David Prestin

IRON MOUNTAIN — Upper Peninsula lawmakers plan to renew their push for legislation to allow an exception for the region from Michigan’s clean energy standards.

With next year’s state budget settled, state Rep. David Prestin, R-Cedar River, wants to gain “some type of stability” for natural gas power plants that have been the backbone of the U.P.’s electric grid since 2019.

Prestin, in a recent interview, said he hopes a deal can be reached with the Senate before the end of this year’s legislative session.

HB 4007, introduced by state Rep. Karl Bohnak, R-Deerton, and HB 4283, introduced by Prestin, have languished in the Senate after clearing the House in May 2025.

The bills would allow electricity produced and sold from the U.P.’s gas-powered generators to count toward Michigan’s clean and renewable energy goals through 2050.

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups have opposed the legislation, while supporters say it prevents the early retirement of the U.P.’s chief power source.

Laws adopted in 2023 have put Michigan on a path to 100% clean energy by 2040 and statewide carbon neutrality by 2050. But according to the privately funded Marquette County Ambassadors, the 2023 energy legislation may require construction of “new and unnecessary” power generation at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Supporters of HB 4007 and HB 4283 say the U.P. has been proactive in replacing and dismantling its coal-fired power plants and replacing them with reciprocating internal combustion engine — or RICE — generators. Three RICE generators have been put into use in the U.P. — in Pelkie, Negaunee Township and the city of Marquette — and are designed to serve until about 2050.

“Without passage of these bills, U.P. energy providers, residents, and businesses will be forced to share costs associated with the premature retirement of the RICE generators,” the Ambassadors stated in a June 17 news release.

Environmental groups say those concerns are overblown. The Michigan Public Service Commission is positioned to provide proper oversight to consider energy solutions specific to the U.P., critics of the bills say.

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters, in written testimony in 2025, said clean energy laws already provide utilities with flexibility through “compliance extensions and off ramps, should challenges arise in meeting targets.”

Prestin, however, says trusting the MPSC is unwise, as it offers only “a Band-Aid.” That gives too little assurance to major employers and energy customers such as Tilden Mine owner Cleveland-Cliffs, supporters of the bills maintain.

Businesses and families, Prestin said, will be reluctant to stay in a region “where energy rates are on the line every two years.” Prestin says the U.P. faces the “fight of our lives” to keep the RICE units online through the extent of their lifecycles.

The Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, meanwhile, has termed HB 4007 and HB 4283 “a ‘solution’ to a fabricated problem.”

Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation, which operates two of the RICE generators, is required to submit a new Renewable Energy Plan to the MPSC by Oct. 16. UMERC, in its initial REP, claimed compliance with Michigan’s standards would bring tremendous new costs to its existing ratepayers.

The Commission in December rejected that plan, stating UMERC’s proposed renewable energy resources and associated costs went well beyond what was required to meet Michigan’s standards.

Prestin is a candidate in the Aug. 4 Republican primary for Michigan’s 38th District Senate seat where incumbent state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, is term-limited. Former state Rep. Beau LaFave of Iron Mountain is a Republican candidate as well.

On the Democratic side, the lone candidate is Kelli J. Van Ginhoven of Escanaba, a member of the Delta County Board of Commissioners. Sara Cambensy, a former Democratic state representative from Marquette, is an independent candidate.

———

Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 85226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.