‘Time for decision’ says Hoekstra on permit
by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor
Congressman Pete Hoekstra, the leading Republican candidate for Michigan governor, said the state shouldn?t be the one to get in the way of progress when it comes to Wolverine Power. Hoekstra, who defeated twenty-six year Republican incumbent Guy Vander Jagt in the congressional primary of 1992, announced his intention to run for governor last year and not run for a tenth term in Washington.
THE HOLLAND congressman was in Rogers City Tuesday as part of his ?100 job tour? of Michigan, getting a chance to ride along with Carmeuse heavy equipment driver Scott Grulke in the Calcite Quarry. Foreman Al Pines and site operations manager Joe Chevreaux helped host the tour of the quarry. While on the tour, Hoekstra heard firsthand about the proposed 600-megawatt power plant from Wolverine officials. Wolverine is anxiously awaiting word from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environement (DNRE) on the status of its air quality permit?the permit to install for the power plant.
?What you see is a lot of potential up here. Businesspeople are talking about opportunities here in northeastern Michigan and the state is the barrier. It is not that the state has said no, it is that the state hasn?t said anything,? Hoekstra said. He said the state should give Wolverine an answer, which he would do if he were the governor. The designated ?decision-maker? is a person from the DNRE, but that person is hired by the governor. The real decision-maker on the permit is ultimately the governor, Wolverine officials have said.
?I THINK YOU should reach a decision. And if the decision was we are not going ahead with the project, then you would say here is what you need to do to amend it so we can move forward. Or just say we are going to do this and move forward at full speed. But I think the most important thing here, and what you need out of leadership, is decisions and direction so that you can get things moving,? he said.
In a region with the highest rate of unemployment in the country, it is ?not a time to sit on your hands and kind of waste time? thinking about what you want to do, he said. ?People want jobs and they want to go back to work. The governor has got to make a decision.? As for his time in the big truck, Hoekstra enjoyed his ride from the blast site to the crusher. ?Like the driver said, he has got the best job in the world. He has got the biggest truck in the biggest sandbox, so that is not a bad place to be,? Hoekstra said. KEN BRADSTREET AND Brian Warner of Wolverine, gave Hoekstra a presentation on the Wolverine project in a meeting room at Calcite.
They explained the permitting process, the need for the power plant and why Rogers City is an ideal location for the power plant. ?Carmeuse ships five to ten million tons of stone from this port every year. All of those boats come in here empty. Anybody that is the shipping business you understand that if you can haul both ways, you cut your shipping costs in half,? Bradstreet told Hoekstra. Boats would arrive with fuel for the power plant and leave with high-quality limestone, should the project go through. Wastewater from the crusher could be used in the power plant. Equipment and employees could be shared as well, Bradstreet explained. LIMESTONE, — USED in the circulating fluidized bed process is readily available, cu
?It would be the cleanest plant in Michigan and one of the cleanest in the country,? Bradstreet said. ?We believe we can manage our future by taking control of it. This is, I believe, the best site in the Midwest for developing a solid fuel power plant,? Warner told Hoekstra. Bradstreet said the governor encouraged Wolverine to file for the carbon capture grant last year, but has not publicly supported Wolverine since. Chances of getting the grant for up to 80 percent of the cost of building the carbon sequestration system is dim without the air quality permit by mid-May.
Wolverine obtained a permit for a harbor expansion last year and another one for its landfill last month. According to published reports, a Rasmussen poll had Hoekstra leading on the Republican ticket for governor of Michigan followed by Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder, Attorney General Mike Cox, and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.