IRON MOUNTAIN — An Upper Peninsula lawmaker is concerned the region’s electric customers will be stuck with higher bills as a result of Michigan’s new clean energy mandate.

State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, fears the U.P.’s two main natural gas-fueled power sources — the F. D. Kuester Generating Station in Negaunee Township and the A. J. Mihm Generating Station in Baraga Township — will be forced to close early as utility providers are required to transition to carbon-free energy generation by 2040.

The Kuester plant generates about 128 megawatts of power while the Mihm station generates about 55 megawatts. They opened in 2019 with the retirement of the coal-fired Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette, which had a generating capacity of 431 megawatts. WEC Energy Group funded the entire $275 million project.

“We won’t be done paying for them until 2049,” McBroom told Dickinson County Board on Monday.

McBroom and state Rep. Dave Prestin, R-Cedar River, will host a town hall Tuesday in Escanaba to discuss the legislation signed recently by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The event is from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern time at Bay College, 2001 N Lincoln Rd., Escanaba

Along with the 2040 mandate, the state has set a goal for utilities to generate 50% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030, up from the current 12%.

Clean energy includes renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydro, along with nuclear energy and natural gas. To use natural gas, utilities must capture and store the carbon emissions. There is, as well, a provision that allows for extensions on the requirements if “good cause” is shown.

During debate in Lansing, Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman Dan Scripps told lawmakers an additional 209,000 acres of land will be needed to site wind and solar generation to hit a 60% renewable energy goal by 2035. Only about 17,000 acres are now used for that purpose, he said.

McBroom told Dickinson commissioners he believes 350,000 acres may be needed in all, putting significant pressure on farmland.

The Groveland Mine Solar project, which has secured local land use permits in Dickinson County, is meant to produce up to 120 megawatts of power over roughly 500 acres. Panels will be sited only on waste rock piles, tailings basins, and the abandoned plant area of the former Groveland Mine, according to developer Circle Power.

Noting controversy in Norway, Felch and Sagola townships over the Groveland project, McBroom pointed to local control over siting as a divisive part of the plan approved by Democrats. To make siting less cumbersome, the law gives the Public Service Commission the authority to override local decisions about where to allow large-scale wind and solar arrays.

A local unit of government can adopt a “compatible renewable energy ordinance,” but it cannot be more restrictive than what’s prescribed in the law. A siting application can be denied locally, but the Public Service Commission can supersede that decision if it finds the denial was unreasonable, according to the Michigan Association of Counties.

“Sure you can be involved, as long as you say yes,” McBroom remarked to the Dickinson board.

Dickinson commissioners have joined MAC and the Michigan Townships Association in opposing the siting provision.