The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has suspended a plan to let a private firm convert 420 acres of trees near Gaylord to a solar farm after the project made national news.

Criticism of the project unfolded in early January as lawmakers and environmental groups called for more transparency and oversight of DNR operations.

RWE Clean Energy had planned to install a solar facility, but it withdrew its plan to use state land after facing opposition from environmental groups, according to Michigan Public Radio.

The plan also faced opposition from some legislators. Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, told Michigan Capitol Confidential that lawmakers were upset they found out about the DNR’s plans from the media. The Legislature did not conduct oversight of administrative agencies during the last two years, he said.

State law requires the department to submit a forest management plan to the Legislature, Roth said.

The DNR violated its own scientific study, according to Roth, when it began to cut down the forest on the state’s 420 acres in Gaylord. A DNR study concluded that cutting down trees to make way for solar panels increases carbon emissions, Roth told CapCon, adding that the plan specifically stated not to remove trees and replace them with solar panels. Roth couldn’t provide the survey and the Department Natural Resources did not respond to a request for a copy of it.

Roth also criticized the DNR’s plans for for the money it would receive from the lease. The department uses money from oil and natural gas profits for parks and recreation that residents and visitors can enjoy, he told CapCon. “But instead, it planned to use the profits from the solar lease to buy more state land.”

A Harvard University study of another state supports Roth’s claim.

In Massachusetts since 2010, more than 5,000 acres of natural and working lands have been destroyed for solar development, resulting in the emission of more than half a million metric tons of carbon dioxide — more than the annual emissions of 100,000 passenger cars, according to the study “Growing Solar, Protecting Nature.”

“Every acre of forest destroyed is a huge loss for birds and other wildlife, clean air and water, natural beauty, and recreation,” Harvard and Mass Audubon wrote in the report. “But most importantly, cutting forests and developing farmlands to build solar energy doesn’t make sense for the climate: natural ecosystems and farm soils absorb 10% of Massachusetts’ greenhouse gas emissions every year.”

The state will devote no more than 4,000 acres of state-managed public lands for solar development — less than one-tenth of one percent of the DNR’s overall public land ownership, public information officer Ed Golder told CapCon in an email. The state has leased more than 350,000 acres of public lands for oil and gas development and issued more than 10,000 drilling permits, compared to two solar development leases on public lands that cover 1,324 acres, CapCon reported.

The Michigan United Conservation Club told CapCon in an email that it opposed the Gaylord development and said the department had, in this case, violated its mission.

“The Department’s mission statement is: ‘We are committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations.’ Unlike other forms of development and commercial use of public lands, solar arrays are closed for recreational access for the entirety of the lease,” the group said. “The proposal violates the Department’s mission statement.”

The club also called for the department to be more transparent in its selection criteria. The DNR should not let any leases until it releases its criteria for public review and scrutiny, said the MUCC, which added that it does not reject all such plans.

RWE Clean Energy will pursue its project on nearby privately owned land, media reports indicate.

Editor’s note: Roth couldn't provide the study when asked for it by CapCon. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources did not respond initially to a request for a copy by the time this article was published. On March 19, public information officer Edward Golder sent an email to CapCon. “The DNR has not produced a scientific study such as described in the story and is not in possession of one,” he wrote.

Receiving $900,000 of taxpayer money won’t stop a Michigan electric vehicle maker from shuttering two locations and taking 188 jobs out of state.

Auburn Hills-based automotive supplier BorgWarner will close two plants of its subsidiary Akasol Inc., in Hazel Park and Warren. Layoffs will run from April 14 through July, according to a notice issued to the state under the federal WARN Act.

The factories test products for electric vehicles, including battery modules and packs, direct current fast charging equipment, and microgrid control and operations, according to a 2023 news release.

In 2019, the Michigan Strategic Fund awarded the company $2.24 million in taxpayer money for its Hazel Park plant, with the expectation it would create 224 jobs. The money would be paid out over five years as the company met milestones for creating jobs.

But the state and the company amended the deal in 2022. Instead of being promised $2.4 million over five years, the company received $900,000, according to a Michigan Strategic Fund annual report. The company created 66 jobs, according to the MSF report.

BorgWarner will close the plants as it pursues growth, the company told Michigan Capitol Confidential.

“Consistent with those efforts, we have decided to shift all battery production from our Hazel Park and Warren, Michigan, locations to our existing plant in Seneca, South Carolina,” the company said in an email. “We believe in our battery product portfolio and the opportunity for continued growth as customers increasingly require innovative eMobility solutions."

Michigan officials have given various companies billions in taxpayer money in return for jobs, but over a two-decade period, only one of every 11 jobs promised actually got created, according to a new study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The study reviewed front-page news stories about government grants to private businesses from 2000 to 2020, revealing that these deals rarely meet job-creation goals.

When job deals made by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation fail, the agency redefines success and declares victory, John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, told CapCon in an email.

“The MEDC is supposed to be guarding the interests of Michigan’s taxpayers and holding companies accountable, but they act like their real allegiance is to the companies that are getting the free money,” Mozena wrote. “That’s not surprising, given that the MEDC’s board is made up of people who benefit from these deals rather than anyone who might be a skeptic or whistleblower.”

Michigan can’t subsidize the auto industry to prosperity, according to Mozena.

“Whether it’s traditional cars and trucks, electric vehicles, so-called mobility or whatever’s next, Michigan needs to tell the industry to stand on its own feet, pay for its own factories and stop expecting Michigan’s taxpayers to artificially inflate their balance sheets,” he wrote.

In 2023, Michigan lawmakers gave select private companies $4.6 billion in subsidies.

“This deal is another reason lawmakers, taxpayers and voters should exercise skepticism about corporate handouts,” Michael LaFaive, the Mackinac Center’s senior director of fiscal policy, told CapCon in an email.

“State government confiscates taxpayer money to subsidize a company it thinks is a real winner,” LaFaive wrote. “Then it issues a celebratory and self-aggrandizing press release announcing alleged jobs that will be created. The announcement is dutifully reported if not cheered in the press, only to see that big corporate winner become a big loser in the marketplace.”

The company received a $900,000 MBDP grant. It was originally for $2.4 million, however, through an amendment approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board, it was reduced to $900,000, according to Otie McKinley, the media and communications manager of the MEDC.