Citizens urge Granholm to reject dirty coal amid public opposition

Natural Resources Defense Council, “A Green Energy Alternative for Michigan,”
http://docs.nrdc.org/energy/ene_09081101.asp

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009

New study shows Michigan benefits all around from clean energy, energy efficiency as thousands oppose dirty coal projects

Lansing – With 8,000 citizens opposing the development of new dirty coal plants in Michigan, citizens groups are calling on Gov. Jennifer Granholm to reject permits to build new plants and invest instead in clean energy – something a landmark new report recommends could jumpstart Michigan’s economy and create jobs.

The public comment period for the last of two coal plant proposals ended Monday and now a decision on the plants rests with the Granholm administration.

“The people of Michigan have spoken and the message is loud and clear: No dirty coal, more clean renewable energy, “ Clean Water Action–Michigan Executive Director Cyndi Roper said. “Gov. Jennifer Granholm slowed the rush to build new coal plants by forcing the coal and power industry to prove there were no feasible and prudent alternatives to meet Michigan’s energy needs – and they failed. Now we call on her to take the only possible next step and that’s rejecting the two dirty coal plant proposals in Rogers City by Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative and Bay City by Consumers Energy. We also call on her to help set in motion the decommissioning of some existing dirty coal plants owned by Consumers Energy that the company identifies as the ‘oldest fleet in the nation.’ ”

According to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Michigan can meet its energy needs through a combination of wind power, biomass, and other renewable energy sources coupled with aggressive energy efficiency programs. The report comes as the Michigan Public Service Commission prepares to make recommendations to the Department of Environmental Quality on the need for power and availability of cleaner alternative to coal, following the end of a public comments period. Among the NRDC’s findings:

• Energy efficiency program alone could save Michigan $3 billion in electricity costs over the next 20 years.
  
• Michigan’s previous energy plan, written in 2007, is out of date, with unrealistic projections of future electrical demand, limited implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and reliance on outdated 20th century coal technologies.
  
• Clean renewable energy is less expensive, cleaner, faster, more economically robust, and creates more jobs in Michigan than a 20th century plan based on new but obsolete large power plants driven by fossil fuels.
  

“Gov. Jennifer Granholm has the opportunity to set Michigan on the path to clean energy and away from building any new dirty coal plants that will send Michigan backwards,” said Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Director Anne Woiwode. “The governor has been leading the charge to turn Michigan into a hub of clean energy production for the nation. Doing so will create thousands of jobs in the rapidly growing field of renewable energy and protect our land, air and water. It’s a win-win for Michigan – and this landmark new Natural Resources Defense Council report shows how.”

The citizens groups called on Granholm to put the final nail in the coffin for the new coal plant projects in Michigan after the DEQ ended public comments on the proposed Bay City coal plant on August 11 and one in Rogers City Monday. At one point, Michigan faced up to eight possible new coal plants – more than any other state. Intense public pressure campaigns prevented a rubber stamp of at least three coal projects, including Rogers City and Bay City. Citizens also called on the governor to begin decommissioning Consumers Energy’s oldest, most polluting coal plants.

“Closing the door to coal plants will protect public health and create 21st Century clean energy jobs,” Progress Michigan Executive Director David Holtz said. “Governor Jennifer Granholm has led the charge to build a clean energy future for Michigan. She can help us win the battle against dirty coal once and for all by walking away from coal permanently and investing our resources and our talents in wind, solar and other forms of renewable clean energy.”

Clean Water Action, Sierra Club and NRDC were joined by a number of other organizations in challenging the proposed coal permits, including the Environmental Law & Policy Center. 

House Agriculture Passes Meaningless Animal Welfare Bills

Sierra Club Press Statement by Gayle Miller, Legislative Director

Today the House Agriculture Committee passed a package of so-called Animal Welfare bills over the strong objections of the environmental community, the Michigan Farmers Union representing small, non-industrialized farms, the State Bar of Michigan, faith groups, animal welfare organizations and more. Four of the six democrats on the committee opposed the bills or passed when the vote was taken.
The bills set up an expensive and unnecessary regulatory process requiring all farms in the state – from animal factories on down to hobby farmers – to hire auditors to oversee the way they care for their animals. The farm audit system established in the bills specifies that the auditor work for the farm, and not the people of Michigan, creating an immediate conflict of interest. What’s worse, all information collected by the auditor stays on the farm, guaranteeing that the public can learn nothing about the food they eat.

After four hours of vigorous debate in the committee, and vocal opposition by Rep. Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills), even the Department of Agriculture agreed that the state already has the authority to require better standards for animal welfare. The bills, however, actually put implementation of existing animal welfare standards on hold until 2020, delaying compliance with care standards that should already be in place – meaning the bills are a stall tactic.

Representatives Barnett and Valentine (D-Muskegon) urged Chairman Simpson (D-Jackson) to postpone a vote on the bills so that a workgroup could be established that would include a broader section of the public and farming community. However, the bills as passed by the Committee today were negotiated behind closed doors between the Chairman, the Farm Bureau and industrial producer groups. Other groups were not invited.

The Sierra Club is particularly concerned with the self-regulatory audit program. Similar programs suggesting how animal factories operate have for years enabled CAFOs to cause severe air and water pollution in rural communities while preventing rural residents and communities from protecting their public health.

Fundamentally the package of bills is designed to keep the public from knowing how their food is produced. The horrific conditions often found within animal factories will not be solved by this package, but will instead allow business to continue as usual. The public will have less, not more, information and confidence in the quality of their food if these bills pass.

People who have first-hand knowledge of CAFO-style food production are seeking alternatives – thus the boom in farm markets and direct, farm-to-consumer marketing. Unfortunately, the small producers feeding these hungry markets will be unfairly burdened by these new regulations.

The Farm Bureau and industrial agriculture have fought meaningful regulation for years. The fact that these groups are now asking for additional regulation should raise a red flag. 

Sierra Club is OPPOSED to these bills

Position Statement

SBs 13, 431, 434 – 436 and 438 – 439: MDEQ “Reform”

Votes pertaining to these bills may be included on the Sierra Club’s legislative scorecard.

Issue Background
These bills purport to “reform” the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) as follows:

• SB 13 – Requires State Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules (SOAHR) to analyze each new rule proposed by a regulatory agency to see if it exceeds federal standards, etc.
  
• SB 431 – Requires SOAHR to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of each new proposed rule and deny rulemaking that exceeds federal standards
  
• SB 434 – Prohibits Michigan from enacting environmental protections stronger than federal law and limits regulatory actions and rulemaking
  
• SB 435 – requires regular review of rules to assess impact on small businesses, etc.
  
• SB 436 – Shifts permitting activities to private contractors working for the permit
  applicant and requires MDEQ to rush permitting activities.
  
• SB 438 requires the MDEQ to use stratified random sampling for inspections of
  permitted facilities.
  
• SB 439 – Requires a benchmark analysis of MDEQ regulatory programs administered
  by a newly created review board

Sierra Club Perspective
For years there have been attempts by certain lawmakers and some factions of the regulated community to undermine the MDEQ’s ability to do its job of protecting of Michigan’s valuable natural resources and the health of the public. This package of bills is no different.

Despite the fact that the MDEQ continues to face crushing budget shortfalls, recent surveys indicate that the majority of the regulated community is very satisfied with the service they obtain from the agency.

These bills would have devastating impacts on environmental protections in Michigan, putting both public health and the environment at risk. They would tie the MDEQ in knots, with mountains of regulatory red tape, and put industry in charge of regulating itself.

These bills will do nothing to improve the MDEQ’s ability to do its job. On the contrary, they are designed to cripple the agency. They also constitute a huge waste of the state’s scarce financial resources.

Michigan must not abdicate its authority over environmental protection to the federal government. Our state must maintain both the authority and the funding to protect citizens, our air quality, the Great Lakes, and Michigan’s other natural resources. If we do otherwise, the theme of “Pure Michigan” will become nothing more than a joke.

Please contact the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter office at (517) 484-2372 for more information. June 17, 2009 

100 Coal Plants Prevented or Abandoned, Including 3 in Michigan

Movement Sparks Shift to Cleaner Energy

and Over 400 Million Fewer Tons of CO2

Contacts:
Anne Woiwode, Lansing 517-484-2372
Tiffany Hartung, SE Michigan and Bay City 248-549-6213
Lee Sprague, Northern and Western Michigan 616-570-1281
Jan O’Connell, Holland and Grand Rapids 616-956-6646

Washington, DC: As of today 100 coal plants have been defeated or abandoned since the beginning of the coal rush this century, including the Tondu Northern Lights Plant proposal in Manistee, the LS Power MidMichigan Energy plant proposal, and Northern Michigan University’s proposed heating plant in Marquette. In their place, a smart mix of clean energy solutions like energy efficiency, wind, solar and geothermal has stepped up to meet America’s energy needs. Last year 42 percent of all new power producing capacity came from wind, and for the first time the wind industry created more jobs than mining coal. Despite Michigan’s difficult economic situation, wind and solar energy manufacturing has been one of the bright spots for job creation in the state.

Coming just a week after Los Angeles, CA, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the city would end coal use by 2020, and announced the same day as a decision by Basin Electric Power in South Dakota to pull plans for a new coal-fired power plant, the Intermountain Power coal plant in Utah became the 100th prevented coal plant. The decision marks a significant milestone in the shift to clean energy.

“The shift has clearly started toward a cleaner, healthier, more secure future,” said Tiffany Hartung, Associate Regional Representative for the Sierra Club in Royal Oak. “The decisions not to pursue three plants in Michigan already have opened the path for our state to be a vital part of a new economy powered by clean energy. But that path could be blocked if Consumers Energy, Wolverine Power Supply and Holland Board of Public Works are allowed to build their proposed plants.”

For the past six years the Sierra Club and its allies have been running a hard-hitting campaign to expose the dirty truth about coal. Tremendous grassroots pressure, rising costs, and upcoming federal carbon regulations all contributed to the demise of the 100 plants. In Michigan the Clean Energy Now coalition has turned out hundreds of volunteers to public hearings, held rallies and met with officials to push for cleaner alternatives to the eight proposed coal plants proposed during the past two years. Governor Granholm has responded to these concerns by requiring that these plants show whether alternatives to coal, including energy efficiency, would meet Michigan’s needs better than building expensive, dirty new coal plants.

The proposed Consumers Energy Karn Weadock Plant expansion, the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative proposed Rogers City plant and the Holland Board of Public Works proposed plant expansion would add more than 8,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year, more than 100 pounds of mercury, and more than 1,500 tons of lung damaging soot. These plants would not only damage the Great Lakes, Michigan’s fisheries and the health of young and old living nearby, they would take away funds for investment in energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy sources with job creation in Michigan.

"The growing opposition to the remaining six coal plant proposals* in Michigan is just one part of a growing nationwide movement,” said Lee Sprague, Sierra Club Michigan Clean Energy Campaign Manager. “It’s clear that the American people are ready for a switch to the clean energy technologies that can help repower our economy.”

That movement has kept well over 400 million tons of harmful global warming pollution out of the air annually, making significant progress in the fight against global warming. Stopping 100 new coal plants has also kept thousands of tons of asthma causing soot and smog pollution, as well as toxins like mercury out of our air and water.

As the new coal rush ends in many states the Sierra Club is working to replace existing dirty and unreliable coal plants that are large contributors to health harming soot, smog and mercury pollution with cleaner energy options that create more jobs.

“The coal industry right here in Michigan is still pushing forward with plans for a half dozen new plants and pouring money into slick advertising campaigns and lobbying efforts in Lansing and statewide,” said Jan O’Connell, Sierra Club Energy Issues Organizer in Grand Rapids. “So while the coal rush may be entering a new phase in some parts of the country, it is far from over here.”

For more, visit www.sierraclub.org/100coalplants .
For more about what’s happening in Michigan visit Clean Energy Now and Stop the MichiganCoal Rush

* In addition to Consumers Energy Karn Weadock, Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative and Holland Board of Public Works, three other plant proposals have yet to be cancelled: Lansing Board of Water and Light, Alma M&M Energy, and Tondu’s Filer Township plant expansion proposal.

VICTORY!! NMU "voids" Air Permit for Proposed Coal Heating Cogeneration Plant

Sierra Club applauds Northern Michigan University's decision to "void" its state-issued air pollution permit for a coal and wood fired heating and cogeneration plant on campus. The decision came after Sierra Club successfully appealed the permit issued a year ago by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The appeal led the USEPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) to remand the permit back to the state agency to correct several deficiencies, most notably the failure to control carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, two potent greenhouse gases.

The NMU decision to drop coal as part of its fuel mix in the heating plant makes it the 97th coal plant canceled in the USA since 2001. The university's decision to abandon coal is much more consistent with their efforts to move the campus forward with green technologies and energy efficiency. NMU became a member of the US Green Building Council in 2004 and in 2006 its Meyland Hall became the first LEED Certified building at any Michigan university as well as the first in the Upper Peninsula. NMU staff began researching possible wind and solar energy applications for the campus following the Sierra Club's successful appeal of the permit. 

VICTORY! LS Power Midland Coal Plant Shelved

Sierra Club and Clean Energy Now Allies Cheer Clean Energy Opportunities!

LS Power announced May 1st it is abandoning plans for MidMichigan Energy, a massive coal plant near Midland, Michigan. This plant would have emitted more than 4.4 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of adding 800,000 cars onto our highways.

The plant is the 97th to be defeated or abandoned since the beginning of the 2001 coal rush, and the third to be dropped by LS Power since the January 2009 dissolution of the company's partnership with Dynegy. Together Dynegy and LS Power were the largest new coal plant developers in the Nation.

Under a year long campaign by the Sierra Club and its allies, Dynegy dropped its plans to develop a host of new coal plants; and without Dynegy's support LS Power has only two coal plants still working through the permitting process, having already abandoned plans for coal plants in Iowa, Virginia, South Carolina and Nevada.

"As LS Power and other companies across the country have realized, with the election of President Obama and his commitment to clean energy and tackling global warming, our energy future is changing," said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. "Clean energy, such as wind, solar and energy efficiency, is where the future lies. The wind industry now employs more workers than coal mining. Clean solutions are the best investment for shareholders, ratepayers and job seekers."

Clean Energy Now, a leading coalition of environmental and watchdog groups, praised Midland area activists for successfully blocking the development of a new dirty coal plant in their community. The suspension of the coal-plant permit application is a boost for clean energy jobs in Michigan.

Due in large part to pressure from members of Midland CARES, Sierra Club and other Clean Energy Now members, Mid-Michigan Energy announced today that it is suspending its efforts to build a 750-megawatt coal-fired plant, the Saginaw News reported. The plant was scheduled to open in 2012.

“This is a great opportunity for new, clean, alternative energy companies to locate in Michigan and our region,” said Midland CARES member Nancy Janoch. “We need Michigan made jobs and Michigan made energy and this victory helps to move us in that direction.”

“It’s critical that local activists like members of Midland CARES continue the fight to protect Michigan families,” said Anne Woiwode of Sierra Club. “With the help and commitment of citizens, we can finally begin phasing out coal-fired power plants and move our state toward clean, renewable sources of energy.”

Through grassroots activism and public pressure, Midland CARES worked around-the-clock to educate their neighbors about the environmental health and economic disadvantages of building new coal plants.

“Nationally, we are moving to a clean energy economy. The plant cancelation offers an opportunity for communities in mid-Michigan to move back into step with the rest of the country rather than being left behind for the next half-century with a reliance on a dirty and antiquated energy source,” Shannon Fisk of the National Resources Defense Council. “Thanks to the efforts of Midland CARES, we are one step closer to realizing that goal.” 

72 Lawmakers Unite Behind Dirty, Expensive Coal

Seventy-two lawmakers (some of them being strong, clean energy supporters) have united behind dirty, expensive coal. Why? This is the question that needs to be asked of the legislators who signed a letter to Governor Granholm on March 19.

The letter, written by House Speaker Andy Dillon and Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer, urges Granholm to allow the construction of one or more coal-fired power plants in Michigan – despite the fact that coal-fired power plants are unneeded, extremely expensive, add to global warming pollution and fail to create sustainable, long-term jobs. In other words, coal plants are a waste of our money. Yet more than half of the members of the House of Representatives seem to want to do just that – to allow our scarce financial resources to go up in flames.

In her State of the State address, governor Granholm announced a critically important executive order to protect Michigan citizens from expensive and unnecessary energy costs. Executive Order 2009-2 requires all proposals for dirty coal-fired power plants, to be re-analyzed to first prove there is a need for the power, and then to prove there are not any cleaner, cheaper and better alternatives to meet that need. This ensures that Michigan citizens get the best deal for their energy dollar. Without this requirement, companies like Consumers Energy could dramatically increase residential ratepayers’ electric bills to pay for dirty, unneeded power -- and we'll have no choice but to pay for it.

Granholm’s action is in alignment with a package of energy bills passed by the legislature last year affecting Michigan’s two major utilities, DTE and Consumers Energy. The legislation ensures that proposed energy investments are needed, cost-effective, adequately protect the environment and create the most jobs. Her executive order imposes the same requirement on other energy providers like Lansing Board of Water and Light, Holland Board of Public Works, Wolverine Power Cooperative and others.

The executive order helps ensure that we invest first in clean, alternative energy such as wind, solar and energy efficiency – which create far more jobs, dramatically reduces financial risk and costs, and doesn’t pollute. And not building new, dirty coal plants will keep jobs here in Michigan, instead of shipping trainloads of money to mining companies to buy coal for these polluting plants.

However, the letter signed by the 72 House members urges Governor Granholm to rescind her order and allow the permitting and construction of coal-fired power plants. Four coal plants are currently waiting in line for permission to be constructed and then pollute.

Lawmakers who signed the letter need to be asked “WHY?”