25% by 2025: Michigan's renewable energy ballot proposition

Free and Open to the Public

Panelists: Eric Lupher, Director of Local Affairs, Citizens Research Council of Michigan Sanya Carley, Assistant Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Thomas P. Lyon, Professor, Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan Abstract Michigan and twenty-eight other states have enacted legislation that mandates increases in the amount of electricity that they use from renewable sources. Michigan voters face a coming ballot proposition in November 2012 that would amend the state Constitution to increase the level of renewables in use to 25 percent by 2025. This CLOSUP panel will examine this proposal, including a newly-released report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan and reflections from scholars who have examined the experience with renewable portfolio standards in states across the nation. For a copy of the CRC report go to: http://www.crcmich.org/PUBLICAT/2010s/2012/memo1118.pdf. For a copy of Sanya Carley's presentation, download the Powerpoint file.

Panelist Biographies

Eric Lupher is Director of Local Affairs for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan (CRC). Eric has been with the CRC of Michigan since 1987, the first two years as an intern in the Lent Upson-Loren Miller Fellowship Program, and since then as a research associate and Director of Local Affairs. During this span, he has done studies on a number of different state and local government policy issues. Much of his work over the past couple of years has concentrated on the consolidation of local governments and local government service provision. In addition to his research responsibilities, Eric manages the award winning CRC website. After serving as treasurer of the Governmental Research Association for 15 years, he currently serves as the association's president. He served for 6 years on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), an advisory body for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), representing the user community on behalf of the Governmental Research Association. Eric received a Bachelor of Arts from James Madison College in Michigan State University and a Masters of Public Administration from Wayne State University. The Citizens Research Council of Michigan is an organization of Michigan citizens founded in 1916 to devote continuing attention to state and local government affairs. For more than 90 years, the goal of the Citizens Research Council has been to provide tools to the citizens of Michigan to secure good state and local government – governments that are responsible and accountable to the public, adopt sound public policies, and make effective and efficient use of resources in carrying out their responsibilities. Through its research and publications, the Citizens Research Council provides an independent, nonpartisan and objective source of factual information on state and local policy issues.

Sanya Carley is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. Her research and teaching activities focus on energy policy, including the following avenues: the evaluation of the effectiveness of state energy policy incentives and regulatory efforts that aim to alter electricity generation portfolios; the assessment of activities within the field of energy-based economic development; and the evaluation of public perceptions of emerging energy technologies. She teaches graduate level courses on Energy Economics and Policy, and Energy Analysis and Markets, and was a recent recipient of the 2012 Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award. Dr. Carley has over eight years of statistical evaluation, energy modeling, and survey design consulting experience with the World Bank, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nicholas Institute, ARCeconomics, and RTI International. She holds a Ph.D. in public policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned graduate degrees in urban and regional planning and energy analysis and policy with a concentration in economic development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her undergraduate degrees are in economics and sustainable development, respectively, from Swarthmore College.

Thomas P. Lyon holds the Dow Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce at the University of Michigan, with appointments in both the Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. From 2006-2011 he served as Director of UM's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Professor Lyon is a leader in using economic analysis to understand corporate environmental strategy and how it is shaped by emerging government regulations, non-governmental organizations, and consumer demands. His book Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy, published by Cambridge University Press, is the first rigorous economic analysis of this increasingly important topic. Professor Lyon earned his bachelor's degree at Princeton University and his doctorate at Stanford University. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the Scuola Sant'Anna in Pisa, Resources for the Future, the University of Bonn, Georgetown University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the University of Paris. Professor Lyon serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy and the Journal of Regulatory Economics. His current research focuses on corporate environmental information disclosure, greenwash, and voluntary programs for environmental improvement.

Sponsored by: University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) Citizens Research Council of Michigan Domestic Policy Corps

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