LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway Township, issued the following statement on Wednesday after the Senate Committee on Energy and Technology continued testimony on the proposals to overhaul Michigan’s energy policy with overreaching green energy mandates:
“I served as chair of the Senate’s energy committee for four years, and in that time, held countless discussions on how we can improve our energy grid and the surrounding policies to provide a better value and more reliable service for Michigan’s utility customers.
“These drastic initiatives directly contrast the true needs of Michigan’s energy structure and Michigan’s ratepayers in the name of extreme, agenda-driven reforms that will do little to actually address the issues facing paying customers across the state.
“We pay some of the highest rates in the region and have little to show for it. Instead of focusing on what we have, where we have already invested, and how we can improve service and reliability, this Democrat-led panel wants to disregard all of that and start over from scratch using generation methods that have not yet been proven to be reliable on a statewide scale. These bills place heavy-handed mandates on utility companies, which will surely result in higher rates for paying customers. We’ve seen it before, and this time will be no different.
“These proposals seem more driven by politics versus finding thoughtful, comprehensive policies that improve service for residents. Previous efforts have taken much more time to digest and enact — these bills are being rushed to fit an agenda versus find a solution.”
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