State Rep. Dave Prestin, R-Cedar River, today released the following statement after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s final State of the State address. He criticized the governor for once again ignoring the serious problems facing Upper Peninsula communities; a fitting end to eight years of neglect for everything north of the Mackinac Bridge:

“The Governor continues to celebrate her green energy mandates that are already driving energy prices up and threaten to shut down the region’s natural gas power plants decades early. Should those plants close, energy bills will continue to go up exponentially, imposing ongoing crushing costs that no family or business will be able to absorb. This energy crisis has our mining industry at a crossroads, and instead of working with us to protect or create jobs that sustain our communities, the Governor continues to advocate for policies that have U.P. families and businesses considering relocating. Residents and businesses in every industry have seen their energy bills skyrocket, and residents need the governor to take that seriously.

“The Governor also did not end her lawfare against U.P. interests, like her campaign to block the Line 5 tunnel. She knows that Line 5 provides our homes with essential propane, and if she had not fought it every step of the way, the tunnel would have been completed 2 years ago and provided hundreds of workers with good paying jobs. The Governor could have instead focused her legal team on things like cutting red tape, which drives home costs up nearly $100,000 per home, but regulatory reform has never been her priority. Public officials are judged on the policies they focus on, and her focus has always meant higher costs for U.P. families.

“She also failed to explain how she plans to rein in her out-of-control Department of Natural Resources. Whether through deliberate overreach or sheer incompetence, this administration has empowered the DNR to trespass on private property without a warrant, wage judicial warfare against honest farmers, and pursue reckless plans to destroy thriving state-managed wildlife areas in order to construct unreliable and unsightly energy projects.

“The Upper Peninsula will remember the Governor’s tenure as eight failed years of lost opportunities, and a legacy of energy poverty and economic destruction. We’re in the fight of our life in the U.P., but we also have the opportunity to start writing the next chapter. The choices before us will determine whether we set our communities up to thrive or to die.”

###