Republicans deny climate science in Michigan clean energy hearing - MLive.com

Republicans deny climate science in Michigan clean energy hearing - mlive.com

LANSING, MI – A Michigan House hearing grew heated last week as Republicans questioned established climate science and attacked proposed Democratic clean energy legislation using what some climate experts characterized as fear-based arguments rooted in misinformation.

Rep. David Prestin, a Republican from Menominee County in the Upper Peninsula, called climate change a “theory” and warned that Michigan citizens would go without power and “perishables will spoil” under proposed Democratic bills meant to hasten the transition off fossil fuels for energy and reduce power costs for ratepayers, especially lower-income Michiganders.

Prestin accused Democrats of “using the drumbeat of climate” to mandate investment in renewable energy forms he suggested would underfund the distribution grid.

Echoing debunked arguments made against the Texas distribution grid in the wake of the February 2021 ice storm that left 11 million without power for multiple days, Prestin blamed “renewable mandates” for outages during back-to-back ice storms in February this year which left hundreds of thousands of people in Michigan in the dark for as long as a week.

“Energy generation rooted in best available technology and grid stability is what’s necessary, not fairies and pixie dust which is what these bills try to codify into law,” he said. “It’s dangerous. It will cost lives.”

“It’s rooted in theory, not best available technology,” Prestin continued. “For those that can’t afford backup generators, batteries, home solar, it will make their lives much more expensive and much more uncertain.”

Bill sponsors pushed back.

House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, said the ice storms earlier this year were a consequence of climate change and that if nothing is done to combat it, things are going to get worse. Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, said addressing climate change and protecting society’s most vulnerable are moral imperatives.

Related: Michigan’s utilities struggle to keep the power on as climate change intensifies

But Republicans pressed the Democrats with incredulity.

Rep. Pat Outman, R-Six Lakes, repeatedly called Michigan’s Healthy Climate Plan developed under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer “nonsense” and interrupted Pohutsky during her attempts to explain how it was written and the underlying data on which it was based.

Outman is son of Sen. Rick Outman, former chair of the Senate committee on environmental quality who argued last month that phaseout of coal power is premature and renewable sources such as wind and solar are unreliable “because the sun isn’t always out, and the wind isn’t always blowing.”

Pohutsky offered to bring in experts from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, but it didn’t tame the back-and-forth with Pat Outman, whose microphone was eventually cut off.

“Has there been an analysis of the potential costs associated with this mandate, including infrastructure upgrades, grid stability, energy storage requirements,” asked Outman.

“Yes, and again, that’s the importance of being able to use those (federal Inflation Reduction Act) dollars. Yes, there has been an analysis,” Pohutsky said.

“Where is it? Where is all this information,” Outman asked.

“If you would like me to bring up the people who helped draft that,” Pohutsky said. “If you just want to argue with me for clickbait, then we can do that.”

Outman retorted, “You won’t see me posting this on Facebook,” before committee chair Helena Scott, D-Detroit, shut down his time and cut off his microphone.

Not every Republican question was antagonistic toward the legislation.

Rep. Joseph Aragona, R-Clinton Township, asked to what degree both nuclear and biomass energy generation are expected be part of the proposed clean energy mandates. Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, asked about methane energy generation from landfill gas and encouraged bill sponsors to consider including both methane and biomass power during their planned summer workshops.

Democrats in both the state House and Senate proposed clean energy bill packages this spring and said they intend to work on amendments to the legislation in coming weeks, meeting with both supporters and critics. Last week’s hearings were the Democrats’ first steps toward writing the state’s climate plan into law.

Related: Floods, heat waves, crop failures: Michigan must prepare for climate future

David Benac, a Western Michigan University assistant professor who studies the history of disinformation about fossil fuels and impacts on the climate, said he watched the House hearing recording. He suspects the Republicans were parroting misinformation – not knowing they were wrong and simply repeating talking points.

“Honestly, if it’s misinformation, I’d almost be more concerned. Because that’s an indication that they were speaking and don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re just passing along what they’ve been told to say,” Benac said.

Sociology Professor Aaron McCright at Michigan State University, who studies organized climate science denial, also watched the video. He categorized the climate science denying comments from Rep. Prestin as “certainly weaker, less sustained and less steadfast than has been displayed in state and federal legislatures over the last few decades.”

“I see this as a positive sign for those who respect the institution of science and who want public policy to be more heavily science-based,” McCright said. “I found it refreshing that no one else in the room seemed to use Rep. Prestin’s words as an opening to further attack climate science.”

Climate change effects already happening in Michigan include temperature increases in the Great Lakes, more drought and crop failures, extended wildfire seasons, forestry changes, increasingly powerful thunderstorms and ice storms, more torrential rainfall, shifting snowfall patterns, flooding of streets and highways, and more.

Fossil fuel use causes carbon emissions into the atmosphere that lead to global warming through the greenhouse effect. Subsequent temperature increases cause climate change and loss of biodiversity around the planet.

MLive Environment Reporter Garret Ellison contributed to this article.

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