During the July 15, 2024, Grand Haven City Council meeting, John Kinch, Executive Director of Michigan Energy Options, gave an update on the community energy plan. The community energy plan is a contract that was awarded by the Grand Haven Sustainability and Energy Commission (SEC), which was formed in 2022 by the Grand Haven City Council. The SEC sought donations from government entities and community foundations and was able to secure $100,000 by June 2023. Michigan Energy Options, represented by John Kinch, was awarded the contract. John Kinch is also a member of the SEC, and failed candidate for the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power in November 2023.
The immediate goal of the community energy plan is to perform an analysis of the BLP service area’s carbon footprint and recommend strategies for carbon reduction, but they also endeavor to have a plan in place that will enable the City of Grand Haven and associated stakeholders to capture climate initiative related grant and incentive money from higher level government agencies and other funding sources. Additionally, climate activists hope the plan will lead to local ordinance and policy changes that will have a transformational effect on the area. Some examples could include standards for removing trees on private property and enforcement of energy use restrictions.
During the July 15 meeting, Kinch spoke about the community energy plan goals. (2:20:20) “We can reduce our greenhouse gasses in the energy sector and also the transportation sector.” (2:24:08) “The strategies are really the plans to get things done whether it’s policy plan, whether it’s implementation plan. [] Those are the pathways forward to try to make change in our community.”
What’s interesting is that there is really no end game. There does not appear to be any definitive goals. Kinch explained, (2:26:55) “What we want to do is reduce that number [greenhouse gas emissions] over the next 26 years to get to some type of a number we think is right for our community. It might be good. It might be better. It might be best.” In other words, as long as grant money is available, the goals are likely to keep changing and we as a community are likely to continue spending money working to meet arbitrary and ever-changing standards.
Currently, there is grant money available to create Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure so that is one area of focus. During his update, Kinch made a plea for urgency of action, stating (2:36:30) “Right now there’s a lot of money out there for doing things like EV charging, and things like that. If we don’t do it, in five years from now, it might not be there.”
Before that Kinch had stated, (2:25:52) “We really want to make sure that what we are proposing to the community is something which also has a funding availability. Funding availability today, five-years from now is going to be different. In ten-years it is going to be different from that.”
This statement really shines light on the goal of the program. The goal is chasing funding opportunities by proposing projects that match government grant funding opportunities, but the first step is to have a plan in place. Kinch explained, (2:37:15) “I can’t emphasize this enough. As you’re competing for outside funding, with Traverse City and other places like that, or other states for that matter. One of those boxes, often times, the funder, whether it’s a foundation sometimes, or whether it’s a government, is looking for, whether it’s something out of industry, there’s all kinds of different types of funding; they’re looking to see if you have a comprehensive plan.”
As with most sources of government funding, there is a blatant progressive aspect. Virtue signaling, Kinch emphasized how the economically disadvantaged will be included in future plans. (2:32:15) “People of lower incomes are already struggling to pay utility bills. Some of these solutions that are renewables and all the rest, may, at least in perception, cost more. So, one of the emphases on the federal money that’s come out of the Biden Administration is on ‘Just Transition’, and also that’s the case in the state as well. What that essentially means is that you make sure your plans to onboard a bunch of renewable energy, or energy efficiency programs, you are thinking of those folks in your community who are struggling the most. One out of four people in the greater Grand Haven region, are folks who struggle with poverty. So, we can’t be doing projects that are going to exclude them and only be available for folks who have the cash to do that.”
To summarize, through the SEC, the City of Grand Haven, foundations, and local governments have spent $100,000 funding the development of a community energy plan to reduce emissions and increase the use of renewable energy sources despite undefined transformation goals, likely resulting in government trampling on the private property rights of residents, yet enabling stakeholders to chase grant funding and manage this enlightened transformation. Local stakeholders will benefit by winning state and federal level grant programs that are funded by the taxation of citizens. I don’t think I’m on board with the SEC or the community energy plan.