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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    DEQ to LS Power: Go back to New Jersey and take your jobs with you


    By Nick, Section News
    Posted on Mon May 04, 2009 at 06:19:44 AM EST
    Tags: LS Power, 2010, Cherry, DEQ, regulation, economy, red tape (all tags)

    You get a jump from $785 million to $1.32 billion in a day's time and it's only natural that folks start asking questions.  If a sudden swell of red ink that severe doesn't make even the casual political observer scratch his proverbial head, well, he's aaaawfully casual.

    In my experience, we on the right have a habit of jumping to immediate concepts, hopes and dreams for solutions.  It isn't that we're incapable of addressing the entire mess in our minds, it's just that we tend to be semi-neat and orderly.  Solve the immediate problem first then move to long-term solutions.

    I know that's the way I typically think.  When news of the deficit jump broke mid-week I blogged that the legislature should be called to (or convene themselves) an emergency session to immediately right-size the budget.

    Four days later and they haven't (why take your problems seriously when there's on-the-clock drinking to be done?) but they should.  

    And while they dawdle, it is worth taking a look at the bigger picture.  We know what has to be done.  The Constitution requires a balanced budget so they're going to have to make some tough cuts and they don't have to but WILL use up a lot of one-time cash via the so-called stimulus package.  But how did we get here?

    Exhibit A: LS Power.

    LS Power is a New Jersey based energy company that was preparing to break ground near Midland, Michigan on a project that was expected to create thousands of new jobs... the construction of a new clean-coal power plant.  

    On Friday they announced they were canceling those plans because of an unfriendly business climate and insanely complicated permitting requirements foisted on them by the Granholm-Cherry administration and their Department of Environmental Quality.  

    The project was expected to create 1,500 construction jobs, 241 permanent jobs on-site and billions of dollars in regional economic activity.

    Read on...

    Mid-Michigan's WJRT-TV's ABC Channel 12 reports:

    Plans for the facility were announced two years ago, but citing recent legislation that restricted available customers for the project and the economy, LS is pulling out.

    The company says it was also waiting for an air quality permit from the Department of Environmental Quality.

    "I think they DEQ has a lot on their plate, and it was taking an awful long time to get through the process," (LS Power's Joy) Buchanan said.

    "Our permit has been almost two years, and we still don't have a hearing scheduled."

    What's worse, according to the Bay City Times,  the move now has many questioning whether a planned coal-fired power plant in Bay County will actually go forward.

    Midland's representative in the state House, Jim Stamas, issued the following statement:

    "With an unemployment rate nearing 13 percent, our state can't afford a governor who is picking and choosing which jobs she wants to keep.  Michigan is losing 1,000 jobs each day. Because of the rigorous and burdensome actions of the Department of Environmental Quality and the state's bureaucracy, 1,500 families in the tri-county region are left to find another way to make ends meet."

    He isn't taking this one lying down and unemployed moms and dads across Michigan are left wishing the Granholm-Cherry administration WOULD.

    In this year's State of the State address, Gov. Granholm issued Executive Directive 2009-2 to require the DEQ to review the feasibility of alternatives to fossil fuels and potentially limit state permits for future coal-fired electricity plants. Late last week the Michigan Public Service Commission adopted new rules to help implement this plan.  

    House Republicans fought for the company and others throughout the state, requesting a ruling by the state attorney general on the legality of the governor's efforts to stop the construction by requiring an expanded review by the DEQ. The attorney general ruled that the governor overstepped constitutional authority in attempting to rewrite the law through her executive directive.

    "It is unfortunate that Gov. Granholm and the Michigan Public Service Commission proceeded to implement her executive order even after the attorney general ruled it violated current statute and the Michigan Constitution," House Republican Leader Kevin Elsenheimer said in a prepared statement.  "It is clear from the governor's actions that clean-coal jobs are not welcome in Michigan. We only hope that the onerous regulatory environment created by the governor's executive order and the recent actions of the Michigan Public Service Commission does not threaten other planned clean-coal plants slated for Rogers City and Bay City."

    Elsenheimer added that the LS Power's decision not to build in Michigan is a "clarion call to lawmakers and the governor to address serious reforms that will clear the way for new jobs and business investment."

    In March, "Chief Executive" magazine released its list of the best and worst states for job growth and business for 2009 (read the report here).  

    Michigan was dead last and the survey authors called the state a "tax disaster."

    Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, a man overseeing a 5.4 percent unemployment rate, told RightMichigan this weekend that investment "capitol is a coward" and that the key to turning this economy around is creating an environment that welcomes job makers.  

    This week we're facing another massive budget deficit.  We understand that and we understand what has to be done immediately to fulfill constitutional requirements.  But that deficit, as big, nasty and ugly as she is, is only a symptom.

    LS Power's decision to preemptively eliminate over 1,700 Michigan jobs points us pretty clearly towards just one of the diseases ravaging Michigan's economy.  

    Unfortunately it'll take a little more than penicillin to clear up a case of the D.E.Q.s.

    < Monday in the Sphere: May 4 | RightMichigan Exclusive: An Interview with 2010 Attorney General Candidate Bill Schuette >


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    Display: Sort:
    Clean Coal Plant in Rogers City (none / 0) (#1)
    by jenkuz on Mon May 04, 2009 at 07:02:23 AM EST
    If the state is a 'tax disaster' it is also the home of a hell of a lot of 'green nazis.'  The green nazis in lock step with the lunatic Al Gore and his infantile view of the world, are trying their best to kill every proposed job in this state north of Lansing.  So far every legislator involved in the Presque Isle County area has come out vehemently for the plant.  Newman, Stupak, Allen, and others have been saying they want and we need this plant to survive the Granholm axe.  If it goes through, and Wolverine gets the permit, it means nothing, this administration will still continue to do all it can to close down construction and the opening of the plant.  Why?  Because both the Granholm administration and the Obama administration want Michigan to die.

    Does this mean that (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dutchsma on Mon May 04, 2009 at 09:02:09 AM EST
    Granholm/Cherry lost another 1,700 jobs under their watch?  

    Since they include projected jobs to be created when citing their performance, should potential jobs that were lost because of poor leadership, vision and ability to expedite job creating opportunities be included in their jobs lost column?

    Just asking.

    Well, it didnt take 5 years... (none / 0) (#3)
    by RightMacomb on Mon May 04, 2009 at 09:18:32 AM EST
    to blow those jobs away.

    DEQ (none / 0) (#5)
    by Rougman on Mon May 04, 2009 at 09:40:26 AM EST
    As any avid greenie will tell you, the best way to ensure a smaller carbon footprint for the future of mankind is to stifle mankind's development and population.  The most effective short term way to do this is to kill the economy and make it more difficult for people to survive.  

    This is why greenies are so pleased with the improvement of Detroit's carbon footprint over the past few years while conveniently not mentioning the fact that displaced and unemployed people burn less energy and that idle factories don't consume energy.  

    Greenies realize that wind and solar power (regardless of their arguments) will never be robust enough to support the population that we have. So, while Plan A is to kill all non-green energy production, Plan B is to create a population size that can be solely supported by what they deem is green energy.

    Addition by subtraction.

    • Suggestion by RyanOlsen, 05/04/2009 07:56:47 PM EST (none / 0)
    nice post (none / 0) (#6)
    by live dangerously on Mon May 04, 2009 at 12:22:46 PM EST
    Nice research.  This is the message we as Conservatives need to put out there. You've translated our Conserative Rhetoric into something people connect with jobs and job creation.
     Pete Hoekstra for example might do well to get behind an effort to jump start this permit.  It's one thing to talk of getting rid of regulation and another to show how he would do it on the ground in Michigan.  This seems like a prime example or opportunity to do that.

    Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

    Don't be so gullible (none / 0) (#8)
    by stevenstmason on Mon May 04, 2009 at 11:39:46 PM EST
    Just because some PR flack claims something to be true doesn't mean it is. LS Power is abandoning projects all over the US.

    "The Michigan project was the third coal-fired development LS has dropped or delayed this year. The company abandoned a plan to build a 750 MW coal plant near Waterloo, Iowa, and said it was indefinitely postponing a 1,600 MW coal project in White Pine County, Nevada."

    • The PR Machine by stevenstmason, 05/05/2009 06:36:48 PM EST (none / 0)
    I'm steamed! (none / 0) (#12)
    by mcdirt on Tue May 05, 2009 at 10:06:11 PM EST
    Jackbooted DEQ thugs wrecking my opportunity to send more money to out-of-state coal companies for the next 70 years! Requiring power proposals to be the most feasible and prudent option....who do they think they are! Next thing you know energy efficiency programs will fill the void at one-quarter the cost of new power! Whatever happened to the nostalgic good old days when power plants didn't need to factor illness or pollution into their rates?.....and when the coal industry benefited from hands-off govt that undertook massive program to bring electricity to every corner of America and launch a new era of prosperity....or, wait, that's kind of a subsidy (sorry, "tax"), isn't it? Nevermind ;)

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