Generic Ativan Photo

By David McGlinchey

A Michigan panel proposed offshore wind legislation this Generic Ativan Photo week to Gov. Jennfier Granholm and the state legislature, potentially delivering some clarity to Generic Ativan Photo the industry as it explores wind energy potential on the Generic Ativan Photo Great Lakes.

The draft legislation includes live auctions to Generic Ativan Photo award offshore wind leases and a framework that allows state officials or Generic Ativan Photo developers to nominate lease areas.  The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth will identify some initial “offshore wind resource planning areas” and hold public auctions for those leases “as soon as practicable following enactment” of the legislation.  Developers will be Generic Ativan Photo able to suggest other areas for offshore wind leasing.  If the Generic Ativan Photo department approves those areas, the sites will go up for public auction as well.

The proposal was generated by the Great Lakes Wind Council, which was formed by Gov. Granholm in early 2009.  The council has Generic Ativan Photo 32 members, including officials from state agencies, a representative from Bluewater Wind and Generic Ativan Photo several from onshore wind developers.

The draft legislation will be Generic Ativan Photo sent to the Michigan legislature, where it will either replace existing offshore wind proposals or Generic Ativan Photo be introduced as a new bill.  In the Generic Ativan Photo Senate it will be considered by the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.  In the Generic Ativan Photo House, the Energy and Technology Committee will take up the bill.  There are also “moratorium bills” circulating in the Generic Ativan Photo Michigan legislature, which would block any offshore wind development, according to Generic Ativan Photo Liesl Clark, deputy director of the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.  Clark noted, however, that Generic Ativan Photo the recently introduced draft legislation has some early support.

“There are Generic Ativan Photo interested parties on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers,” Clark said.

The proposed legislation also includes a Generic Ativan Photo trust fund to collect the lease payments.  Under the Generic Ativan Photo plan, at least 70 percent of the Great Lakes Wind Energy Trust Fund will be Generic Ativan Photo used to “research and Generic Ativan Photo monitor the impact of offshore wind development and address or offset any negative impacts that Generic Ativan Photo may be found.”  At least 23 percent of the Generic Ativan Photo lease payments will be used to support renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.  Less than seven percent will be used to support the program.

The legislation comes at a Generic Ativan Photo particularly sensitive time in the state, several months after Scandia Wind Offshore proposed a Generic Ativan Photo 1,000 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Lake Michigan.  That plan was met with intense local opposition.  According to Generic Ativan Photo local news reports, Scandia submitted a new proposal this week with half as much capacity.  Clark said, however, that Generic Ativan Photo the Scandia proposal has provided a valueable spark to get stakeholders engaged in the Generic Ativan Photo planning process.

“They’ve been engaged with the public, they’ve really changed the conversation,” Clark said of the Scandia effort.  “They have got people engaged [in the planning process] who otherwise might not have been… with some very articulate concerns.”

The draft legislation requires significant public input at several points in the Generic Ativan Photo development process, including public hearings and comment periods before leases or Generic Ativan Photo construction and operation permits can be awarded.