First it was the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act that allows the governor of Michigan to put local government into receivership, and now comes news of HB 4746 which seeks to eliminate local control of zoning to allow any type of resource extraction regardless of harm to communities and the environment. The summary, as stated HERE provides the following:
This bill would amend Section 205 of the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act to specify that a zoning ordinance cannot prevent the extraction of valuable natural resources from any property unless "very serious consequences" would result from the extraction.
I cannot help but feel that this is part of an ongoing program of government destabilization to establish a plutocracy, or worse.
This actually gets more interesting because an actor in is Duke Energy. This is the same Duke Energy that
- uses coal mined by mountaintop removal
- co-opted local officials to allow it to continue high mercury emissions from their plants, where North Carolina ranks 8'th in the nation for mercury pollution
- continues to pollute Charlotte drinking water with their coal-ash ponds
- corrupted the Indiana Utilities Commission
Yes, that Duke energy, the one that sees the exploitation of communities it does business in as a corporate road to high profits and generous CEO salaries.
Everything starts with The Zoning Enabling Act of Michigan and the case, Kyser v. Kasson Township. In its landmark decision the Michigan Supreme Court held that an ordinance is not invalid just because it bars the most profitable land use and allows townships to manage resource extraction of all types through its zoning ordinances. The Court also saw no constitutional basis for elevating the public interest in accessing those minerals over other public-interest considerations. All in all, a very good precedent for conservation and local control of valuable ecological resources, and one imposing greater responsibility upon extractive "cut and run" uses that have crippled Michigan's natural heritage throughout its history.
Now, here is where things get interesting. Duke’s Michigan attorneys, Warner, Norcross and Judd, have been involved in the Kyser v. Kasson Twp case for several years. Now, Duke is behind the fast tracking of HB 4746. The language I indicated ". . .a zoning ordinance cannot prevent the extraction of valuable natural resources from any property unless "very serious consequences" would result from the extraction" is not about gravel mining or minerals. Duke's interest is in imposing an industrial windpower generation facility upon the residents of Manistee and Benzie Counties. It is encountering local resistance from homeowners who will be negatively impacted by poor siting and management of the 112, Vestas, V-100, turbines. And one can see that if HB 4746 is enacted, Duke will make the argument that windpower is the extraction of valuable natural resources with all of the money and legal talent it can muster.
And, as an aside, just think of what the 1-million dollars a turbine subsidy would do if applied to expanding a domestic LED lighting plant to Michigan, and the greater carbon savings that will provide!
Anyway, consistent with the push towards a plutocracy, HB 4746 is out of committee and set for a vote this Tuesday, June 21. I urge those of you from Michigan to contact your representatives to oppose this bill only meant to promote commercial use as the only "best good" of our public resources. Write immediately.
The link to the Michigan House of Representatives.
Michigan Senate information.
Recently, I used a link to and quote from an interesting article, Making the US Economy "Scream". I see this as just another action in Republican destruction of America that is meant to destabilize our nation. As stated in the article:
Over the past four decades or so, the Republicans have simply not played by the old give-and-take rules of politics. Indeed, if one were to step back and assess this Republican approach, what you would see is something akin to how the CIA has destabilized target countries, especially those that seek to organize themselves in defiance of capitalist orthodoxy.