What a long ride, but it’s not over, we got past the State, there is the EPA to deal with…

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

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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 most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
Ronald Reagan

The great election year of 2010.

In today’s Presque Isle Advance, three Democrat politicians issued statements in favor of getting funding for carbon capture, which Wolverine will not get unless there is an air quality permit granted by Jennifer Granholm.

My question is, where were they last year?  Or the year before?   The Michigan DEQ did it’s work to make sure the plant would be safe for the area in October of 2008.

Sen. Carl Levin, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rep. Bart Stupak each sent letters of recommendation to the DOE secretary in hopes of luring the funding and benefits to Michigan. PIAdvance 4/28/10

The three Democrats are writing the Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, to beg for your federal tax dollars to subsidize carbon sequestration technology.  Mind you, Stupak says, ” Michigan is a prime location for demonstrating the feasibility of carbon sequestration technology.”  Demonstrating the feasibility means, like I discuss in Part 20 of this series,  carbon capture and sequestration is an undeveloped process, and we, the rural citizens of Northern Michigan are supposed to bear the cost of trying to develop it.  All because of Al Gore and his junk science.  Even though it is not a mandate, nor a regulation, nor a law, Wolverine has to anticipate, that with this overbearing and controlling administration, that it will be necessary, eventually.  The money these politicians are seeking is about 176 million dollars.  Can I put this bluntly?  We are talking about regulating air!  Carbon Dioxide! The audacity of the Democrat Party here is ridiculous.

In Part 8, I use this quote to show just how long this air permit has been held back:

“The average time for a permit right now is running at about 70 days,” Dolehanty said. “But these applications for power plants have been in house as long as a year and one-half.” Wolverine submitted its air permit application September 26 of last year. Consumers Energy submitted its application October 15, Mid-Michigan turned in its application September 12 while Holland Board of Public Works submitted its application January 17, 2007.  PI Advance 7/3/08

Where were these Democrats December 6th of 2007, which would have been 71 days after submission of the application for the permit?  Or March 26th, 2009 which would have been one and a half years after the application was submitted?  Or how about the 399 days since then?   Could it be an election year?  Yes it is, and the Democrat Party is looking to ‘help’ Rogers City.  These three politicians are part of the Obama administration, and although they are not campaigning for office this year, this notice is a direct signal that they are posturing to make the Democrat Party look like they are good guys, giving Rogers City hope, when in fact, if it wasn’t for them and their interest in controlling everything, this project wouldn’t be so costly, and the ‘funding’ would not be necessary.

The good news is, this means we should have the permit in no time. The bad news is, Wolverine has had to undergo a lot of political bull to get this far, and it ain’t over.

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