Lucas Smolcic Larson

Power surges damaged their property. DTE offered payouts if they kept quiet “It does seem intended to silence people’s ability to talk about what they’re experiencing," said one lawyer who has represented clients in utility damage and billing disputes with DTE.

These DTE customers dealt with fried appliances and property damage after power surges. The utility denied fault, but offered them "customer relations payments."

To accept, they'd have to keep quiet about their experience.

www.mlive.com/news/2025/10...

Whitmer appeals to Trump to unlock more ice storm disaster aid President Donald Trump denied federal disaster relief for utilities and individuals in a July declaration, and power cooperatives are already hiking rates to cover storm recovery costs.

Without disaster aid, one northern MI power cooperative estimates its ice storm recovery costs amount to $4,500 per member household.

Whitmer is appealing Trump's denial of some categories of aid, including utility relief.
www.mlive.com/news/2025/08...

Trump administration orders 3 more months of burning coal at Michigan power plant Trump officials extended an emergency order keeping Consumer Energy's J.H. Campbell coal plant open through November.

The Trump administration doubled down on its use of emergency powers to keep a Michigan coal plant open last night, ordering it run through November while facing a slew of legal challenges.
www.mlive.com/environment/...

Michigan game regulators commit to expand coyote killing, but no rules changed yet Michigan hunters and animal rights activists have clashed over an annual three-month ban on coyote hunting while pups need their parents to survive.

They had the opportunity, but Michigan game regulators did NOT restore a year-round coyote hunting season, as some outlets are reporting.

They committed to modifying rules in the future, targeting "out-of-season" killing of nuisance coyotes.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Michigan utilities court data centers supercharging power demand amid AI boom As DTE and Consumers Energy plan for power-hungry computing facilities undergirding artificial intelligence, state regulators are offering a chance to "have your say in Michigan’s energy future.”

Michigan is trying to lure data centers with tax incentives. DTE and Consumers are working on deals to serve them. I wrote this week about why this will continue to be a hot topic for utility customers.
www.mlive.com/environment/...

Big Tech’s A.I. Boom Is Reordering the U.S. Power Grid

The AI boom relies on power-hungry data centers. As utilities line up to serve them, some worry the costs will fall on all of our power bills. This NYT story cites several examples.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/b...

The ice storm walloped northern Michigan’s power grid. Residents are paying for it Utilities paid big sums to bring power back, and disaster aid may not cover all of it. "There's fewer of us to bite this bullet," rural northern Michigan residents say.

This year's ice storm in northern Michigan left many without power for weeks. Now, it's jacking up electric bills. Residents worry disaster aid won't make them whole. "There's fewer of us to bit this bullet," one said.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Years after Edenville flood, blame game still rages in Michigan court A class action case strikes at Michigan’s oversight of the Edenville Dam prior to catastrophic flooding.

5 years after the catastrophic Edenville Dam failure, Michigan is still trying to fend off lawsuits claiming the state enabled the flooding and failed to take steps to stop the breach.
@garretellison.bsky.social and I dug into the claims.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Builders sue to block Michigan’s first new home construction codes in 10 years Over the long run, new Michigan building codes could save homebuyers substantially on utility bills, but builders say the upfront costs are too much.

As promised, homebuilders are taking to court to stop new, more energy efficient building codes from taking effect in Michigan.

Supporters say the updates will save thousands on homeowners' utility bills. The building industry warns of upfront costs.
www.mlive.com/environment/...

Why are Michigan’s residential power rates so high? ‘This is getting outrageous’ Michigan residents pay on average the highest electric rates in the Midwest and among the steepest in the nation.

Recently, I dug into an issue that's been on my mind since I started reporting on utilities in Michigan. Why are our electric rates so high?

Read on for some potential answers, and why your utility will claim your power costs are actually below average. www.mlive.com/environment/...

Consumers CEO addresses J.H. Campbell Plant’s future The Consumers Energy CEO says it will be a challenge keeping the company’s last coal-fired power plant open.

On Mackinac, Consumers' CEO confirms some of the challenges around keeping Campbell open: bringing staff back, getting coal after contracts expired and once again leasing rail cars.

www.woodtv.com/news/ottawa-...

After Trump order, who will pay to keep Michigan coal plant on life support? The Trump administration ordered Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant stay online days before it was slated to shut down. Experts say utility customers will bear the costs.

Keeping an old coal plant open under a Trump order, especially one that was days from closing, will bring big costs for the utility that owns it, experts say.

While the details are still slim, it promises to burden utility bills. Here's how.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Noted. Thanks, David!

Trump officials order Michigan coal power plant must stay open on eve of shutdown Consumers Energy was slated to close its last coal-fired power plant on Lake Michigan within weeks, but Trump officials are using emergency authority to intervene.

The Trump administration has ordered Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant to stay open using emergency authority.

State regulators say there's no emergency in Michigan, and the move increases power costs for homes and businesses.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

More ‘good fire’ in Michigan restores Indigenous land practices Indigenous people stewarded the land for millennia and using fire was among the ways they did it.

She also dug into the Indigenous roots of the practice.

“Once Native management of the land was curtailed by non-Native thinking, we had Smokey the Bear stomping out every flame,” one tribal elder told her.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Fighting wildfire with fire: Can Michigan burn its way to healthier forests? Is Michigan prepared for growing wildfire risks? Not unless we burn more, experts say

Michigan needs to do more fighting fire with fire, lighting controlled burns to reduce the risk of massive uncontrolled blazes in a warming world.

My colleague Sheri McWhirter got up close with the efforts to burn more in the name of healthier forests.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Five years after Edenville, Michigan dams remain a ‘ticking time bomb’ Despite the 2020 catastrophe, a slew of dam safety fixes remain shelved. “We’re still at the starting blocks waiting for the gun to go off,” said one long-time Lansing insider.

Five years ago, catastrophic dam failures in Michigan sparked a reckoning about the risks aging dams pose. Politicians promised action. But despite dire warnings in the aftermath, a suite of key safety reforms remain shelved.

w/ @garretellison.bsky.social

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Michigan backtracks on limits to special deer hunts, allows ‘doe with a bow’ in U.P. Game regulators reversed a controversial decision to prevent youth and hunters with disabilities from shooting bucks during special early seasons.

Some Friday news for Michigan hunters:

The state is backtracking on controversial limits on the special liberty and independence hunts for youth and hunters with disabilities. In the U.P., "doe with a bow" is back for the first time in a decade.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Big utilities locked in court battle over pricey overhaul of power plant on Lake Michigan DTE and Consumers Energy allege a contractor botched a more than $500 million upgrade to the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. Who will pay for repairs?

Michigan's two largest utilities are entering the fourth year of a legal battle with a contractor they allege botched a half billion-dollar upgrade to a big hydroelectric plant on Lake Michigan. I dug into the case and how it could affect customers.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Bills would up Michigan hunting, fishing license fees and require vehicle park passes Hunting and fishing license fees have remained stagnant for more than a decade, and officials say the state is in dire need of conservation and parks funding.

Mandatory park passes with vehicle registration and increases in hunting and fishing license fees are part of a package of bills seeking to fill shortfalls for the Michigan DNR.

Not everything would go up; it would make hunting antlerless deer cheaper.
www.mlive.com/environment/...

A big dam problem: 200+ Michigan-owned dams are old and failing The Michigan Department of Natural Resources manages more dams than any other owner in the state. What happens as they keep aging?

The state of Michigan owns more dams than any other single owner. On average, they're 62 years old. As more fail, a big infrastructure bill is coming due.
www.mlive.com/environment/...

‘A new gold rush’: Could Michigan’s clean energy future be buried underground? Startups across the globe are searching for vast deposits of hydrogen gas, a 100% clean fuel, underground. Michigan's geology is perfect, scientists say.

Hydrogen is hyped as a 100% clean fuel that could help slash carbon emissions from industry and transportation.

In Michigan, it turns out there could be lots of it under our feet.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Update: After we published this story, the EPA rescinded the termination of at least $40M in Michigan grants, saying the terminations were "accidentally sent."

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Trump officials axe millions for Michigan soup kitchen upgrades ‘without warning’ The cuts threaten efforts to install solar panels on Detroit food pantries so they can weather power outages, the restoration of a blighted Benton Harbor community center and other projects.

A $20M EPA grant to fashion Detroit soup kitchens and food pantries in to "resilience hubs" that can weather power outages is on the Trump admin's chopping block. We confirmed the termination of more than $42M in Michigan EJ grants. www.mlive.com/environment/...

Michigan Republicans look to classify U.P. natural gas power plants as clean, renewable Upper Peninsula Republicans, mining interests and business groups are worried state requirements to boost clean power will be "catastrophic" for Yoopers' electric bills. Environmentalists push back.

GOP reps say Michigan's clean energy law doesn't work for the Upper Peninsula. Their solution? Call natural gas power plants "clean" and "renewable" under the law, a big carveout for the U.P.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Hundreds of Michigan clean energy projects wait years to plug in. Most never do An explosion in clean energy development has clogged the process of hooking up to the power grid, threatening reliability, power bills and the climate, experts say.

There are ~240 energy projects — many solar farms — lined up to connect to the power grid in MI. They can wait for years. Many are canceled or face high costs to plug in. The bottleneck is bad news for climate, reliability and power bills, experts say.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Trump power plant pollution rollbacks threaten Michiganders, advocates warn Environmental advocates say loosening mercury pollution restrictions and requirements to slash carbon emissions at power plants amounts to a "denial of science" and will risk the health of communities...

Trump's EPA is looking to give dirty coal power plants a reprieve from pollution rules.

While there are reasons to expect Michigan might be insulated from the deregulatory push, advocates say it's a health and climate threat.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

Michigan pushes to increase hunting, fishing license fees amid wildlife funding ‘crisis’ The license fees haven't increased in more than a decade, and wildlife officials with the Michigan DNR say they plan to close fish research stations and cut conservation programs.

Last year, a decades-old backup generator burst into flames at one of Michigan's six fish hatcheries, jeopardizing millions of fish.

The DNR says its a symptom of a wildlife funding crisis, though not all hunters and anglers are so sure.

www.mlive.com/environment/...

DTE, Consumers could face up to $10M in fines if they can’t reduce outages The major power companies could also earn financial incentives if they can demonstrate improvements in outage restoration time, under a new Michigan penalty and reward system.

Michigan's two largest utilities will be subject to a carrot-and-stick system involving $10 million in annual penalties and incentives as part of a state effort to speed a fix to their outage problems

www.mlive.com/environment/...

AI boom could inflate Michigan power bills. Consumers Energy is proposing safeguards Data centers powering cloud computing and artificial intelligence can use as much power as a city. Watchdogs say they want to make sure tech companies pay their fair share in Michigan.

Advocates worry power-hungry data centers coming to Michigan increase the risk residents could be left on the hook for utility costs to serve them.

Consumers Energy says its protecting customers. I wrote about its plan.

www.mlive.com/environment/...