Clean Update

PSC Sets Process For Utilities To Calculate Tax Law Savings – Rate Reductions

LANSING - The state's 13 investor-owned utilities will provide the Public Service Commission with calculations for rate reductions to pass along to ratepayers as a result of the new federal tax law and as part of a three-part process the commission rolled out Thursday. By March 30, nine of the 13 utilities will be required

By |2018-02-23T12:18:10-05:00February 23rd, 2018|Clean Update, Politics, Politics/Government|

NextEnergy Appoints Saber New President, Redfield Returns To Private Business

DETROIT - NextEnergy Wednesday announced Jim Saber will be appointed president and CEO of the Detroit-based technology accelerator, effective March 2. Saber, who has led NextEnergy’s business development and technology commercialization efforts since 2004, will replace Jean Redfield who will re-join Fordsell Machine Products, the precision machining manufacturing firm she co-owns with her husband. Redfield,

By |2018-02-21T09:19:20-05:00February 21st, 2018|Clean Update, Featured|

Farmers Could Choose Alternative Energy Suppliers Without Counting Towards Electric Choice

LANSING - Farmers, producers and processors would be able to choose alternative energy suppliers without counting toward the 10 percent cap on electric choice under a bill discussed Tuesday in the House Energy Policy Committee. The panel took no action on HB 5387, sponsored by Rep. Gary Glenn (R-Williams Township), the committee chair. Supporters of the proposal included

By |2018-02-20T21:29:57-05:00February 20th, 2018|Clean Update, Politics|

Top Michigan DEQ Budget Priority Could Be Challenge

LANSING - Environmental Quality Director Heidi Grether told both subcommittees overseeing her budget that finding a replacement for the Clean Michigan Initiative bonds was her top priority for the year, and heard concerns from members of both panels over the proposed increase in tipping fees. As part of the department's $494.59 million budget ($46.95 million General Fund), Governor

By |2018-02-20T21:29:57-05:00February 20th, 2018|Clean Update, Politics|

Michigan Technological University Students Seeking Solutions For Copper Millings Polluting Lake Superior Fishing Grounds

HOUGHTON - Millions of metric tons of legacy mine wastes threaten a key Lake Superior fish spawning ground and Grand Traverse Bay beaches and homes. Michigan Tech researchers and partners seek long-term solutions. Off the coast of Gay, a small northern Michigan hamlet in the Keweenaw Peninsula, a potential environmental catastrophe lurks beneath the surface.

By |2018-02-04T10:16:33-05:00February 4th, 2018|Clean Update|

Reports: Utility Customers In Electric Choice Down, As Are Cable Subscribers

LANSING - Total utility customers participating in electric choice programs in 2017 were down from the previous year, as were the number of cable subscribers in the state, according to a pair of annual reports released Thursday. The Public Service Commission released its yearly Status of Electric Competition in Michigan and Status of Competition for

By |2018-02-02T07:24:30-05:00February 2nd, 2018|Clean Update, Politics|

Michigan Public Service Commission Urges Lower Gas Rates To Reflect Lower Corporate Tax Rates

LANSING - After first inquiring with the utilities it regulates, the Michigan Public Service Commission urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to tell its interstate natural gas pipeline operators to adjust their rates in response to the lowered corporate tax rates under the new federal tax law. The MPSC said the FERC should "take immediate

By |2018-01-31T20:37:06-05:00January 31st, 2018|Clean Update, Politics|

Record Leap In 2014-2016 Global Temperatures Biggest Since 1900

ANN ARBOR - Global surface temperatures surged by a record amount from 2014 to 2016, boosting the total amount of warming since the start of the last century by more than 25 percent in just three years, according to a University of Arizona-led team that includes a University of Michigan scientist. "Our paper is the

By |2018-01-25T19:28:59-05:00January 25th, 2018|Clean Update, Featured|

Flying Slime: Harmful Algal Blooms Can Become Airborne

ANN ARBOR - Waves lapping against the shoreline is always a pretty scene, but it may also be a way for toxins from harmful algal blooms to become airborne. Harmful algal blooms—blooms composed of blue-green algae—crop up throughout the Great Lakes region during hot summers. Algae reproduces, unchecked, producing toxins and sapping oxygen from water.

By |2018-01-25T19:18:54-05:00January 25th, 2018|Clean Update|

Michigan Tech Team To Evaluate Economic, Environmental Impact If Line 5 Bursts

HOUGHTON - Michigan Technological University will lead a team of experts in evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of a “worst case scenario” spill or release from the Line 5 Straits Pipelines. The State of Michigan announced Friday that it reached a contract agreement with Michigan Tech to have Guy Meadows lead an independent risk analysis of

By |2018-01-15T20:49:35-05:00January 15th, 2018|Clean Update, Politics|