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Caro High hosted Wind Energy Townhall on Friday
Tisha Jones
Mon, 22 May 2017 13:16:57 EDT
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Caro High School hosted a Wind Energy Town Hall meeting with House Energy Policy Committee Chairman, Representative Gary Glenn, R- Larkin Twp., on Friday night. The event, held in the cafeteria, was attended by nearly 200 people from around the state, with one couple driving from Delta County in the Upper Peninsula to attend.
Nicole Young said she came from the Upper Peninsula to ask that the state consider passing legislation requiring a three-mile setback from the lake shore. Specifically, she was asking so that wind turbines would not be built on the Garden peninsula because it is not even three miles across. “There’s a lot of great reasons for the State of Michigan to consider protecting Pure Michigan, not let these things go up willy-nilly, and keep our great vistas and sites attractive for tourists,” she said.
The stand-alone comment of the evening was presented by Jon Block of Sanilac County. Block is a trustee on the Marion Township Board and President of the Deckerville Board of Education. “Everywhere the wind turbines go, the social fabric of the community is destroyed,” he said. “I want you to tell your colleagues, the Senate, and the Governor that as long as the mandate stands, they’re mandating the destruction of the social fabric of Michigan.”
Tuscola County resident Mike Pattullo from Ellington Township suggested tougher laws with stronger penalties. “If we would’ve had some Conflict of Interest Laws with some backbone or some bite to them, like the Michigan Open Meetings Act, like the FOIA Laws. Those were put in place because people were abusing that over and over and over and over again. I hear where you’re coming from. We can’t have the state mandating everything, but these had to be put in place because there’s too many unscrupulous people out there taking advantage of them.”
Speaking contrary to anyone else in the room was David Vollmar, also of Ellington Township. Vollmar told Glenn all he was hearing from the people that had spoken were lies and said the only reason Glenn was asked to speak is that he was against wind turbines. He said the Almer Township zoning ordinance setbacks are 1500 feet from property line. According to Vollmar, being a member of the Concerned Citizens group should constitute a conflict of interest. When asked by Glenn if any of those Concerned Citizens would receive money for being a member of that group like those who have a land lease do, Vollmar’s only response was, “Who knows.”
Kevon Martis, of the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition, said, “Wind energy is a poor economic value. It’s also a poor environmental value. We have only one tool left at our disposal and that’s the use of local rule zoning. You all know that’s something that I help local communities with at my own expense.”
Glenn concluded saying, “Thanks for coming out and making a very strong and clear message. There are two major points I’m going to leave here reinforced on. One is the conflict of interest issue. We obviously have to address that. The other is that the social fabric of the community is destroyed.” He also stated that he doesn’t like mandates at all, but that this all started with a mandate ten years ago.
“I’m certainly going to communicate what I heard tonight to other members of the Energy Committee. Slowly, but surely, our duty is to be faithful in the pursuit of correct principals. Win, lose, or draw,” he said.
Many other township officials from Tuscola, Huron, and Sanilac Counties had a lot to say and Representative Glenn allowed the meeting to last almost an extra hour beyond what was scheduled to allow as many people to speak as possible. In all about 25 people spoke about wind or solar energy.
Right: Rep. Gary Glenn, R- Larkin Twp., speaking in Caro at a Wind Energy Town Hall meeting on Friday.
Below: Nicole Young of Garden, MI in the Upper Peninsula asks that the State adopt a setback of three miles from the shorelines of the Great Lakes.
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Below: Jon Block of Sanilac County explained that turbines destroy the social fabric anywhere they go in.
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Below: An impassioned Mike Pattullo of Ellington Township in Tuscola County speaks about the need for tougher laws regarding Conflict of Interest on Township Boards.
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Below: Another Ellington Township resident, David Vollmar, spoke on how Gary Glenn was against wind and that's why he was brought in to speak.
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Below: Kevon Martis of Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition.
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