The Rogers City High School gymnasium filled up with people one more time last night, in what we were told is the last public hearing for the [...]]]>

The Rogers City High School gymnasium filled up with people one more time last night, in what we were told is the last public hearing for the air quality permit for the proposed power plant.

It has been five years since Wolverine Power announced their plans to build a coal-fired power plant in the world’s largest limestone quarry near Rogers City, Michigan. The hearing was specifically set to help the public understand the emissions limits and best available technology for greenhouse gases, as well as to show the proposed plant will not violate new ambient air regulations.

From the Presque Isle County Advance:

When the state denied Wolverine’s application May 21, 2010, it did so based on a perceived lack of need as determined by an opinion of the Michigan Public Service Commission. Wolverine appealed that denial and a Missaukee County judge agreed that there was no legal basis for the denial, sending it back to the DEQ in January.
DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel said that without the provision of “need” considered, the applicant would have met all state and federal requirements last year. Modifications in the permit have to made because of new federal regulations enacted in 2010, which Wolverine’s engineers, working with DEQ staff, have strived to meet.
“The department will carefully evaluate comments received, determine whether there should be any changes made to the permit conditions, and develop the “Response to Comments” document. If the permit is approved, the Response to Comments document will be issued simultaneous to the permit,” Wurfel said.

Steve Schulwitz writes in the Alpena News:

The permit to install appears to be the last hurdle for Wolverine to clear in order to build the facility. Hellwig said he hopes to have the matter decided one way or another soon.
“We anticipate closure soon,” Hellwig said. “Following the hearing we consider the testimony and public comment, and then as a decision maker, I will render a decision. Depending on the level of comments, the details of the comments, and the time to do a response document, that will determine how much longer it will take. I don’t anticipate it taking a very long time, but we do have to go through the comments and make sure we rewind to those.”

In short, last year, after waiting 2 1/2 years for an air permit we were promised would take no more than 6 months, the permit was denied based on Governor Jennifer Granholm’s unconstitutional and rescinded executive order that all coal permits be issued on a needs basis. Her administration saw no need for the plant, despite clear, concise documentation to the contrary, and denied the permit. Wolverine Power appealed the denial in court and won, making it abundantly clear that the denial was purely political. This hearing brings us back to October 2008, except for the fact that the federal EPA has tightened emissions limits on two gases that are special to coal burning, NO2 and SO2.
Without going in to too much technical language, the plant passes those standards.

So here we are again. Every standard set by the State of Michigan is met by Wolverine. Every regulation not in place last time has been met now in 2011. Whenever a safety minimum has been suggested, Wolverine has doubled and sometimes tripled their own standards to remove any doubt that they are committed to building a state-of-the-art clean coal-fired power plant in one of the most economically depressed counties in the State of Michigan, and that’s saying something. It is now left, once again, to the State of Michigan DEQ to give the permit an up or down.

First of all, I want to heap lavish praise on Governor-elect Rick Snyder for splitting the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of [...]]]>

First of all, I want to heap lavish praise on Governor-elect Rick Snyder for splitting the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality. In my view, when the state legislature approved the combination of the DNR with the DEQ, it bottle-necked the permit process and lent to the nearly 1,000 day wait for eventual denial of the permit.

At the time, state lawmakers were giddy with the notion that they were helping “streamline” government by combining the two departments. One of our Republican state lawmakers was a facebook friend of mine back then, and beneath her ecstatic status update that trumpeted the great news, I commented, “But, doesn’t this mean that when we try to extract our natural resources, any industry will be shut down due to environmental concerns? It seems to me that this is a windfall for the radical environmentalists.” That comment was deleted very quickly, but I still think it’s true. I thought it was foolhardy to trust Granholm’s bureaucracy especially after all the studying I did about the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture and how the Granholm administration worked hand in hand with the Sierra Club and other radical groups. If you don’t think the Sierra Club is a radical environmental group, you have not seen what happened here in Rogers City.

So now that Snyder has said the two departments will be split, it is along that line that I call on Governor-Elect Rick Snyder to review the permit to install for Wolverine Clean Energy Venture.

The Granholm administration went out of their way to deny this top-of-the-line clean coal energy plant. Granholm, an attorney by profession, utilized her bureaucracy to make up regulations and make new unconstitutional laws by executive order. She and her administration lied repeatedly to consumers, and denied the air permit based on her shredded process, rather than science, and the law.

In accordance with the campaign promise from his commercial during the 2010 election season, “We’ll dump that tax, thin the regulations and jobs will come back,” Snyder must review the Wolverine air quality permit denial.

A brief synopsis, in case this post gets to the governor-elect’s desk.

In May, 2006, Wolverine Energy announced they were seeking to build a base-load clean coal plant in Rogers City, within the largest limestone quarry in the world, which would take advantage of both the limestone for the scrubbing process, and the deep-sea port for the transport of supplies. An air quality permit was sought in September of 2007. A battle ensued with local and national environmental groups, but the process of the most important permit needed for installation of the plant continued when the Michigan DEQ held public hearings and announced that the proposed top-of-the-line clean coal base-load plant was environmentally sound, in October of 2008. All the data was reviewed, the townspeople were assured that even the scientists sitting in front of them, were completely comfortable with the idea of raising their families in Rogers City with the coal plant in operation. In January of 2009, Jennifer Granholm issued her plans to make Michigan “green” and discontinue coal as a source of power, replacing it with conservation and wind/solar energy. She issued an executive order that said that all coal plant permit applications will have to go through the MPSC, but that EO was challenged as unconstitutional by then AG Mike Cox and had to be rescinded. Nevertheless, it was the MPSC that determined that the clean coal plant be denied installation, citing that Wolverine “failed to demonstrate the plant was needed to meet future supply needs,” a finding that was not true, nor in accordance with the law. The Granholm administration continually moved the target on this permit application, and in the end, denied it ignoring the law and scientific fact.

The process of getting an air quality permit, or permit to install from the DEQ was knee-capped by three main reasons. One, the administration sat on the permit for 2 years and 8 months, a typical permit takes 3 months to 1 1/2 years. Two, the DEQ no longer existed to issue the permit, even though they approved the air quality in October of 2008. Three, Jennifer Granholm acted unlawfully and against scientific fact when she used faulty predictions of need, relying on the MPSC rather than the DEQ.

The northeastern lower peninsula has some of the highest unemployment numbers in the state. That plant would have generated 2,000+ jobs within the first year of installation, and put our city and townships at a tax revenue level never before seen here. It was unlawfully denied by an administration with absolutely no thought of improving our economy and our energy future.

More on the Rogers City Coal Plant can be found at jennerationx. com.

There are many reason’s I’m glad to see you go, Jennifer, but number one is the crap you pulled with the Rogers City Coal Plant

.

Nobody is happy here in Presque Isle County, Michigan.

The regulators of Michigan’s Utilities have deemed that Northern Michigan has no need for additional energy.

That means that Northern Michigan will continue to have to buy electricity from downstate and other states to [...]]]>

The regulators of Michigan’s Utilities have deemed that Northern Michigan has no need for additional energy.

That means that Northern Michigan will continue to have to buy electricity from downstate and other states to meet the energy requirements it currently has, as the electric co-ops have been doing, and for the foreseeable future.

It also means that Northern Michigan’s stagnant economy is assumed to remain stagnant, a bet the State of Michigan is insuring.

Because the State of Michigan has no economic plan, other that managing it’s own decline, Northern Michiganders can count on forever sending their children away to search for prosperity in another state.  Indeed, Northern Michigan’s largest export is her children.

It is no secret that Michigan is over-regulated, but the fact that it has been put down a path of decline by the authoritarian control of the Granholm administration in concert with the Sierra Club and other radical environmentalist groups interested in killing any hope for change in it’s economic development, cannot be ignored.

What it boils down to is that the Democrat Party is not interested in standing for the little guy.  From Al Gore and his demonstrably false attack on man, to Jennifer Granholm’s inane wishful thinking of green energy supply, to Tom Karas and his dirty ties to radical environmental groups in California, it is obvious that feelings and hopes and wishes of a utopian society have replaced logic, science, jobs and results.

The two schools of thought, one, that energy is produced to fuel economic freedom, and the other, that energy should be produced to strictly feed absolute need, are diametrically opposed.

Economic freedom, an approach long abandoned by Michigan’s leadership, is a quintessential goal sought in this state since it’s inception, and is free-market based.

The strangulation of freedom is what our state government excels at.

Requests made by the Int’l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers were ignored.

Requests made by the Cheboyan and Presque Isle Development groups were ignored.

What the State has said, essentially, is that the small towns, the little guy, the union worker, have no right to enjoy high-paying jobs, to benefit their families.

With the ruling on the permit, the State has manufactured false numbers to tell us ‘little people’ that they are protecting us from a rate increase.

He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.-Ben Franklin

The editorial page of the Advance shows just how popular the governor is.

From the Advance, Feb. 25, 2010:

Seems like [...]]]>

The editorial page of the Advance shows just how popular the governor is.

From the Advance, Feb. 25, 2010:

Seems like Granholm’s  answers to the paper didn’t suffice.

Bob is right.

Bill is right too, most of the opposition is from a very long drive away.

I added my two cents:

To the editor,
It is all about Jennifer Granholm.  The coal plant is literally up to her.

Tell me, what kind of a state do we live in?  How has our state, which used to be the engine of the world, become completely broken, and dependent on a top-down authoritarian bureaucracy?   How is it that a handful of proud people who live in a town that was built by industry, have to beg a governor to survive?  Is this the New America?  An America that is apologetic for keeping people industrious and helping families prosper?

When the man over a hundred years ago realized that all the limestone in the area could be used to make steel, started digging, did he know that thousands of families would eventually benefit from his discovery?  Did he know that he was about to start a town that produced so many that scattered so far?  Rogers City was formed because of that limestone quarry, and probably millions of tons of steel (among other things)  was produced because of it.

Because of new technology, limestone is used to make the smoke from a coal plant cleaner than it ever used to be.  A coal plant placed smack dab in the center of the World’s Largest Limestone Quarry with a deep sea port for shipping, is the most logical and most economical location there ever could be.  But what does Jennifer Granholm, the great Canadian genius say?  “The governor believes it’s important to first understand whether the energy from the plant is needed and whether the plant is the best way to meet our energy needs.”

Unbelievable.  Why would a company go through the torture that the state and the federal bureaucracy is putting it through it they DIDN’T need power?  Absurd!

I have been writing about this coal plant saga for about a year now, and I am going to make a 15-20 minute speech regarding all the reasons why we are waiting right now.  The VFW and the Presque Isle County Teen Age Republicans are holding an Ice Cream Social this Sunday at the VFW in Rogers City.  Other speakers will speak about other things involving the community, including the Constitutional Convention, which is coming up on the ballot in November.  The doors open at one and speakers will start speaking at 2 and will end at 4.  Donations made will benefit Operation Uplink and the Presque Isle TARS.

Jennifer M. Kuznicki
Hawks, MI

Right now, Wolverine is still waiting to hear from the MDNRE on whether it will receive an air [...]]]>

Right now, Wolverine is still waiting to hear from the MDNRE on whether it will receive an air quality permit, despite Jennifer Granholm’s claim that the issuance of a permit has nothing whatsoever to do with politics.

The beginning of the coal plant saga was May 2006.  In a few months, we will have been talking about a better future for Rogers City for 4 years.

Since writing about a topic helps gain a better understanding of the story, I believe I can help put into perspective how far we have come, and what lays ahead.

In September, 2007, Wolverine applied for an air quality permit with the MDEQ.  It was the last application to the department among 4 major applications from hopeful power companies in the state.  Right now, one  of those four have received the permit.

Interestingly, Consumers Energy, the downstate company that received the permit, only got it because it promised to close 7 coal plants that were older and not considered clean.

Perhaps we are lulled into the belief that if Wolverine gets it’s air permit,
the  fight will be over, and all this contention will cease.  But, that is not true.

As was demonstrated in Marquette, Nothern Michigan University pulled it’s air permit after it was granted, because the Sierra Club appealed the permit to the EPA.  The EPA suggested that NMU hadn’t included CO2 and Nitrous Oxide, so it sent the permit back to the DEQ who really didn’t have clear direction from the Federal Government in those areas.

So the point is, this fight is ongoing, and considering the current administration at the federal level, as well as state, Rogers City, Michigan is in a bad situation.

Those who are really pushing for the plant in the community, and whose numbers are 100-1 with those against, have been paying attention and have been active in pursuing this plant even though they have no ties to Wolverine, other than the fact that they purchase their electricity through them.

Citizens have become part-time activists.  We are in a situation where we don’t have a very loud voice.  Our town is small, we only have one paper, that only publishes weekly, we have no Television news based here, we have no Radio station that originates here.  Among all of the local activists, I suppose I am one too.

I started writing about this plant last year on my blog.  I like to write, and I am interested in politics, so this saga had seemed to me a good muse to write about.  When I began, I was trying to win a trip to Pittsburgh  from a blogging competition.  But when I got into it, I realized just how complicated and sometimes depressing this story can be.  I never finished my series on the coal plant like I thought I would so I could win that trip to Pittsburgh, and now I am so deep into it, I need to share the information.

First, the only reason that this coal plant is not already being built is because of global warming theory.  Let’s first understand that global warming is theory and not fact.

As most of us are well aware, environmentalists from the Sierra Club and other affiliated groups have been very active in the killing of this coal plant.  They have, and continue to use delay tactics, fear and confusion to prolong the process and cause Wolverine to pay money to address their bogus concerns.

Since each and every one of us are part of the Co-op, the environmentalists are really draining our money.

From the board of Presque Isle Electric, to the townships, to the city, to the county commissioners, to the representatives of our area in the Michigan Legislature and the Federal Government, there has been absolutely no negative thing said against Wolverine.  There has been no charges of bilking the public, nor has there been a voice raised in opposition to this plant.

The only opposition to this plant is from the Granholm Administration and The Sierra Club and it’s affiliates both local and out of town.

When this topic is discussed wherever I find myself, it is perplexing to me that some dismiss the Sierra Club as do-good planters of trees.  In reality, they are extremely well-funded economy-crushing advocates.

A report by Judy Pasternak of the Los Angeles Times appeared in April of  2008 titled, “Global warming has a new battleground: coal plants.”  .  Here is some of what it said:

Every time a new coal-fired power plant is proposed anywhere in the United States, a lawyer from the Sierra Club or an allied environmental group is assigned to stop it, by any bureaucratic or legal means necessary.

The plant-by-plant strategy is part of a campaign by environmentalists to force the federal government to deal with climate change.

The campaign against new coal-powered plants has infuriated utilities, which say the environmentalists’ tactics are an abuse of the regulatory and judicial systems.

They are counterpunching with ads, lobbying and court briefs of their own, bringing the clash over coal to a pitch that rivals the environmental and legal fights over nuclear power decades ago.

The environmental coalition, which included the Natural Resouces Defense Council, Environmental Defense  Fund and Environmental Integrity Project, claims 65 victories over the last three years.  The Sierra Club is coordinating opposition to about 50 additional power plant proposals.

“We have a national presence, so we’re sort of mission control,” said Pat Gallagher, director of the Sierra Club’s environmental law program.

“We hope to clog up the system,”  said David Bookbinder, the Sierra Club’s chief climate counsel.  “It’s putting pressure on Congress to put together a comprehensive plan.”

Those of us who have attended the various hearings have been well versed in their tactics.  Many local leaders have been so fed up with the constant nit-picking and false comparisons that they have communicated their feelings publicly about these tactics calling them “death by a thousand paper cuts.”  Again, one of the tactics that has many upset is the delay tactic.

Right now, the DNRE has said that the air permit is being held up as a result of lack of man power.  As some of you may recall, last year, the Michigan Legislature combined the MDEQ with the DNR and the new DNRE is having trouble wading through all the paperwork generated by the Sierra Club and it’s partners in crime.

Also, at the Federal level, the new leader of the EPA, Lisa Jackson mirrors President Barack Obama’s view that man is causing global warming.

I’m not sure how to explain this, since so many factors have come to light in the last three months that should at least generate doubt in the minds of so many supposedly smart people.

Back in November, a hacker gained access to the emails of several prominent global warming experts in Great Britain.

These emails, in part, showed that the most important researcher, Phil Jones willingly chose to hide the fact that the earth has been cooling for the last 10 years.

Since November, Global Warming skepticism has exploded, and most recently, Phil Jones has shown to be an absolute fraud, admitting that several key data entries were wildly exaggerated, including tree rings from Russia and the Hockey Stick graph, and most recently, that he destroyed the papers that prove his science.

The British government has since determined someone at East Anglia committed a crime by refusing to release global warming documents sought in 95 Freedom of Information Act requests

An investigation by the U.K.’s left-leaning Guardian newspaper found evidence that Chinese weather station measurements not only were seriously flawed, but couldn’t be located

An Indian climate official admitted in January that, as lead author of the IPCC’s Asian report, he intentionally exaggerated when claiming Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035 in order to prod governments into action.

Russian think tank investigators evaluated thousands of documents and e-mails leaked from the East Anglia research center and concluded readings from the coldest regions of their nation had been omitted, driving average temperatures up about half a degree. (What to say to a Warmer, Mark Landsbaum)

There is more, just two weeks ago, Phil Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.

And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming.

But since The Granholm Administration and the Obama Administration will not address these new issues, and since so much money and so many reputations are riding on the deeply flawed science of global warming, this fight is very chaotic.

Further, because of the inability of the Obama Administration to pass Cap and Trade through the Senate, they are planning on using the EPA to force regulations on businesses especially coal plants, the likes of which will cause more costs to you and I.

Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA has signaled that perhaps the department will not address the concerns it previously had with coal plants and other industries because of the concern that the economy is doing very badly.

She has said that maybe it is better to wait for the economy to pick up before the administration goes ahead and crushes it.

It is up to us.  Those of us that have been fighting to get the facts of the situation out to the public, and those of us that have been working to improve our children’s economic future.

From my research, I can clearly see how global warming hysteria, political wrangling, and outright lying have delayed the process of Wolverine Clean Energy Venture.  Any questions of medical ailments and pollution have already been addressed by the MDEQ in November of 2008, when they declared the plant meets and surpasses all air quality standards.

The only sticking point in this debate is the regulation of Carbon Dioxide.  We exhale Carbon Dioxide and plants need it to grow.  To illustrate the make-up of our atmosphere,  envision a stadium filled with 10,000 people, only 4 of them would account for the carbon dioxide. (Liberty and Tyranny, Mark Levin)

Environmental groups like to say that 30-40% of all Carbon Dioxide in the air is caused by the burning of coal and oil.  They like to say that we must stop burning these fuels because carbon dioxide is causing global warming.  But they are having a hard time explaining how.

Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth has been shown to be almost completely false, and now, amid all this controversy, the former Vice President has offered a weak argument in the NY Times opinion page, basically saying, ‘well, nobody’s perfect.’

However, last week, at a board meeting, Al Gore, who sits on the board of Apple Inc., was ridiculed by other members.  One member said that Gore “has become a laughingstock. The glaciers have not melted,”  referring to Gore’s views on global warming. “If his advice he gives to Apple is as faulty as his views on the environment then he doesn’t need to be re-elected.

Because of the commitment by the Obama administration to ‘do something about global warming’ I believe they are purposely avoiding all of the information flowing out of media sources outside of the US.  Very recently, some very prominent media sources including major American newspapers have finally started to report these findings.

Additionally, because the Administration is using the EPA to create regulations that congress couldn’t pass through legislation, it is catching major flak from representatives of coal-producing areas and labor leaders.

From the New York Times–The lawmakers warn that federal regulations will be unwieldy and could have crippling economic consequences.
“When Congress passed the Clean Air Act, it never gave EPA the explicit authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for the purpose of stopping global climate change,”Representative Ike Skelton said in a statement. “But, that is exactly what EPA has proposed to do.”
Skelton said the joint resolution would stop EPA from implementing its proposed climate regulations “that would likely be very costly to farmers, business owners, Midwestern utilities, and consumers.”  That describes us in this little town.

From the Wall Street Journal–A top labor leader warned the White House that his unions fear new rules being crafted by the administration to cut greenhouse-gas emissions may have “severe negative consequences.” —-Aggressive implementation of [greenhouse gas] mitigation options available under the Clean Air Act could have severe negative consequences for our workers,” the labor leader wrote in a Jan. 27 letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The Building and Construction Trades Department has around 1.5 million members in the U.S., with more than a dozen unions representing iron-workers, electrical workers, pipe-fitters, plumbers, and boilermakers.—Just a note, the union that represents the workers at Calcite is the Boilermakers.

The EPA earlier this week said it would delay some of its actions, which Administrator Lisa Jackson said was partly out of economic considerations.
Some industry officials said the delay also may help neutralize the growing controversy as the November midterm elections approach.
But even with the delay, energy-industry officials say they are concerned the EPA’s plans may force the premature closure of some coal-fired power plants and prevent new refinery and natural gas projects from moving ahead.

This story is not over by a long shot, I hope that many of you will begin to tune your ears to any news having to do with what I have layed out in this speech.  It will help you understand just what is happening nationally that is affecting our little town.