Wind, solar farm law won’t make November ballot in Michigan

• Last fall, lawmakers approved sweeping energy reforms, including a switch to statewide permitting standards for large renewable-energy projects 
• Calling that a threat to ‘local control,’ one group is pursuing a ballot initiative to overturn the law
• But Tuesday, organizers acknowledged they won’t make the November ballot

A proposed ballot initiative to repeal Michigan’s new statewide renewable energy permitting law will not make the November ballot.

Officials with Citizens for Local Choice have until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to turn in the 356,958 signatures needed to place the measure on this fall’s ballot. But in a statement Tuesday, the group acknowledged it will not meet that deadline.

Calling their campaign “strong and robust,” officials with the group said they will instead “continue our ambitious effort” while setting sights on the November 2026 ballot.

“The Citizens for Local Choice ballot campaign has engaged thousands of volunteers across the state and has issued tens of thousands of petitions for signatures in an effort to restore local control of large-scale wind and solar operations,” the statement said.

The proposed ballot initiative emerged soon after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last fall signed a suite of bills that aim to transition Michigan to 100% clean energy by 2040.

Related:

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• Wind wars: Wind turbines put green energy on the ballot in mid-Michigan

As part of the package, lawmakers changed the way large-scale wind, solar and battery-storage arrays are approved in Michigan. The law puts permitting authority in the state’s hands after it had rested with local governments.

The changes passed along party lines, with Republicans uniformly opposed. Democrats supported statewide permitting standards amid concern that local opposition to wind and solar was too frequently derailing projects, putting Michigan’s climate goals in danger. 

While environmental and labor groups and some farmers applauded the switch to state-level permitting, opponents including local government advocates and the Michigan Farm Bureau argued it deprives communities of the right to make their own land-use decisions. 

Citizens for Local Choice emerged soon thereafter as an offshoot of Our Home, Our Voice, a group that advocates for local control over issues from short-term vacation rentals to renewable energy and gravel mine permitting. 

But getting on this year’s ballot was always a long shot. 

Technically, backers of such initiatives have 180 days to gather the required signatures. But the deadline to get on this fall’s general election ballot is May 29, and the group didn’t start circulating petitions until late January, leaving them with far fewer days to collect signatures. 

Initiative backers say they plan to continue gathering signatures, hoping to collect enough in the next 50 days to make the November 2026 ballot. 

They did not respond to a Bridge Michigan question about how far they have to go.

While it continues gathering signatures, Citizens for Local Choice is facing a campaign finance complaint from pro-renewable energy groups.

On Tuesday, proponents of renewable energy applauded the news that the initiative would not make this year’s ballot.

“We see this ballot initiative really as an anti-renewable energy ballot initiative, despite what the proponents of it may say,” said Nick Dodge, communications director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. 

Permitting reforms designed to build more renewable energy, he said, will bring “a massive amount of benefits to Michiganders.”

Experts with the Michigan Public Service Commission estimate Michigan may need to dedicate 209,000 more acres of land to wind and solar development in order to meet the state’s clean energy goals.