By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
Mackinac Island, MI – Mackinac Island, MI (MPRN) - Governor Granholm focused on wind turbine manufacturing yesterday during an alternative energy panel at the policy conference on Mackinac Island.
The governor says the state has myriad underutilized resources that could make Michigan a frontrunner in alternative energy.
She says Michigan's location on the map makes the state the best place for manufacturing and distributing wind turbines.
Granholm says auto suppliers are eager to expand their operations to manufacture the giant turbines.
She says capitalizing on these assets means people cannot expect that things will be done the same way as they have in the past. The governor says that means not just waiting around for the auto industry to rebound.
Granholm says by the year 2010 Michigan will have lost about 75 percent of the auto industry jobs that existed ten years earlier. She says alternative energy could be a new source of jobs.