitute unreasonable overreach that eliminates local control.

Other issues outlined in the lawsuit center on definitions for “hybrid facilities” that combine clean energy projects to trigger thresholds that allow for state approval, and “affected local units” that fail to consider counties’ role in zoning decisions, according to MLive.

While it remains unclear how the Court of Appeals might rule, or how Republicans who reclaimed a majority in the state House last week might intervene when they’re seated next year, some folks with a vested interest in the issue are criticizing the recent lawsuit.

Dick Farnsworth, who plans to lease his 300-acre Montcalm County farm for a proposed wind project north of Grand Rapids, thinks it’s unfair local restrictions are preventing the development.

“You’ve taken my rights away, and now you’re using my tax dollars to try to take them away again,” he told MLive, referring to counties funding the lawsuit. “It definitely doesn’t sit right.”

Others, like Summerfield Township resident Jeff Walker, have a different perspective.

Walker, who said at an October township meeting he purchased his home “in the middle of nowhere” three years ago to raise a family, isn’t a big fan of a planned Consumers Energy battery storage facility that’s expected to be sited just 300 feet from his home, WTVG reports.

“Every time we open our back door, we just picture like our dogs and future kids running around in the backyard, you know?” Walker said. “What we didn’t picture was a bunch of huge containers full of lithium ion batteries back there.”