EGLE session in Petoskey gathers public input for MI Healthy Climate Plan

PETOSKEY — The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) held an informational session regarding the MI Healthy Climate Plan on Tuesday in Petoskey to collect local feedback.

More than 30 people gathered at North Central Michigan College from around the region to talk about the plan, how it would affect Northern Michigan and other issues to consider.

Throughout the event, people sat at different tables to discuss and write down potential solutions and barriers related to different pillars for the MI Healthy Climate Plan (MIHCP). Afterwards, each board was put on display in the meeting room so participants could walk through and see the brainstormed solutions for each issue.

The six pillars of the MIHCP include:

• Commit to environmental justice and pursue a just transition

• Clean the electric grid

• Electrify vehicles and increase public transit

• Repair and decarbonize homes and businesses

• Drive clean innovation in industry

• Protect Michigan’s land and water

The Petoskey event was the fifth and final in-person public input session. Previously, EGLE had visited Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint and Marquette.

EGLE Climate and Energy Advisor Cory Connolly said the input sessions were a good opportunity to hear from the community about what climate challenges people see across the state and what different issues people want to see prioritized.

“We're seeing climate change challenges across the state, and they don't show up the same everywhere," Connolly said. "The impacts and the opportunities are different in different places, so I think we're just really excited to get to go out and actually hear from real communities about this.”

Connolly added that after receiving a planning grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, EGLE was able to go and do these public input sessions, which is something the department has been wanting to do.

In visiting different areas of the state, from rural areas like Petoskey and Marquette to more urban areas like Detroit and Flint, EGLE has been able to identify statewide shared priorities, Connolly said.

“I think that the diversity of hitting different parts of the state ... is just going to help us find these shared priorities across the state even better, and then also make sure that we're thinking about the specific things that wouldn't arrive to us if we didn't get to talk to communities in different places,” he said.

After looking through the different boards and their solutions and barriers, the group discussed a few big takeaways from each pillar. When it came to the first pillar — committing to environmental justice — Lindsey Walker from Emmet County Recycling, who is also on the Petoskey City Council and co-chair of the Michigan Organics Council, spoke about the differences in how diversity, equity and inclusion is discussed in rural Northern Michigan, defining things in terms of white, rural, economically disadvantaged and Indigenous.

She also spoke about the second pillar. Petoskey, in partnership with the Michigan Public Power Agency, signed a resolution to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.

“We have businesses here in the City of Petoskey that participate in our volunteer renewable energy program, as well as businesses like the Back Lot investing in solar arrays, so we need an all of the above strategy that includes cleaning the electric grid here locally,” Walker said. "We need regional partnerships for community solar and then the most centralized large, solar and wind renewable energy systems.”

More: Petoskey council OKs steps toward solar generating project

Lindsey Rancilio, the environmental specialist for Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry, spoke about the barriers she saw with the sixth pillar of the MIHCP.

She said the company faces barriers related to making boats electric, saying they do not have the capital or infrastructure to make those changes.

“I would say that the biggest barrier for us is funding,” she said. "Our biggest barrier is just getting those programs to be implemented, and then also being able to fund those programs. I think that's a pretty big barrier for major operators on the water.”

Rancilio also said she has been searching for grants to help with the capital, but grants don’t exist for private companies to make those changes.

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“I found a couple of different federal grants or state grants that would be able to help us fund almost an entire new boat, and we did not fall in eligibility because we are a private company and not government, state-owned state-run nonprofit, or anything like that,” Rancilio said. "Increasing availability to these different companies that are privately owned might help knock down some of those barriers.”

Connolly said with changes in legislation and major federal funding opportunities ahead, “there's going to be more and more programs to help drive action on climate, and that we're going to be looking for input throughout — this isn't the only time to give it. We're really excited to continue to roll some of these things out over the coming months.”

Virtual listening sessions will be available for people to listen to on Dec. 14 and 18. The department is also accepting feedback via email at EGLE-OCE@michigan.gov.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey meeting draws input for MI Healthy Climate Plan