The county ordinance states that solar energy facilities pose a health hazard due to visual pollution and high noise levels.
DTE Energy filed the suit last week against Michigan’s St. Clair County, the county board of commissioners, and the county health department. In the suit, local authorities are alleged to have overstepped their authority by restricting mass solar projects through zoning permits and health department approvals.
The county ordinance states that solar panels pose a health hazard due to the generation of noise and visual pollution.
Loud levels that are heard at property lines are nearly always avoidable with project design such that the inverters are setback away from the property.
The county code states that the electrical facilities will likely result in visual pollution that may have negative or harmful health effects. The code states that the visual pollution will “significantly contribute to stress levels in individuals” and also is “associated with increased levels of anxiety and onset of depressive symptoms.”
The lawsuit alleges that the county ordinance is illegal, according to Public Act 233, a recent law that took effect less than a year prior. PA 233 would allow the state to be petitioned if counties or towns attempt to prevent the use of a site for a renewable energy project, even if the project is equally compatible with the state’s goals. The legislation also would allow the Michigan Public Service Commission to grant permits if a county or town fails to adopt an equally compatible renewable energy ordinance, fails to make a decision within 120 days of being petitioned, or fails to grant a permit for an application that is equally compatible with the state.
The county’s new ordinance allowed for tighter restrictions of 45 decibels compared to the 55 decibels of PA 233. The county’s ordinance also prohibits tonal noise.
DTE Energy alleges the county’s codes are in addition to the PA 233-set specifications. The county enacted new codes effective May 1, 2025, that mandate solar and battery storage facilities to obtain approval from the Health Department before construction begins.
Until the facility was closed in 2022, the St. Clair County site hosted a large coal- and oil-fired power plant owned by DTE Energy.
DTE Has Been Energetic in Recent Years in the Construction of Other Renewable Facilities in lieu of Coal-fired Generation. The utility, for instance, made a pledge in 2023 to update its resource plan and develop 3.8 GW of renewable energy. The firm signed a 2022 deal with Ford for a 650 MW power purchase agreement for a solar project portfolio that is set to come online.
When the deal was announced by DTE, Michigan produced only 0.64% of its power from solar sources, with 927 MW of installed solar power, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. DTE Energy also reported at the time that the projects, when completed, would increase solar energy in the state of Michigan by 70%. Installed power in Michigan has increased since then to 1.88 GW of solar by 2024, and the SEIA estimates an additional 4.79 GW of growth over the next five years.
Before Public Act 233, developers of Michigan renewable energy projects had been required to navigate the stringent siting approval prerequisites, including strategic zoning plans, unfair zoning ordinances, and local governments using moratoriums to delay or block certain projects as they crafted zoning ordinances to hinder renewable energy development.
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law further announced that, by the close of 2023, no fewer than seven townships had stopped or significantly hindered solar development in agricultural-zone areas, a stark increase from only two in the previous year.
The county governments managed to block clean energy projects in a limited number of instances through neither novel nor even fundamental legal strategies. The proceedings in such instances became all the more contentious, as in Ocego County, when the firestorm prompted developer RWE to back out of a pact for the tract being sold by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Despite widespread local opposition and government actions to limit the development of renewable power in Michigan, the overwhelming majority of Michigan citizens support state efforts to build more clean energy projects. Michiganders that responded for Michigan, signing of new clean energy projects for building being “not that important” or “not important at all” is not the majority, 8% of the democrats and 32% of the republicans answering that signing is not important, Data for Progress and Evergreen Action’s January survey of 566 members of the Michigan electorate determined. Furthermore, only a minority of Republicans (6%) and Democrats (35%) interviewed claimed they are in favor of Michigan taking actions to produce at least 50% of the state’s power through renewable and clean sources by 2030.
