<b>By KEVIN WALKER<br>
Michigan Correspondent</b> </p><p>

LANSING, Mich. — In her State of the State address last week, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm made it clear that she is betting the alternative energy sector will play a major role in bringing back lost jobs.<br>

“Because of the need to reduce global warming and end our dependence on expensive foreign oil, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries will create millions of good-paying jobs,” she said.<br>

“Michigan will do whatever it takes to compete and win those alternative energy jobs and replace those lost manufacturing jobs.”
Granholm used a saying from hockey’s Wayne Gretzky to make her point: “’If you want to win, don’t skate to where the puck is, skate to where the puck is going.’ The puck is going to alternative energy.”<br>

At the top of her alternative energy list was wind. “Experts have said that we have the second best potential for wind generation and production in the country,” she said.<br>

She stated a large amount of available factory space, a skilled workforce and plenty of water make Michigan an ideal place for a robust wind energy industry. The Great Lakes, she said, are an ideal way to transport the huge wind turbines used in today’s wind parks.<br>

She cited Sweden as a country that set “high goals for their use of renewable energy.” The result, Granholm said, was the creation of 2,000 related businesses and 400,000 new jobs in the renewable energy sector.<br>

Second on her list was wood. She said the wood waste from the pulp and paper industry is being used to produce the next generation of biofuel. She pointed to companies such as Massachusetts-based Mascoma Corp., which is building a new cellulosic ethanol facility in Gaylord, Mich., and a deal between Sweden-based Chemrec AB and the NewPage Corp., a paper mill located in Escanaba, Mich.<br>

Chemrec is planning to add a plant on or near the current paper mill to turn the mill’s waste byproducts into a form of usable fuel.
Granholm also wants the legislature to act on a comprehensive energy package which would include a repeal of a law, P.A. 141, that partially deregulated the state’s energy industry. Consumers Energy, for one, has stated the law must be repealed if it is to invest in a new coal-powered plant it plans to build.<br>

“We believe that some revisions of P.A. 141 are warranted,” said Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for the governor.<br>

Consumers Energy also said it plans to increase its share of renewable energy to 10 percent of its portfolio by 2015, most of which would be in the form of wind energy.<br>

“As soon as this legislature acts on a comprehensive energy package, Consumers Energy and DTE will begin to jointly invest up to $6 billion in Michigan, much of it to build wind turbines and wind farms,” Granholm said in her speech.<br>

She also said companies are taking household trash from landfills and converting it to green energy, and that farms are turning animal waste into methane gas.<br>

As part of her alternative energy platform, Granholm also announced the creation of four Centers of Excellence. These centers will partner four alternative energy companies with Michigan universities to create new products and jobs. There will be tax incentives for anchor companies in the alternative energy sector, that will encourage suppliers to relocate to Michigan. Funding for these centers will come from the state.<br>

A transcript of Granholm’s entire speech is available to read online at www.michigan.gov