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6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS ENERGY DTE in a trench coat Ann Arbor for Public Power is a coalition of residents and organizations that is seeking to establish a Municipal Electric Utility (MEU) that will take control of the electric power grid in Ann Arbor from DTE Energy (a Detroit-based Fortune 500 diversified energy company). In order to create an MEU, A2P2 has started a local ballot initiative that will set the stage for a board of directors of the operation to transition the city to public power. Petitions to place the proposal on the ballot are generally available at the Farmers’ Market. At this time, there is no guarantee that it will appear on the Nov. 2026 ballot even though A2P2 has already turned in enough signatures to the clerk’s office. They turned in 5,175, but want that number to be higher, just in case there are errors in the original set. (Signature collection is ongoing until the final deadline of July 16.) A few nights ago, I came across a door hanger from an organization called Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition (AAREC). The flyer did not appear to advocate a specific proposal of its own. Instead, it focused on criticizing A2P2's municipalization effort. Depending on which side of the hanger you see first, there is a statement that says “We can’t afford this risky city takeover of our energy.” In smaller print, “Running a power grid is complex — and mistakes have real consequences.” On the AAREC website there is a tab that says “Who’s tried this?” In other words, which cities have tried installing an MEU and failed? There were three. On the American Public Power Association website there is a state-bystate guide to successful locally governed power grids. There are dozens of municipal utilities across the country, including at least one in every state. Michigan has a number of them, including Lansing, Grand Haven and Chelsea. The next claim on the door hanger is firm that provides economic, financial and strategic expertise to law firms, corporations and governments. The alleged costs are as follows: • Asset purchase price: ~$350M • Grid separation and engineering JIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 “Under this proposal, we will be putting the fate of our energy system in the hands of politicians with no relevant experience.” The A2P2 ballot initiative calls for five directly elected and four appointed persons to constitute the board, leaving the determination of qualification to the voters. The stated purpose of the proposal is to place governance of the utility under a board selected through local democratic processes. The flyer tells you there is “no independent oversight” but the ballot initiative clearly states that the city would have veto power. At the bottom of the hanger it says, “Ann Arbor deserves a less expensive and risky path to clean, affordable energy. This isn’t it.” The other side of the flyer says, “Our city cannot afford a government takeover of our power. We deserve reliable, affordable, clean energy — but a city-run utility is not how we get there.” These claims are made not only on door hangers but on ads distributed widely online. The initial AAREC committee was registered at DTE’s address, One Energy Plaza, Detroit. It is not based in Ann Arbor. The use of the word "we" raises questions about who the organization is claiming to represent. The largest and most prominent claim on the flyer says “city-controlled power = $1 billion in debt.” The AAREC website has an itemized list of costs of take-over which were derived from a municipalization study by Charles River Associates, a global consulting work: ~$185M • Billing and operational systems: ~$40M • Legal, consulting and transaction costs: ~$30M • Near-term capital investments: ~$290M • Customer make-whole payments: ~$125M A2P2 does not argue that these categories are fictional. It argues that the estimates attached to several of them are inflated. It is important to note that the Charles River Associates’ report was commissioned by DTE. The last part of the flyer lists four “crushing costs:” “$1 billion upfront cost,” “30-40% rate increase,” “$550$700 yearly bill increase” and “40% higher operating costs.” The $1 billion figure is an estimate of projected costs. The rate increases, annual bill increases, and operating cost increases are forecasts derived from those estimates. Again, this is from a study that was paid for by DTE. “An ‘astroturf’ organization is a deceptive public relations front that masks a coordinated corporate or political agenda as a spontaneous, citizen-led grassroots movement. These fake ‘grassroots’ groups disguise their true funders by using civic-sounding names to manipulate public opinion and push for deregulation or specific policy changes. “ — Merriam Webster Dictionary. “Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition” has a civic-sounding name and employs grassroots rhetoric. They were initially registered at the DTE headquarters (this was changed when people online called out the obvious DTE affiliation), they rely on information from a consulting firm that was Is this a front for DTE? commissioned by DTE, and use a professional marketing company (Real Solutions based in Detroit) for their campaign effort instead of independent citizens from Ann Arbor. Taken together, these facts call into question the relationship of the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition to DTE Energy. Double-sided color door-hangers, websites, and high-end marketing companies all cost money. If DTE is funding this campaign, then they are using the money they get from your electric bill to convince you they are the better deal. Consumers Energy plans natural gas plant in Lima HILARY NICHOLS N.U.A.N.C.E. Ann Arbor is not only one of the most amazing towns in America, ranked as the city with the best quality of life in America by Forbes magazine, but it is also located in a great region. Thanks to our Greenbelt policy, thousands of acres of farmland and open space surrounding the City of Ann Arbor have been preserved. We can drive a short way from Main Street in any direction and be surrounded by idyllic pastoral land. When our neighbor just 12 miles west of town, Ken Klovski, witnessed Consumers Energy’s (CE) workers digging deep testing holes in his neighbor's field he did some research. Klovski is a retired DTE engineer and knew something about the process. His research found CE’s option agreement to purchase his neighbor’s land and an open project listed on The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO)'s website. The MISO Queue Filing (Federal Infrastructure Registry): MISO runs the power grid across much of the Midwest. Consumers Energy filed for Project J3923 in the MISO interconnection queue on February 28, 2025: Capacity 1,414 megawatts Klovski shared his findings with MLive. When Jeff Parness saw the story, and viewed Lima Township’s townhall meeting posted on Youtube, the last question posed brought the concern close. “What are the health risks posed by particulate matter downwind from a gas fired power plant?” CE’s answer, that they follow all government guidelines, was not actually reassuring. Parness recently built their family’s dream house just see LIMA next page  JUNE 26, 2026

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