On Wednesday last week, the Michigan House of Representatives passed House Bills 4027 and 4028, a legislative plan that would restore local governments’ authority to make zoning decisions for renewable energy sites. Rep. Woolford, a sponsor of the plan, issued the following statement on the plan’s passage:

“The state should never have taken zoning authority over renewable energy projects away from our local governments. Local governing officials are the ones most intimately familiar with the needs of their respective communities. They are the most capable of balancing both respect for property rights and concerns about the wasteful use of land and resources for solar and wind farms.

“Unfortunately, at the behest of the lobbying forces of the renewable energy industry, the Democrat-led government stripped away local zoning authority last term. One of the first things I did upon coming to Lansing was add my name to the list of sponsors for this legislation to restore local control. We have already seen in the short time during which zoning authority over renewable energy sites has been taken from local governments how the state has mishandled this authority. They have completely disregarded the concerns and circumstances of local communities whose township, city, and village officials would make much better decisions.

“Distant, administrative bureaucrats who do not understand the needs and concerns of small local communities are always going to inevitably make poor decisions and try to accumulate more power in an ill-fated attempt to regulate us to a perfect system. The Legislature’s decision to grant them this authority last term was a severe mistake, and the passage of the House Republican plan to restore local control is a solid first step toward correcting it.”