Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

A handful of Livingston County communities are among 75 which have filed a legal appeal of new rules on wind parks and solar farms recently adopted by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Public Service Commission.

It centers around what's known as a CREO -- or Compatible Renewable Energy Ordinance -- already passed by many local municipalities.

"The Public Service Commission adopted an order that basically said a CREO can only be those items that are in that Section 226.8 and nothing more," says Cohoctah Township Supervisor Mark Fosdick.

"So, the township has no say in anything in terms of screening, damage to roads, stuff like that. We decided to join the challenge of the order issued by the Public Service Commission simply because it exceeded their legislative authority."

Fosdick says when the law was originally passed in the Legislature, communities were told they could weigh-in on local wind and solar projects, but now feel the state is moving the goal post.

"We worked on the ordinance for a long time and then the Public Service Commission came out with an order that would invalidate most of our ordinance. So, we're trying to keep it intact," said Marion Township Supervisor Bob Hanvey.

The legal appeal comes just weeks before the new state law goes into effect November 29.

According to MLive, the law only applies to large solar projects of 50 megawatts or more, requiring hundreds of acres; wind parks of 100 or more megawatts and certain large-scale battery storage developments.

Developers can only choose to jump immediately to state approval when local governments have a ban on projects in place, or locals ask them to.

But the new law also gives developers the option to go to the state when local authorities deny projects, fail to act on them within 120 days or they face restrictive rules making it difficult to locate them.

The legal challenge also asks the Court of Appeals to vacate the order outlining the new rules, or parts of it. Municipalities also are seeking an injunction prohibiting the Public Service Commission from enforcing it while the appeal is pending.

The legal appeal and PSC rules are attached below.