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1 month ago | 
mackinac.org | Joshua Antonini |Thomas M. Doran
The wind blows and the sun shines without costing anyone a dime. Compared to fossil fuels or nuclear energy, which require mining and drilling, powering society with these free renewable sources of energy must be the most efficient choice, right? So the thinking goes. But unfortunately, the thinking often stops there, before policymakers consider the problems involved in harnessing the power of the wind and sun.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | Joshua Antonini |Jason Hayes
| Font size: 75% 100% 125% 150% “Personally, nuclear power makes me a bit nervous,” Ken Sasaki, a construction ministry official in Japan, told the Los Angeles Times at the height of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe. “But as a nation, I still think we need it.” Sasaki’s patriotic instinct turned out to have a longer half-life than his personal misgivings. Although the Fukushima plant was hit by a tsunami and underwent partial meltdowns, the emergency caused no cases of radiation...
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Aug 28, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | Joshua Antonini |James M. Hohman
| Font size: 75% 100% 125% 150% A reader took the time to send a respectful response to the recent Wall Street Journal op-ed in which Jason Hayes and I discussed our new report on the threat to grid reliability in seven Great Lakes states. This reader wrote: You raise some interesting points. One clear solution is more storage. Renewable sources such as wind and solar often produce peak power at the wrong time of the day. Storage choices will expand over the next five to ten years and the...
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Aug 12, 2024 | 
heartlanddailynews.com | Joshua Antonini
By Joshua AntoniniThe Michigan Economic Development Corporation claimed in a June 18 social media post that eight out of 10 Americans want an electric vehicle. “Who wants an EV? Actually 81% of Americans,” reads a post from the state agency in charge of handing out corporate subsidies.
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Aug 9, 2024 | 
wsj.com | Joshua Antonini |Jason Hayes
WSJ Opinion: Can Trump Counter Harris's Sudden Momentum? Your browser does not support HTML5 video. 0:00Paused0:00 / 6:23WSJ Opinion: Can Trump Counter Harris's Sudden Momentum?Play video: WSJ Opinion: Can Trump Counter Harris's Sudden Momentum? Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last year signed one of America’s most aggressive climate laws, mandating that 100% of the state’s electricity come from carbon-free sources by 2040.
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Jul 25, 2024 | 
michigancapitolconfidential.com | Joshua Antonini
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation claimed in a June 18 social media post that eight out of 10 Americans want an electric vehicle. “Who wants an EV? Actually 81% of Americans,” reads a post from the state agency in charge of handing out corporate subsidies.
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Jul 12, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | Joshua Antonini
| Font size: 75% 100% 125% 150% A bill to turn balloon releases into infractions is floating in the ether above the Michigan legislature. House Bill 4466, introduced in 2023, would classify “knowingly” releasing a balloon as littering and thus punishable as a civil infraction. The legislation would serve as “an educational dissuasion tool,” Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said in 2023. McMorrow has supported similar legislation in the past. Under the terms of the proposed bill,...
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Jun 25, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | Joshua Antonini |James David Dickson |Jason Hayes
An upcoming Mackinac Center report will explore the danger posed to Michigan’s energy grid by the state’s rushed transition to weak alternative power sources. But we can already see a looming disaster in projections from the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator. MISO’s 2023 Regional Resource Assessment depicts what the system operator calls a “resource gap” between accredited capacity (supply) and future load (demand) for most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
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May 30, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | Joshua Antonini
| Font size: 75% 100% 125% 150% Utilities and state governments are pushing full steam ahead with decarbonization plans that will lead to costlier energy and power blackouts. The nation’s electricity grid operators, regulators, and reliability watchdogs alike testify that closing fossil fuel and nuclear electricity generation poses an imminent threat to the reliability of the power grid. “The problem is the subtraction of dispatchable resources such as coal and gas,” Federal Energy Regulatory...
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Mar 24, 2024 | 
michigancapitolconfidential.com | Joshua Antonini
New energy laws will force Michigan residents to pay the equivalent of almost two additional mortgage payments each year. What will people get in return? An energy policy that will have no measurable impact on the climate and make electricity less reliable. DTE and Consumers Energy, on the other hand, are poised to profit. Last year, Michigan’s legislature passed a package of laws in support of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s net-zero carbon emissions plan.
