(CBS-DETROIT) – An organization working to change a 2023 law in Michigan that limits local government authority to block sustainable projects has not collected enough signatures to bring their petition to a vote in November.
Citizens for Local Choice needed to collect at least 356,958 signatures on Wednesday before the petition could be placed on the ballot, but on Tuesday the group released a statement saying it would not meet the deadline.
“The Citizens for Local Choice voting campaign has engaged thousands of volunteers across the state and issued tens of thousands of petitions for signatures in an effort to restore local control over large-scale wind and solar operations,” the statement said.
The group says its campaign is “strong and robust,” and even though it missed the 2024 deadline, organizers will continue their “ambitious effort to take advantage of our statutory 180-day deadline and work toward a placement on the 2026 ballot.”
The ballot initiative came after Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed clean energy bills into law in 2023. These bills would require Michigan companies to meet a 100% clean energy standard by 2024 and give the Michigan Public Service Commission authority over large-scale renewable energy projects.
These projects include solar, wind and battery storage, which were previously controlled by local governments.
The Citizens for Local Choice group collected signatures to repeal these requirements for renewable energy projects, allowing local governments to set their own standards.
