Michigan House votes to repeal law that removed local control over solar, wind permits
Credit: Beth LeBlanc · The Detroit News · April 30, 2025 · detroitnews.com ~~
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The Michigan House on Wednesday passed a repeal of a 2023 law that removed local control over large-scale solar and wind farm permitting and gave that authority to state utility regulators.
The bill, which is likely to hit a brick wall of opposition in the Democratic-led Senate, passed along party lines, 58-48, in the Republican-led House.
“When this legislation was passed in 2023, it took away the voice of our local elected officials and handed it over to three unelected bureaucrats who may never have even set foot in the communities they now have the power to overrule,” State Rep. Greg Alexander, R-Carsonville.
But Democrats argued the repeal would help the “fossil fuel industry” and trample on the rights of individual property owners who want to lease their land for solar or wind farms but are being blocked by local zoning ordinances.
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2025/05/01/michigan-house-votes-to-repeal-law-that-removed-local-control-over-solar-wind-permits/