Upper Peninsula Lawmaker Says ‘Destruction’ Of U.P. Possible If Senate Doesn’t Move On RICE Bills

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 11/12/2025) Lawmakers Wednesday touted the urgency of the Senate passing two House bills preserving reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) generators, saying the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) “is literally in the fight for our existence.”

Rep. Dave Prestin (R-Cedar River) said people fail to realize just how much renewable energy is going to be required in the U.P., noting the area lacks integration with Canada and other power sources compared to the Lower Peninsula.

“This is a daisy chain of events that’s going to ultimately end in the destruction of the Upper Peninsula,” he said during a press conference. “… We’ve got interconnections and leverage down below the bridge that the U.P. simply just does not have. This cannot be overstated. We are looking at the end of the U.P. and the U.P.’s economy as we know it.”

Nick Dodge, communications director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, said the press conference and “push is all based on a deeply flawed plan” from the Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation (UMERC), who mistakenly believe the state’s clean energy law will prematurely retire the RICE generators.

“The lawmakers are peddling a false claim that current energy laws are forcing the gas plant to close and are raising costs when the order they are referencing clearly contradicts those claims,” Dodge said.

In an Oct. 27 order, Administrative Law Judge Jonathan F. Thoits agreed that it is possible for UMERC to operate its RICE units “beyond 2040 as merchant plants” and that Public Act 235 – Michigan’s Clean and Renewable Energy and Energy Waste Reduction Act – “does not per se require their retirement."

Natural Rice generators were installed in the U.P. in 2019 to replace coal power plants, but Michigan’s Public Act 235 mandates new renewable energy plans (REP) for Michigan’s utilities.

Rep. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp.) said Thoits’ recommendation would cost MERC’s estimated 37,400 customers more than $10 million beginning in January and nearly $13 million in 2027.

UMERC filed its amended REP in February, claiming it will cost $4.3 billion through 2045 to comply with those new standards, which would require UMERC to construct a total of 950 megawatts of renewable resources.

It also would lead to the early retirement of the RICE units in 2040, Prestin said.

That move could risk continued operation of the Tilden mine, UMERC’s largest customer, which employs 900 workers with an annual aggregate payroll of about $200 million.

The mine, owned by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., is an iron ore mining, concentrating and pelletizing operation located on the Marquette Iron Range, about five miles south of Ishpeming.

Patrick Bloom, executive vice president of government relations for Cleveland-Cliffs, said

HB 4007 andHB 4283 would preserve “Tilden as the economic engine of the Upper Peninsula,” and more importantly, ensure affordable power for ratepayers.

HB 4007 and HB 4283, sponsored by Rep. Karl BOHNAK (R-Negaunee) and Prestin, respectively, aim to extend the life of the RICE generators until 2049.

The bills passed the House in May, but sit in the Senate’s Government Operations Committee (See “RICE Generators Preserved Under House Passed Bill,” 5/7/25).

If the bills are not passed, Bloom said, the Tilden mine faces increased costs of $5 million in 2026 and $6 million in 2027.

“The RICE generators have become a real asset for the U.P. and have enhanced the competitiveness of the Tilden mine,” Bloom said. “… If these RICE generators are forced to retire early, ratepayers must pay billions of dollars for replacement generation. The continued operation of the Tilden mine will be in jeopardy. That’s not a threat. It’s not an overstatement. It’s an economic reality.”

However, Michigan Public Service Commission staff called UMERC’s application “deeply flawed” because it modeled expensive and unnecessary resources.

And, both the Attorney General and Citizens Utility Board stated UMERC falsely believes that Public Act 235 requires premature retirement of UMERC’s RICE plants.

“The claim that the ruling and complying with the Clean Energy and Jobs Act would raise costs for U.P. ratepayers with surcharges is false,” Dodge said.

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