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Tag: coal (page 3)By jenkuz, Section News
This is part of an ongoing story of a coal plant that is being proposed in Rogers City, Michigan.
I took time off of work to attend the PIE&G annual meeting yesterday. Karas was not let into the meeting because he is not a member of PIE&G Cooperative. Some interesting things took place though in the two hour's time I allowed myself to be away from work. First, I learned some things I did not know. Wolverine has spent 20 million dollars to date checking into the feasability of this project, and in the same amount of time, they have spent 700 million dollars buying power from downstate utilities as well as Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. Second, the reason we have a cooperative is because it is costly to provide energy to rural areas, in fact, because Detroit Edison and Consumers Energy and other big companies thought it too costly, local leaders had to find a solution on their own, and with strength in numbers, we are a co-op that is part of a larger family that serves 230,000 households and businesses. (3 comments, 191 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
I have been following a story that has been ongoing here in Rogers City and have posted parts to the story on this blog. Starting with Part 1, I began chronologically detailing what has transpired so far in this small under-served town. Between the local and nation-wide environmentalists and the concerned citizenry, it has proved to be very entertaining, enlightening and dramatic.
(2 comments, 214 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
Let's dig in to the recent bill introduced to and voted on by the United States Congress--HR 2454 The American Clean Energy and Security Act better known as Cap and Trade, or the Global Warming Bill.
(1022 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
After the Biomass public hearing, Tom Karas (Michigan Energy Alternatives,) wrote an editorial that appeared in the Advance to counter an argument between himself and Bob Noffze, president of the citizen-formed Wolverine Clean Energy Venture Support Group. Apparently, after the biomass hearing, Bob and Tom had a brief exchange during which Bob made it clear he did not wish to invite Tom to speak at the next meeting of WCEVSG because Mr. Karas had stated in an Alpena News article that the coal plant in in Rogers City would be "a monument to ignorance." Bob took offense to the statement. The editorial pointed out that when Karas said the word ignorant, he just meant that the people of Rogers City are unaware of the "current position that the coal industry is in." He may be right about that, but it isn't because the people of this state don't want energy, it is precisely because of people like Tom Karas.
(176 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
The Citizens for Environmental Inquiry, in their never ending quest to kill the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture, filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in Ingham County Circuit Court, five months after the group demanded the DEQ regulate CO2 as a pollutant. The DEQ didn't respond to their demand within 90 days, so CEI filed the suit because, "my clients can no longer delay measures to assess and control the millions of tons of global warming pollution that can be released," said retired Judge Swallow, CEI's legal counsel. Seven people in Rogers City must be heard. The Advance reported that, "In filing this lawsuit, CEI is very much aware that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation and Presque Isle County has the highest in Michigan."
In late March, 2008, Wolverine asked the County Planning Commission to amend it's original special use permit to include the burning of biomass. Up until now, there had been two groups interested in killing the power plant. The seven people of CEI, all locals who believed Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and a man from Traverse City who gets his money from San Fransisco, Tom Karas (Michigan Energy Alternatives.) However, the Planning Commission meeting attracted more outsiders. (2 comments, 212 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
Wolverine Clean Energy Venture to this point had created a good rapport with the town by giving to local charity, opening an office in town to answer questions, organized a Citizens Advisory Board, acquiring zoning approval, asked for and got resolutions of support from the city of Rogers City, the Commissioners of Presque Isle County and Rogers Township. They announced that they were, in the beginning of 2008, attempting to obtain an air quality permit from the state.
In a January 3, 2008 article in the Advance titled, County continues to support Wolverine's plans, Wolverine's Director of Community and Government Affairs, Ken Bradstreet, outlines the realities of the need for more power in Michigan. The proposed baseload plant satisfies the Department of Energy as clean coal technology. Bradstreet offered, "Those that oppose projects like this across the country aren't really helping the environment, because they are forcing us to continue using plants that should be retired." (319 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
After passing out copied versions of An Inconvenient Truth to all the townships in Presque Isle County, Jean Veselenak, member of Citizens for Environmental Inquiry (CEI), planned to make a speech in front of representatives of each township at the MTA meeting in October 2007.
There are two things I disliked about the events leading up to this point in this story. One, I disliked the lie that CEI was feeding township members that they were just a group of "folks" who'd like to ask a few questions on the coal plant, and two, I don't like it when people with agendas give information on one side of a topic I care about. So, I decided to refute Veselenak's speech. (2 comments, 310 words in story) Full Story By jenkuz, Section News
By March of 2007, Wolverine continued it's initial work on developing a wind farm, part of it's commitment during the study of the possibility of building a power plant near Rogers City, along with an endangered species study, as well as numerous analyses to abide by state and local regulations. They committed to installing a meteorological tower at the Rogers City airport to gather wind speed and directional data.
A member of the Citizens for Environmental Inquiry (CEI), Bill Lewis, continued to raise questions on the opinion page of the Advance, this time raising the geological significance of where the plant would be located. This is the first time the word "karst" entered the fray. His argument, that careless surface activity on karst land can quickly impact water resources, was weak. The company had just hired a slew of environmental engineers, harbor engineers, and conceptual power plant designers. Three companies whose 2500 employees know more about the different problems related to geological issues. As an aside, all of the arguments posed by CEI included the words, "probably," "likely," and "possible," while trying to convince the public. (335 words in story) Full Story
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