Wolverine?s amendment brings several opposing views

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

A request by Wolverine Power Cooperative to have its special use permit amended, so the company can burn biomass fuels in its proposed power plant, was tabled until the next Presque Isle County Planning Commission meeting in two months. The Cadillac based company submitted a definition of the biomass materials they want to use, which consists mostly of forestry and agriculture products. Wolverine presented updated information to the commission stating they would like to burn non-treated wood, wood residue, bark, or any derivative fuel such as sawdust, sander dust, woodchips, slabs, millings, shavings, processed pellets, switchgrass and any other similar fuels.

Commission member Bud DeLong is concerned that the original proposal brought to the commission and approved last summer called for the company to burn coal only, an issue that was at the center of several minutes of debate, so he made a motion to table the issue. DeLong wants Wolverine to bring more information to the board in May and for the public to be able to comment on the change to the SUP.

?DURING OUR original discussions regarding this permit, Wolverine made several references to our potential attempt to use bio-mass in the original special use permit process,? said Brian Warner, director of environmental services, and one of two officials from the company in attendance. ?The use of biomass, however, at that time was not very well defined. Since then we?ve learned more about the design of the boilers and the ability of the boilers to use the biomass.?

Warner said there had been a concern that the company was interested in burning other items such as medical and animal waste, or tires. DeLong took exception to Warner?s comments, saying he reviewed the tapes of the original meeting. He said there was ?never another request for anything other than coal in the permit.? DeLong said he remembers the late Sam Felax, who served on the commission, asking what materials were going to be burned. DeLong said the answer was ?coal only.? Warner presented documents that demonstrated that Wolverine?s original presentation to the planning commission referred to alternative fuels, and the permit was approved ?as applied for.? Commission chairman Mike Libby?s interpretation of the presentation by Wolverine officials was that the plant would be ?coal based.? The planning commission approved a SUP for the building of a power plant in the quarry south of Rogers City last July.

SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS, which are opposed to the plant?s construction, believe the inclusion of petroleum coke, as a fuel, along with the biomass materials, was not what the planning commission originally approved. Six groups, which include the local Citizens for Environmental Inquiry, as well as representatives from regional organizations such as Clean Water Action; Michigan Energy Alternatives, of Traverse City; the Michigan Environmental Council, the Michigan Land Use Institute, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, signed a letter requesting the board and the public get an opportunity to take a closer look at the current SUP and the amendment. Tom Karas from the Michigan Energy Alternative project was one of a handful of speakers at the meeting. He submitted a five page letter to the board that asserts that burning petroleum coke is a ?major departure from the stipulation in the county?s SUP,? and that the commission must either cancel it and start over, or reopen the process to make amendments.

The letter, which Karas said was researched and written by the Environmental Law and Policy Center, cites problems with transporting biomass materials, storing, burning, as well as the disposing of post combustion waste. Several citizens from the audience, who are members of the groups opposed to the plant, posed questions they would like Wolverine to answer, such as the amount of mercury that will be released and the elevation of the emissions. ?(Wolverine) needs to answer one question, and one question in particular, how they plan on putting the fly-ash with the mercury in it, below the lake level, and below the aquifer, or are they not,? said Tom Harkleroad, a former planning commission member who voted against the SUP last year. ?They had the opportunity way back in 2006 and wouldn?t answer.?

ROGERS CITY resident Dwight Henley spoke in favor of the amendment. ?Biomass will make it cleaner if you are worried about emissions,? he said. ?I?m not necessarily in agreement with pet-coke, because I don?t like how it smells, but overall the plant needs to go forward. ?We need to bring jobs here. The day I retire from the military is the day I have to leave town to find a decent job. I am sick and tired of watching the community I?ve grown up in most of my life, that I care about, die.?

Jim Dulzo of the Michigan Land Institute criticized the board, saying they ?moved really fast and not very carefully.? He added that Wolverine has given ?you the minimal amount of information so you would still approve it, and then they could do what they want.? Dulzo said heavy regulations for coal-fired plants are coming from lawmakers and Wolverine wants to build the plant before they go in place.

?YOU CAN beli

eve in global warming, or you cannot believe in global warming,? said Dulzo. ?The fact is the political will is there now, and (increased regulations) are going to happen soon. They (Wolverine) know that, and Wall Street knows that.? He said The Wall Street Journal has articles a couple of times of month about plans for power plants being cancelled. ?Three years ago there were 115 coal plants on the drawing table,? said Dulzo. ?It?s half that amount now. It is not going to get any better with the credit crunch we?ve got going on.? He urged the commission to ?break out of the box and start thinking more creatively.?

Board member Julian Pilarski defended the commission saying, ?We knew this would be an initial start of the process and we knew there would be some things that needed to be worked through.? Roger Fleming seconded the motion to table the issue and schedule a public meeting. Libby provided the only ?no? vote. Commission members Richard Wright and Fran Brink did not attend the meeting. The next meeting will be May 15.

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