No, putting power lines underground is not the answer in Michigan

One trade group found that undergrounding is too costly in hurricane zones, let alone Michigan

By James David Dickson | September 16, 2022

The wind blows in Michigan. It knocks trees down, and the trees knock down power lines.

A frequently asked question, after tree-related power outages is: Why not bury the power lines?

The Michigan Public Service Commission touched on the question in its Sept. 8 feedback to utility companies’ distribution plans. Long story short: Burying old power lines is too costly and takes too many employees to make sense.

Contractors on new construction in Michigan are required to build power lines underground. But older construction, which accounts for most of the homes and businesses in Michigan, does not have to have buried utility lines.

The public service commission asked several groups in Michigan to offer feedback on the utility companies’ plans. One of the questions the feedback was to consider is the feasibility of placing existing power lines underground.

One of the groups offering feedback, the Association of Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity, told the commission, “Undergrounding, while an intuitive and aesthetically attractive idea, is otherwise unfortunately infeasible and impractical,” according to the 83-page report.

“ABATE mentions undergrounding being infeasible in hurricane zones and asserts that, ‘[i]f undergrounding isn’t cost-effective in hurricane zones, it will certainly not be cost-effective in Michigan,’” the report says.

ABATE warned that burying power lines is “not the panacea many believe it to be.”

Jason Hayes, director of environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said undergrounding brings its own issues.

“It can make accessing utility infrastructure extremely difficult when it needs to be repaired,” Hayes told Michigan Capitol Confidential. “Repairs might be more infrequent, but when they are needed, it becomes a much bigger job because you’re tearing up streets and yards.”

The local government groups the commission consulted argue that putting old lines underground can be done piecemeal, in areas where there is “digging for other purposes.” They believe the entire grid can be undergrounded within 20 years.

Commission staff argue that “it is simply too expensive, and such an undertaking would pull too many utility employees away from other projects.”

To summarize: The people who want to put the grid underground don’t control the purse strings. And the people in the energy industry say the costs are too high.

It is unlikely we will ever see the entire Michigan power grid buried underground.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

Dearborn schools show how to handle a library controversy

The school board listened to the public and removed seven books, as their fate is reviewed

By James David Dickson | September 15, 2022

No books were burned in the making of this compromise.

The Dearborn school board removed seven library books from the shelves, in agreement with parents and community members who felt the titles were inappropriate. The books will be reviewed by a to-be-formed committee, which will decide their ultimate fate in the school district. The The Detroit Free Press reported that the seven books are:

“Push” by Sapphire; “All Boys Aren't Blue” by George M. Johnson; “And They Lived” by Steven Salvatore; “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold; “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell; “Red, White and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston and “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson.

This will no doubt be misreported as a “book ban” in Michigan. School systems do not have the power to ban books. Their only purview is their own programs and facilities.

Members of the board of education are elected by their neighbors. They can be voted out of office. Rather than opt for that extreme, the board listened to the community and agreed with it, and will pull the materials for now.

The Freep reports:

Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education member Mary Petlichkoff said the district’s decisions should reflect the values of the entire community.

“(The) role of public education is to help our students enter the adult world, where they will be faced with a variety of concepts that may not necessarily reflect their own perspectives or values,” she said.

The real world also involves compromise. There is a time and place for everything.

People who want those books can still find them on their own. There was never a promise that every library would carry every book.

Communities are well within their rights to question the materials offered to their children, and for public consumption. Such offerings are made with community tax dollars, in the community’s name.

Patmos Library, a public library in West Michigan, showed how not to handle a controversy. When community members expressed concern about the sexual content of 90 books, out of 67,000, the library’s leaders refused to remove them.

In response, taxpayers in Ottawa County’s Jamestown Township declined to approve the library’s renewal millage in August, by a margin of 62.5% to 37.5%. The operating millage accounts for 84% of the library’s budget.

Library officials will make an attempt at a smaller millage in November.