State of Michigan unveils new environmental justice screening tool to help address disproportionate community impacts from environmental hazards

The State of Michigan recently released MiEJScreen, a new environmental justice mapping and screening tool created to better inform planning and policy decisions and address the disproportionate impact of pollution on low-income communities and communities of color.

The public is invited to explore MiEJScreen and provide comments on it through May 16, 2022. The map allows users to explore the environmental, health, and socioeconomic conditions within a specific community, region, or across the entire state.

The screening tool was developed by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate, in cooperation with the Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team Data and Research Workgroup. Commissioner Tremaine Phillips and Sarah Mullkoff, an adviser to the Commissioners, represent the Commission on the workgroup.

You can email comments to EGLE-EnvironmentalJustice@michigan.gov; mail written comments to EGLE Office of Environmental Justice Public Advocate, Constitution Hall, P.O. Box 30473, Lansing, MI 48909-7973; or leave a voicemail at 517-284-1400.

The public also may participate in informational and public comment sessions April 27. Information is available through the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate.  

Related links:     

Learn more about the tool from the MiEJScreen Fact Sheet.

MPSC holds first energy assistance fair seeking input on energy affordability and accessibility

The MPSC has launched a series of energy assistance fairs and customer listening sessions designed to help families connect with energy assistance and to take public input on issues of energy affordability and accessibility.

The first session was held April 18 at Otsego County United Way in Gaylord and brought together staff from the MPSC along with representatives from Consumers Energy Co., the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the Northeast and Northwest Michigan Community Service Agencies, the Salvation Army and TrueNorth Community Services.

The energy assistance fairs are the work of the MPSC’s Energy Affordability and Accessibility Collaborative, which was launched in early 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission directed MPSC staff to convene the collaborative to seek “broad and diverse input from residents, non-profits, utilities, and state agencies to address the affordability of energy, access to low-income energy assistance, customer protections and low-income energy waste reduction services.”

More info may be found at the MPSC’s Energy Affordability and Accessibility Collaborative webpage. Additional energy fairs are being planned across the state, including one in May in Benton Harbor that will be announced soon.

Have a utility complaint, or need help with your utility service? We’re here to help. Submit your complaint or inquiry online or call 800-292-9555.

Tune in to our next regularly scheduled virtual Commission Meeting on April 25, 2022, at 1:30 p.m.

MPSC Visits Michigan Sugar Co. in Bay City

Chair Dan Scripps, Commissioner Katherine Peretick and several MSPC Staff members were able to see how beet sugar is made during a visit to the Michigan Sugar Co. manufacturing facility in Bay City, which is also a major energy user in the Saginaw Bay area.

Michigan Sugar Co.’s 930 employees produce 1.3 billion pounds of sugar each year from sugar beets grown by 900 grower-owner farmers in Michigan and Ontario. The company says that any sugar on your local grocery store shelf not labeled as produced from sugar cane (grown in southern states) is probably beet sugar from one the farms supplying Michigan Sugar Co.

MPSC holds virtual public forum on Indiana Michigan Power Co.’s integrated resource plan

The MPSC hosted a public forum April 6 by videoconference to take public comment on Indiana Michigan Power Co.’s (I&M) integrated resource plan (IRP), the utility’s long-range projections for how it will provide electricity for residential and business customers. I&M has about 130,000 customers in southwest Michigan.

I&M filed its IRP Feb. 28 in Case No. U-21189. A recording of the public hearing is available on the MPSC’s YouTube channel. It includes a staff presentation outlining the IRP process and highlights of I&M’s proposal.

Decisions released at the MPSC’s April 14 meeting

Here’s information on some of the other orders the Commission approved at the April 14 Commission meeting:

The MPSC approved tariff changes and an accounting process through which Upper Peninsula Power Co. (UPPCO) will accelerate installation of electric vehicle chargers. It’s the first such utility vehicle electrification effort approved by the Commission for the UP as UPPCO seeks to meet growing customer demand for EV charging, alleviate range anxiety among EV owners and encourage tourism among EV drivers (Case No. U-21137). The approval will allow UPPCO customers including municipalities and nonprofit agencies to access public funding to help defray the costs of installing EV chargers, including the $110 million for EV charging infrastructure that Michigan will receive through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The Commission approved a settlement agreement with Consumers Energy Co. resolving violations of the Commission’s Code of Conduct (Case No. U-21116). The settlement resolves a formal proceeding initiated after Consumers self-reported non-compliance with certain provisions of the Code of Conduct in May 2019 and includes a number of measures to better protect customer information and improve the customer data sharing experience. Specifically, Consumers will make Green Button Download My Data and Connect My Data available to all residential and business customers in 2022 and will work to obtain certification for these offerings by the end of the year. The Green Button initiative is an industry-led effort to provide utility customers with easy and secure access to their energy usage information in a consumer-friendly and computer-friendly format. The settlement also requires Consumers to obtain informed consent from customers before sharing certain data with affiliates, among other provisions.