LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan is losing jobs every day that it fails to pass a law requiring that some of the state's electricity come from wind and renewable sources, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday.
"We need to get this done and get it done now," the Democratic governor told reporters. "The urgency of this cannot be overstated."
Granholm wants the Legislature to pass bills in March requiring that 10 percent of electricity be from renewable resources by the end of 2015. She said at least two dozen states have such a standard and are attracting the jobs Michigan needs.
"This ought to be through both (the House and Senate) in March. If it's not, something is wrong," she said.
The governor stressed she is encouraged by the Legislature's work on the issue. But she also warned that a major multinational wind manufacturer that may bring up to five plants to Michigan to build turbine components could look elsewhere if the renewable energy portfolio, or RPS, is not passed.
The RPS has been bogged down because it is a complex issue, not everyone is convinced a mandate is needed to attract jobs and it is tied to rewriting a 2000 state law that opened major utilities Detroit Edison, which is a unit of DTE Energy Co., and Consumers Energy, a subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp., to competition.
Granholm said she would prefer lawmakers pass a comprehensive energy plan linking the issues.
"However, if for some reason the other part is bogging down, I'm going to be pushing to get at least the RPS out," she said, arguing it would create certainty for potential investors. "But if we can do the whole thing, it really does put us near the top of the pack."
An energy package is expected to pass the Democratic-led House in March, but the Republican-controlled Senate will take more time -- dealing with renewable standards in March and waiting until as late as June on the more controversial issue of electric choice.
"We're trying to use a deliberative process. This is an extraordinarily complex arena," said Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton, who chairs the Senate Energy Policy and Public Utilities Committee. "We're not purposely dragging this out. There's a lot of moving pieces in this thing."
For now, Republicans do not want to make renewable power mandatory. They would rather provide incentives for power providers to increase their share of power from green sources.
At some point, Michigan will need more power. Utilities say they must have legislative changes before they build multibillion-dollar power plants -- either coal-fired or nuclear plants -- whose costs would be passed onto customers. They argue that, without laws limiting how many of their customers could look to other energy sources, they would not be able to get the loans they need to build the new plants.
Critics, including both the companies that sell power independently and those who buy power from them, say legislation in the House would destroy competition and ultimately cause electricity prices to rise. They say they should be allowed to bid competitively for the chance to build new plants, for instance.
A final component of the debate is creating a program so Detroit Edison and Consumers Energy -- which generate 86 percent of Michigan's power -- would be rewarded for decreasing customers' energy consumption.
Now, utilities make more money for every extra kilowatt they sell. Rewarding utilities for increasing energy efficiency even though they would sell less electricity ultimately helps customers because they would buy less power and fewer power plants would need to be built, Granholm said.
