Group Rallies Against Push For Unproven Alternative Energy

Unexpected guests are visiting this year's Energy Fair in Ludington.

Opponents of government mandated renewable energy are coming to the event to protest the blind push for renewable energy and hand out information showing that most wind energy is a farce.

Spearheading the effort to present this politically incorrect point of view at the fair, is a group called the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition.

"Wind energy is a scam of Olympic proportions," coalition director Kevon Martis said. "It has no meaningful capacity value because the wind stops blowing whenever it feels like it. Far from liberating us from fossil fuel, it actually binds us to fossil fuel at one-to-three ratio of wind-to-fossil forever. It is simple economic lunacy slathered with a shiny 'green' paint job."

The Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs proposal — also known as the 25 by 25 plan —has formed the backdrop for what's happening in Ludington. It appears that this proposal is headed to the statewide ballot in November. If passed, the proposal would increase Michigan renewable energy mandate to 25 percent of the state's energy sources by 2025.

Those behind the proposal are making the familiar claims people heard for years from former Gov. Jennifer Granholm — that government-forced mandates for so-called renewable energy will create thousands of jobs and attract billions in investments.

While the 25/25 proposal is theoretically about all renewable sources, in reality it's primarily about wind energy.

"Wind energy is just the latest incarnation of big industry and big government working hand-in-taxpayers-pocket to fatten their own wallets while the common person picks up their tab," Martis said. "Michigan is losing its economic competitiveness regionally and globally. We pay the highest utility rates in the region and wind is guaranteed to make that worse in the U.S. just as it has done in Europe."

Protests against wind energy are a relatively new development in the United States and are new to Michigan. But in Europe, where wind energy has been around a few years longer — and largely failed — such protests are not uncommon.

Under current law, Michigan is mandated to reach a 10 percent renewable level by 2015. At that point the mandate is supposed to be re-evaluated. However, there are signs that forcing Michigan's utilities to hit the 10 percent level has already become problematic.

Recently, voters of Huron County's Lake Township rejected efforts to allow wind turbines to be located there. In that situation, voters had to face an effort by some government officials to ignore election results.

The attempt by some government officials to circumvent the election result failed. Other areas of Michigan have rejected efforts to establish wind farms as well.