Hey you! Yeah, you!
Down in the dumps?
Angry about the state of Things?
Global warming keeping you up nights, and turning you to a Boehner shade of orange?
Well today you can DO something about that shit pile you're looking at, because TOMORROW Michigan's legislature is going to have a legislative hearing on RECENTLY introduced offshore wind legislation, and try to pass it before the newly elected Republican Michigan House, Republican Michigan Senate, and Republican Governor of Michigan get in and decide to shut down all that is good and pure in the universe.
The legislative hearing is TOMORROW, Tuesday Nov 30th. So the world needs you TODAY for just a few minutes.
All you have to do, is send an email to members of the Energy committee in support of the new legislation...here's how:
- Open up your...your email thingy.
- Click Compose Mail or whatever
- Copy (ctrl+c) and then paste (ctrl+v) the following list into the TO part of your email thingy. (Mac users are on their own with copy and paste)
DouglasGeiss@house.mi.gov,
LisaBrown@house.mi.gov,
edclemente@house.mi.gov,
kateebli@house.mi.gov,
MikeHuckleberry@house.mi.gov,
bertjohnson@house.mi.gov,
stevenlindberg@house.mi.gov,
EllenLipton@house.mi.gov,
timmelton@house.mi.gov,
SarahRoberts@house.mi.gov,
tonyaschuitmaker@house.mi.gov,
WayneSchmidt@house.mi.gov,
johnproos@house.mi.gov,
jimmarleau@house.mi.gov,
HughCrawford@house.mi.gov,
kennethhorn@house.mi.gov,
phillipst5@michigan.gov,
DanScripps@house.mi.gov,
jeffmayes@house.mi.gov,
senpbirkholz@senate.michigan.gov,
SenGVanWoerkom@senate.michigan.gov,
- Type something snappy in the subject line, like "Support offshore wind legislation"
- In iambic pentameter, write a 5 act play depicting why Michigan should support offshore wind power and vote for the solid, pending offshore wind legislation.
Or a haiku.
Or a sentence.
Or if you're at a loss for words just write "Support wind farm legislation House Bill 6564 and Senate Bill 1591. I do. It's good."
- Click Send.
There now.
Don't you feel BETTER?
Don't you feel like you've played a part in making the world a better place? A greener place? A cleaner place? A place that supports manufacturing or dump 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo river and evacuate 400 households and kill thousands of animals?
You've made the world a little better!
And in just a few minutes.
Good job.
Go have some ice cream or tequila, or ice cream tequila and smile for a bit.
Here's the essentials of the pending legislation:
*The department will map a categorical exclusion area where off-shore wind will not be permitted, this will be updated every 3 years. This is done in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard, Dept. of Defense, FAA, Dept. of Military & Veteran Affairs, and Telecomm, Oil, Gas, and Electric representatives.
*Leases will be awarded by public auction. Parcels must be nominated in one of three ways: the department, private party, or the county
*90 days before a nomination period begins, the department will notify the county clerk of each county with shoreline on the Great Lakes, and also on the departments website.
*If a nomination is done by a private party or county, there is a non-refundable fee of $0.25 per acre.
*Parcels must be more than 6 miles away from any Great Lakes Shoreline; a private party may not nominate area less than 6 miles away from shore. A County may nominate parcels less than 6 miles from shoreline if accompanied by an approved resolution from each County Board of Commissioners impacted by such nomination. Parcels may be no closer than 3 miles from shore. Before adopting a resolution, the County Board must submit the proposed resolution to the County Planning Commission for its recommendations; if the County does not have a planning commission, it shall be referred to the Regional Planning Commission. There must be a public meeting, and there must be public notice given not less than 20 days prior to said meeting.
*The County Planning Commission/Regional Planning Commission must submit its recommendations on the proposed nomination to the County Board of Commissioners within 60 days. The County Board may modify the proposed resolution and shall conduct a public hearing. After the public hearing the County Board may adopt the resolution nominating the parcel with or without modifications. If adopted the County Clerk shall promptly submit a copy of the resolution to the Department.
*Two or more planning commissions or County Boards of Commissioners may hold joint meetings or hearings
*Not more than 45 days after the close of the nomination period, the department shall hold a public hearing in the county nearest to the nominated parcel. Notice shall be posted in a newspaper of general circulation in that county and send notice by first class mail to the clerk of each local unit of government with any great lakes shoreline less than 12 miles of the nominated parcel not less than 30 days.
*The Department shall award leases by oral auction to the qualified bidder making the highest bid; the successful auction participant must pay the full amount bid at the conclusion of the auction.
*Site assessment permit applications shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee of $5,000. Before submitting a site assessment permit application, a lessee must hold at least 1 public hearing to provide info and receive public comment on the proposed application in the county nearest to the leased site.
*Lessee shall make annual royalty payments of 3% of gross revenues from electricity or other energy product generated or produced by the off-shore wind energy facility. The MPSC shall determine and notify the lessee and department of the amount of royalties due.
*No less than 70% of money appropriated shall be expended to protect and manage bottomlands, enhance and restore Great Lakes aquatic environment and near shore habitat, and manage submerged cultural resources. Preference in expenditure of revenue shall be given to activities located not more than 30 miles from the shoreline of a county with shoreline nearest to any particular offshore wind energy facility.
*No less than 23% of the money appropriated shall be deposited in the energy efficiency and renewable energy revolving loan fund created.
*Not more than 7% of the money appropriated shall be appropriated to the MPSC and expended for fulfilling its responsibilities, or deposited into the land and water management permit fee fund.
*$200,000 shall be appropriated to the department to hire 2 full-time employees.
*The Off-Shore Wind Energy Advisory Council is created (One individual representing local government officials)