Big Costs, Little Benefit: MI Healthy Climate plan will cost Michiganders $386B by 2050

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan will cost an estimated $386 billion by 2050, according to a new report published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Whitmer’s plan could cost an extra $2,746 per energy customer annually, or an additional $228.83 per monthly utility bills, the report warns. It also raises the specter of days-long blackouts.

”Michigan’s Expensive Net-Zero Gamble” comes on the heels of Whitmer saying she would lower the cost of living for state residents.

“Tariffs are jacking up costs—on car repairs, groceries and even school supplies,” Whitmer said in a social media post of Aug. 13. “That’s why I'll keep doing everything I can to lower costs for Michiganders and put money back in your pockets.”

The arguments for Whitmer’s climate plan are questionable at best, writes Jason Hayes, formerly of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and Issac Orr and Mitch Rolling, both of Always On Energy Research. The trio conclude that the claims Whitmer makes to support her plan do not justify what they call the complete a complete transformation of Michigan’s electrical system.

Residents of the Great Lake State could face blackouts as a result of the governor’s plan, the report warns. In a worst-case scenario, a blackout could last up to 61 hours, it said.

Though the plan might harm Michiganders, it will have no significant impact on the climate, the report says. The plan to respond to climate change “might avert an imperceptible 0.0015 C of global warming by 2100” and will yield “no meaningful environmental progress.”

The U.S. Department of Energy did not respond to an email seeking comment.

“Promoters of renewable energy mandates regularly flood media outlets with the deceptive claim that wind and solar are the cheapest form of power generation,” Kevon Martis, a Lenawee County commissioner and skeptic of renewable mandates, wrote in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Wind and solar are unreliable and do not deliver the same critical services to the power grid, Martis added.

“Would you hire an Uber for 15% less if you didn’t know when it would arrive?” Martis asked. Even if wind and solar delivered electricity at the same price as other fuels, he said, they do not offer the same service, given their intermittent nature

Whitmer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.