Following the
announcement of the Clean Power Plan rules, the executive director of the
Michigan Agency for Energy, Valarie Brader, and Environmental Quality Director
Dan Wyant announced that the state would be producing its own carbon emissions
standards implementation plan. The Clean Power Plan, released by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, gave states the option to either: comply with
federal statues or create a set of state regulations.
Mr. Wyant and Ms.
Brader stated that the state plan would be more predictable than the federal
regulations and they said that the plan would be created with the help of
stakeholders. While Attorney General Bill Schuette is part of a federal court
case attempting to overturn the federal regulations, Mr. Wyant and Ms. Brader
both said they would not be getting involved in Mr. Schuette’s court case.
The announcement was
well received throughout the energy sector. Senator Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake)
supported the decision saying that giving more control to the federal government
is not something that is in the best interest of Michiganders; therefore the
state plan is far superior. Major utility companies, DTE Energy and Consumers
Energy, also applauded the states decision to create their own regulations.
According to the lean Power Plan the state regulations must be submitted in
September 2016 for review and must be fully implemented by 2018.