Stay strong, Congressman Upton. The EPA’s overreach knows no bounds.

According to Politico, Chairman of the Energy Committee, Michigan Congressman Fred Upton is working with Inhofe and Whitfield to [...]]]>

Stay strong, Congressman Upton. The EPA’s overreach knows no bounds.

According to Politico, Chairman of the Energy Committee, Michigan Congressman Fred Upton is working with Inhofe and Whitfield to fight a court case with American Energy.

The lawmakers urged the judges to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed states and environmental groups to move ahead with a public “nuisance” lawsuit seeking to force the utilities to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

But while the EPA is working feverishly to impose more and more restrictions on the energy sector, the attorneys for the Obama administration seemingly dismiss the lawsuit as a public nuisance.

The Obama administration also asked the high court to reverse the ruling, arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and that the nuisance claims would be better handled by legislation or regulations than by the courts.

Obama administration attorneys say EPA was already moving forward with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which undercut the need for nuisance lawsuits.

Not to mention the need for jobs. The EPA is deciding by fiat what they will do to our economy. With regulations stopping energy from being produced, they certainly won’t be improving it.

The trio of lawmakers are also submitting legislation to strip the EPA of their drive to regulate greenhouse gases, which scares the NRDC, which is usually the proper reason to do just about anything. The Natural Resources Defense Council should be more aptly named, the Job Killing Busy Bodies. Hunters, Fisherman, Miners, and Farmers are the true Defenders of our Natural Resources, and the NRDC are actively trying to kill every way to make a living.

The EPA, the NRDC, the Sierra Club, the FOE, and Greenpeace are the greatest job killers in this nation, throwing people into poverty with no regard for the poor getting poorer, while they themselves get richer.

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.

The State of Michigan is headed for an Energy Crisis, and the Democrat Party is mostly to blame.

From the Alpena News:

According to a press release from Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s [...]]]>

The State of Michigan is headed for an Energy Crisis, and the Democrat Party is mostly to blame.

From the Alpena News:

According to a press release from Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office, the state’s decision is based on findings of the Michigan Public Service Commission, which said the company failed to demonstrate the plant was needed to meet future supply needs.

In October of 2008, the MDEQ affirmed that the Rogers City area was safe of air pollution from the proposed Wolverine Clean Energy plant.  So, the Granholm administration went to work to stop the plant by changing the rules.

Jennifer Granholm’s State of the State Address in 2009 laid out the unconstitutional plan to use the MPSC as the decision maker instead of the MDEQ.  Instead of arguing about the environmental impact, because her administration had just proved there would be little if any, she wanted to move the target.

So, in June of 2009, the MPSC started the process of being the office that would decide if the plant was needed by using future economic modeling.  Since the only way Northern Michigan could prosper was if the plant was approved, the future without the plant is pretty glum, therefore ensuring there would be no uptick in need for electricity.  Convoluted?  Welcome to bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, our genius Republican legislators thought it would be a grand idea to, at this point, merge the MDEQ and the DNR.

In September of 2009, the MDEQ was  combined with the DNR using a legislation package, a portion of which was proudly brought to the floor of the Senate by Jason Allen, as a measure to streamline government.  Allen  is now seeking a job as representative of the First District of Michigan in Washington D.C.

I’m all for smaller government, but, when you combine two departments like the MDEQ, who had already did their work in approving the plant, and the DNR, who had no interest in the plant whatsoever, dump tons of paperwork on this new “streamlined” government office, it makes it easier for the special interests and the Governor’s office to pressure and push for a decision.

Like it or not, Michigan career politicians, this is also partially your fault.

From the Alpena News:

Ultimately, the DNRE said Wolverine had not adequately demonstrated through the alternative analysis the inability to secure long-term power supply purchase arrangements, such as buying power from an existing power plant, to meet their member needs.

“Through the alternative analysis” means that after the State changed the rules, Wolverine didn’t follow the new rules and come up with the right numbers to make the control-freak governor happy.

How is it that the MDNRE has the power to tell a manufacturing company that they don’t need to manufacture, because they can buy it from somebody else?

If it was the Wolverine Jeans Company, and they wanted to hire people to build a jeans manufacturing plant, then hire more to manufacture the jeans, would our nanny government be able to tell them that they have no need to make jeans, because they are being made elsewhere?

The fact is, the Granholm Administration continually changed the rules and moved the target because she wants to please The Sierra Club and Green Peace, and all the green energy companies that she approved.

Consider these facts:

56 wind turbines only produce 180 MW of energy when the wind is blowing very hard, and none when it is calm.

Our side of the state does not produce enough wind to provide any energy.

It takes one month to construct 30 wind turbines on land.

Most wind turbines are made in Canada.

Off shore wind turbines would only be useful off the coast of the North Western Lower Peninsula, which also happens to be the most scenic, with the most beautiful sunsets, and extremely high property values.

It only takes one person to keep a windfarm running.

So, when Granholm’s office says that the jobs would be short term, the fact is, there is not much more short term than one month.  Wind energy and solar energy will not and cannot provide more energy.  The energy companies of Northern Michigan will continue to buy coal power from other states, and someday, these Democrat politicians interested in authoritarian control will be held to account.

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

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.

She isn’t a Democrat, she thinks of herself more as a QUEEN.

People around town are asking, “What is going on with the air [...]]]>

She isn’t a Democrat, she thinks of herself more as a QUEEN.

People around town are asking, “What is going on with the air permit?”  The only logical answer is that Jennifer Granholm wants Wolverine’s air permit put on hold until the EPA comes out with a plan to implement what the legislature tried to do with Cap and Trade.

You see, Jennifer Granholm does not want this clean coal plant to happen, and she believes that a small town in the frozen north is not going to harm her party’s chances at election time.

The Advance reports in the February 3, 2010 issue,

“Before determining whether to support the construction of a new coal-fired power plant that would cost Michigan ratepayers billions of dollars and affect Michigan’s environment and natural resources, 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,” Granholm’s Press Secretary Meghan Brown said.

First of all, the Governor needs to drop the, “I’m only looking out for the ratepayers,” bullcrap.  She is not concerned with the people of the north who belong to Co-ops.  She made that clear when she fast-tracked a 930 MW power plant downstate.

She can stop patronizing us with the idea that she is concerned this plant will hurt the environment.  Her own DEQ affirmed that Wolverine has done everything possible to protect the environment.

Since the beginning of this project, Wolverine has spent over 700 million dollars buying power from downstate utilities as well as Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.  So yes,  it is needed.

Most people think that if a person makes it to the Governorship, she must be intelligent.  So I have no idea why Granholm seems so thick about what is the best way to create power.  The better way to create electric power is to burn something, not wait for the wind to blow.

The decision of whether or not to issue the air permit to Wolverine is not being driven by politics – this is all about whether issuing the permit is the right policy for Michigan under the laws that govern air quality,”

Au contraire, this whole issue is politics.  The idea that we need an energy plant is political, the fact that Wolverine wishes to build it in the middle of a limestone quarry is political, the idea that the company has to hold public hearings is political, the environmental concerns are political.  And don’t think it has escaped many people’s notice that most of the people against this plant are Democrats, and most for the plant are Republicans.

The only part about this whole saga that is not political is the support from the local townspeople.  They are the ones who finally have hope that the schools won’t lose more funding, that the taxes collected from an operation like this along with the added tax base from an increase in population can mean the city can make improvements, the roads can be fixed, and all the other things this plant means.  The fact that there will be jobs!  Jobs.

What the Governor means by “under the laws that govern air quality,” is that she is waiting for the EPA to create some laws to govern carbon dioxide emissions.  At a time when the hoax of global warming is unraveling, and the news that a major scientist admitted he fudged numbers to make the case more compelling, and that there has been no warming since 1995, Granholm is sticking to her plan.

“Processing an air permit of this magnitude is enormously complex. The DNRE staff have received 6,500 individual comments on the proposed air permit, which must be reviewed, considered, and responded to before taking action on the permit. Permits like these take time to process – both in Michigan and around the country – because they have such important stakes,” Brown said.

Knowing everyday people like I do, I am willing to bet that about 6250 of those “individual” comments were drummed up by The Sierra Club and the Michigan Land Institute.  The type of comments we all heard at the public hearings.  Nit-picking to the nth degree, the environmentalists have nothing better to do but wonder if something may happen.  One committee member referred to the tactics by the environmentalists as “death by a thousand papercuts.”

THE ONLY consideration given to the permit is what the law allows, (DNRE) representative Bob McCann asserted, regardless of political pressures from outside organizations, both for and opposed to the power plant, or even from the governor’s office. “There is obviously a great deal of outside interest from a number of parties, however, decisions by our permitting staff are made solely on scientific and legal purposes. Quite simply, the law doesn’t allow for anything else,” McCann said. The wait continues.

If it’s the law that McCann is interested in, laws are made by congress.  That is how our system is set up.

But like I said, by the end of March, the EPA will provide the necessary law.

Click here to view Part 21

Tom Karas says quit [...]]]>

Click here to view Part 21

Tom Karas says quit “whining” while he kills our children’s future.

A couple of weeks back, I noticed that Tom Karas, an out-of town environmentalist, was planning to show up at the Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op annual meeting to formally demand a complete financial disclosure of Wolverine’s Power Plant proposal.  He stated so openly in an editorial in the Advance.

Knowing that he had been actively trying to kill the future of Rogers City by casting aspersions against the financing of the coal plant for almost two years now, I threw his demand back in his face.

Advance (10/29/09) Opinion:

To the editor,

As a member of Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op, I hereby introduce a motion demanding Tom Karas’ financial disclosure.  By carefully following the coal plant story for the past three years, I know he has started at least three web sites without disclosure to the public of who pays for them.  I know he has paid for at least one study that is biased in nature and shares his world view.  I also know that he himself has admitted that he gets paid from San Francisco to continue to force Wolverine to spend money to address his concerns.  I want to know who he is paid by, how much he is paid, and more importantly, how much money he stands to gain if this coal plant does not go through. I have been writing about this coal plant on my blog.  You can read it at http://jennerationx.wordpress.com/rogers-city-coal-plant/.

Jennifer M. Kuznicki

Rogers City(sic)

Hawks

Tom has distastefully responded to my inquiry by leaving an arrogant comment on my website and like a school-yard bully, sent me an email to try to get me to meet him for a photo-op in front of the Advance to accept his tax returns from last year.

I have decided to handle the inquiry in this manner.

As you can see by reading The Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in Rogers City, MI Part 5, my inquiry was a result of Karas’ own words.

Part 5--Quoting from the Advance, “Karas, who voiced his disapproval of Wolverine’s project on many levels, said he receives funding for his efforts from the Energy Foundation, based in San Francisco, California.  According to its website, the goal of the Energy Foundation is ‘to develop and promote U.S. state and regional policies to reduce global warming pollution in order to build models for, and momentum toward federal global warming policy.’    ‘They want me to do public education, ‘ Karas said.

The Energy Foundation funds 501(c)(3)s to which Karas would have to apply and receive funding for a certain project under a different name.

501 (c)(3) organizations include charitable, religious and educational groups. They pay no taxes on income, and contributions are tax deductible for donors. This is the only category of tax-exempt organizations with this fundraising advantage. One of the conditions for this favorable treatment is that these groups strictly prohibited from supporting or opposing candidates for public office. However, they are allowed to engage in a limited amount of legislative lobbying.

This funding would not show on his individual tax return.   I believe his “project” is to kill the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture.  The name used could be Co-op Conversations.

I do not “whine” in public, Tom.  I see you as a self-serving egotist who stands in the way of my children’s future.

Click here to view Part 23

click here to view Part 17

The Sierra Club’s Theatrics