By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
Now that RWE Clean Energy has submitted its application to the state for approval of the 200-megawatt Silver Maple solar project, Zeeland Township planners have changed tactics in how to deal with future renewable energy project requests.
After several months of discussion on a proposed “workable incompatible ordinance,” the Township Planning Commission April 14 unanimously decided to develop an “unworkable incompatible ordinance” that opposes Public Act 233, the Michigan law that allows renewable energy developers to bypass local units of government and apply for approval through the Michigan Public Service Commission.
RWE turned in its application for the $330 million Silver Maple project to the MPSC April 3. A pre-hearing on the application has been scheduled for Friday, June 4 before an administrative law judge.
The company, which has its world headquarters in Germany and U.S. operations out of Texas, has secured leases on 52 parcels, totaling 1,914 acres of farmland, representing 8.3 percent of Zeeland Township’s farmland and 4.5 percent of Jamestown Township’s farmland. The company plans to build the project on 1,127 acres of fenced-in land, according to its application document.
Commissioners had considered a 500-acre limit on all renewable energy projects in the township under the proposed workable incompatible ordinance. Now, commissioners are moving toward a 300-acre limit on all such projects, and further, placing a 5-acre limit on battery storage facilities.
“They’re going through MPSC anyway. We could be stuck with this monstrosity in our township … If something happens to PA 233 that it gets shot down or repealed or whatever, we have something now that has to go through us and (meet) our ordinances,” Commissioner Linda Walker said.
Dave Eberle, an attorney who has worked with the township on a renewable energy ordinance, will craft the ordinance language to bring back to the Planning Commission in May.
“We’re going to do planning the way we think it should be done,” Eberle said. “It is a way for us to model to the state how good planning should be done, and it’s also a way for us to say, ‘yeah, residents, we hear you.’”
As part of RWE’s application to the MPSC, the company has provided $75,000 in intervenor funds to each of the two townships to cover the legal and expert costs that they will incur contesting the application. The funding is required under PA 233.
Cadence DeVree, who owns property in the affected area, called for the townships to pool their intervenor funds and work together at the state level to fight the project. She also called for a joint meeting of the two township boards and what she called “a joint legal strategy,” and hiring an attorney “who specializes specifically in MPSC contested cases and utility-scale siting.”
“Right now, we are two separate townships facing one massive, well-funded developer, represented by a high-powered law firm like Dickinson & Wright,” said DeVree, who is one of a half-dozen residents that have filed petitions to intervene, speaking out on how the project would negatively affect them.
“If we act alone, our $75,000 will be stretched thin. If we hire separate attorneys to say the same thing in the same MPSC docket, we are essentially subsidizing the same work twice and diluting our input.”
The discussion on the Silver Maple project is continuing against the backdrop of a legal battle many townships are fighting to block PA 233 from being enforced. More than 70 townships and counties, represented by the Lansing-based firm Foster Swift, are challenging a 2024 MPSC order that overrides the authority of local municipalities to regulate energy projects within their communities. The group presented oral arguments before the Michigan Court of Appeals April 15.
“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, chair of the Foster Swift Municipal Practice Group, in a company press release. “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.”
Some residents want the township to retain Foster Swift, given the firm’s work to date on behalf of municipalities opposing PA 233.
“We’re looking for the best counsel. Sorry. We don’t really want to be your guinea pig,” resident Brad DeWeerd said, directing his comments at Eberle. “We are looking for somebody with experience. We’re not here to be your learning curve.”
Eberle is with the Grand Rapids-based law firm Bloom Sluggett. In his online biography, he lists “wind and solar regulation” among his areas of specialty. As of Monday, Bloom Sluggett had submitted a petition to intervene on behalf of Zeeland Township. In addition to Eberle, other Bloom Sluggett attorneys named in the petition to intervene include Patrick Sweeney, Nathan Inks and Michael Watza, according to case documents.
There have been no renewable energy projects approved by the MPSC yet under PA 233. The Silver Maple project is one of nine projects that are now pending before the state. Foster Swift has submitted a petition to intervene on behalf of Palmyra Township in Lenawee County on another pending RWE development, the proposed 175-megawatt Rouget Road Solar project. The company also has attorneys assigned to ongoing applications for solar facilities in Washtenaw and Livingston counties, according to application documents.
Zeeland Record
Now that RWE Clean Energy has submitted its application to the state for approval of the 200-megawatt Silver Maple solar project, Zeeland Township planners have changed tactics in how to deal with future renewable energy project requests.
After several months of discussion on a proposed “workable incompatible ordinance,” the Township Planning Commission April 14 unanimously decided to develop an “unworkable incompatible ordinance” that opposes Public Act 233, the Michigan law that allows renewable energy developers to bypass local units of government and apply for approval through the Michigan Public Service Commission.
RWE turned in its application for the $330 million Silver Maple project to the MPSC April 3. A pre-hearing on the application has been scheduled for Friday, June 4 before an administrative law judge.
The company, which has its world headquarters in Germany and U.S. operations out of Texas, has secured leases on 52 parcels, totaling 1,914 acres of farmland, representing 8.3 percent of Zeeland Township’s farmland and 4.5 percent of Jamestown Township’s farmland. The company plans to build the project on 1,127 acres of fenced-in land, according to its application document.
Commissioners had considered a 500-acre limit on all renewable energy projects in the township under the proposed workable incompatible ordinance. Now, commissioners are moving toward a 300-acre limit on all such projects, and further, placing a 5-acre limit on battery storage facilities.
“They’re going through MPSC anyway. We could be stuck with this monstrosity in our township … If something happens to PA 233 that it gets shot down or repealed or whatever, we have something now that has to go through us and (meet) our ordinances,” Commissioner Linda Walker said.
Dave Eberle, an attorney who has worked with the township on a renewable energy ordinance, will craft the ordinance language to bring back to the Planning Commission in May.
“We’re going to do planning the way we think it should be done,” Eberle said. “It is a way for us to model to the state how good planning should be done, and it’s also a way for us to say, ‘yeah, residents, we hear you.’”
As part of RWE’s application to the MPSC, the company has provided $75,000 in intervenor funds to each of the two townships to cover the legal and expert costs that they will incur contesting the application. The funding is required under PA 233.
Cadence DeVree, who owns property in the affected area, called for the townships to pool their intervenor funds and work together at the state level to fight the project. She also called for a joint meeting of the two township boards and what she called “a joint legal strategy,” and hiring an attorney “who specializes specifically in MPSC contested cases and utility-scale siting.”
“Right now, we are two separate townships facing one massive, well-funded developer, represented by a high-powered law firm like Dickinson & Wright,” said DeVree, who is one of a half-dozen residents that have filed petitions to intervene, speaking out on how the project would negatively affect them.
“If we act alone, our $75,000 will be stretched thin. If we hire separate attorneys to say the same thing in the same MPSC docket, we are essentially subsidizing the same work twice and diluting our input.”
The discussion on the Silver Maple project is continuing against the backdrop of a legal battle many townships are fighting to block PA 233 from being enforced. More than 70 townships and counties, represented by the Lansing-based firm Foster Swift, are challenging a 2024 MPSC order that overrides the authority of local municipalities to regulate energy projects within their communities. The group presented oral arguments before the Michigan Court of Appeals April 15.
“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, chair of the Foster Swift Municipal Practice Group, in a company press release. “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.”
Some residents want the township to retain Foster Swift, given the firm’s work to date on behalf of municipalities opposing PA 233.
“We’re looking for the best counsel. Sorry. We don’t really want to be your guinea pig,” resident Brad DeWeerd said, directing his comments at Eberle. “We are looking for somebody with experience. We’re not here to be your learning curve.”
Eberle is with the Grand Rapids-based law firm Bloom Sluggett. In his online biography, he lists “wind and solar regulation” among his areas of specialty. As of Monday, Bloom Sluggett had submitted a petition to intervene on behalf of Zeeland Township. In addition to Eberle, other Bloom Sluggett attorneys named in the petition to intervene include Patrick Sweeney, Nathan Inks and Michael Watza, according to case documents.
There have been no renewable energy projects approved by the MPSC yet under PA 233. The Silver Maple project is one of nine projects that are now pending before the state. Foster Swift has submitted a petition to intervene on behalf of Palmyra Township in Lenawee County on another pending RWE development, the proposed 175-megawatt Rouget Road Solar project. The company also has attorneys assigned to ongoing applications for solar facilities in Washtenaw and Livingston counties, according to application documents.
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