DEQ hearing

by Richard Lamb Advance Editor

Hours of exhausting comment ended last Thursday as 86 different people stepped up to the microphone during the two-day public hearing at Rogers City High School. The people offered their thoughts on the draft permit to install granted to Wolverine Power by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

The comments were directed to Air Quality Division chief C. Vinson Hellwig, the designated ?decision-maker? on the permit, who sat next to moderator Dave Nadolsky at a table facing the audience and the podium.

MANY LOCAL residents spoke on the issue of granting a permit for Wolverine?s 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant and several from outside the area voiced their opinions.

Nadolsky cautioned the audience that the purposed of the meeting was to gather comments, not to serve as a rally. ?After the close of the public comment period, the decision-maker will review all written and verbal comments received. All significant air-quality related comments will be considered,? Nadolsky said. The decision-maker can deny the permit, approve the permit as drafted, or approve it with provisions, Nadolsky told the audience.

Although all commentators didn?t comment directly on the air quality permit, there was no shortage of opinions given over two days of testimony. More than 600 attended the first session, many in white T-shirts with support for Wolverine, far out-numbering those in opposition. Around 200 attended the second night, with barely 75 people left in the gymnasium when the session ended at 10:30 p.m.

FRANK KELLEY, FORMER Alpena attorney and retired after 37 years as attorney general for Michigan, had the honor of testifying first on the first night of testimony. ?I have been informed that the staff experts of the DEQ for the state of Michigan have deemed this Rogers City project as safe and exceeding the state and federal standards in many areas,? he said. He called Rogers City as the ?envy of communities all over Michigan.? Because emissions are drastically reduced and the plant would have the capacity to burn bio-fuels, he feels it worthy of his support. ?There are groups opposed to the project, but I don?t believe they have science and all the facts about alternative energy and the clean energy ventures which are part of this Rogers City project. This is a situation where the opportunity is obvious and you should seize it now,? he said.

ONE OF THE most vocal local residents, Jean Veselenak, a retired second-grade teacher from Rogers City testified two times on both days against the power plant. ?The union of concerned scientists said that renewable energy could generate two and one-half times more jobs than coal plants. This technology has arrived,? she said. She told of solar and wind energy being used at other places and implored Hellwig to have Wolverine use the new ?healthy? technology.

MICHAEL CENTALA OF Rogers City also testified two times each day, one of four to do so. He said the draft permit is ?an objective piece of evidence showing compliance with all the federal and state laws? needed. He said those opposed have brought seven areas of concern to the forefront including the source of the fuels, storage of fuels, emissions and controls, waste products of fuels, carbon dioxide, and mercury and lead emissions. He quoted comments made October 1 in Rogers City by DEQ scientists, which said the permit meets all regulations regarding those concerns.

Lee Sprague, representing the Sierra Club, said pollution output from coal-fired power plants in Michigan in the year 2010 would ?contribute to 981 deaths, 1,700 heart attacks, 115 lung cancer deaths, 25,000 asthma attacks, 1,000 hospital admissions, 700 cases of chronic bronchitis, 1,500 emergency room visits and hundreds of thousands of hours in lost productivity in schools for time off for children.? He said because of failures in the permit to address conditions of the federal clean air act, the permit should be denied and further called the Wolverine proposal a ?backwards step in technology.?

SUPPORTERS OF THE plant included representatives from three labor unions, two representatives from Alpena Community College, and many local business people.

Rogers City mayor Beach Hall led off the second day of testimony by saying he has total confidence that the DEQ professionals have done their job to protect local citizens. ?Since I have been mayor, we have focused on economic development and creation of jobs. That continues, regardless of what will happen with this permit. However I must say that since the announcement of the power plant some two and one-half years ago, the vast majority of the citizens that have talked to me have been in support of the project. They have been saying how soon, when and hurry up,? Hall said.

Several governmental bodies sent representatives to speak. Bob Schell, a county commissioner from Onaway, voiced the county board?s support for the project, as did John Roby, representing

the Presque Isle County Economic Development Corporation and Ralph Kortman, representing Rogers Township, site of the power plant.

Ray Zielinski, representing the Rogers City Planning Commission, and Jim Przybyla of the Rogers City Community Development Authority read letters of support, as did William Valentine on behalf of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Onaway mayor Gary Wregglesworth voiced his support as did Peter Pettalia, candidate for state representative for the 106th district A representative for U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak voiced the congressman?s support of the plant.

At the conclusion of the public comment period, which has been extended to early January, the DEQ will announce its decision on whether to issue the permit as drafted, to deny the permit, or to issue the permit with provisions. No timetable is set for that announcement.

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