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EPA
Pledges Superfund Aid for Dow Dioxin Cleanup; New Director Could Also
Influence Karn-Weadock’s Future
By Mike Thompson
Federal environmental cleanup Superfund status will be granted for
Dow Chemical dioxin contamination along more than 50 miles of the
Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers, new EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has
stated.
Jackson is President Barack Obama’s activist choice to lead the
Environmental Protection Agency, and she indicates that big changes are
in store.
In a May 26 statement, Jackson pledges “to accelerate this cleanup
and deal with the pressing threats to human health and the environment.”
The EPA has scheduled a meeting to “update new developments” for
6:30 p.m. on June 17, a Wednesday, at Saginaw Valley State University’s
Curtiss Hall.
Meanwhile, Consumers Energy is answering critics of a planned
coal-fired plant in Bay County by asserting, in essense, that new coal
plants are far cleaner than old ones. Foes of the Karn-Weadock facility
continue to insist that more emphasis should go for alternatives such as
wind, solar and geothermal.
Jackson also could have a yet-unknown role in fate of Karn-Weadock’s
scheduled opening of the new coal facility in 2017. For example, carbon
dioxide greenhouse gas emissions are not measured in Consumers Energy’s
go-ahead permit from the Michigan Public Service Commission, but
Jackson’s revamped EPA could put limits in place.
New EPA Leader Issues Strong Statement
Environmental activists such as Saginaw’s Michelle Riddick and Bay
County’s Terry Miller have stated on the dioxin front that Dow Chemical,
while sometimes appearing to cooperate on dioxin studies and cleanup, is
not moving quickly.
The wording of Lisa Jackson’s official statement, issued on the day
after Memorial Day, indicates that faster action is coming.
“The Dow Chemical site in Midland, Michigan contains significant
dioxin contamination that extends for 50 miles down the Tittabawassee
and Saginaw Rivers and into the Saginaw Bay. EPA is stepping up our
commitment to this site, in partnership with the state of Michigan,”
Jackson wrote.
“The agency will not hesitate to use all tools at its disposal ---
including a wide range of penalties and sanctions — to ensure Dow
Chemical upholds its responsibility to clean up this site. If Dow fails
to meet its responsibilities, EPA will conduct the cleanup at the
company’s expense.”
The June 17 session at Curtiss Hall will unveil “milestones and
schedules for achieving a comprehensive and expeditious cleanup,”
Jackson stated, promising to “accelerate the long-delayed scientific
process to complete the assessment of the health risks dioxins pose to
the public.”
She is aiming for a draft report by the end of this year and a final
report before the close of 2010. As part of this process, EPA review of
a Dow-funded dioxin study is slated within the upcoming four months.
Jackson pledged “an unprecedented degree of transparency during
these negotiations, so the public has a full opportunity to be heard.”
In the case of the Karn-Weadock plant, opponents continue to insist
that a lack of transparency is taking place with Consumers Energy and
the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Michigan clean energy advocates say the commission failed to release
detailed documents that provide the stated need for a new plant. These
documents are the basis for what officially is called Consumers Energy’s
Electric Generation Alternatives Analysis.
In contrast to Lisa Jackson’s new approach at EPA, the state
commission will not conduct hearings and is allowing a scant 30 days for
written public comment.
“One could easily conclude that Consumers Energy is afraid their
detailed documents will not bear up under public scrutiny,” said Anne
Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Executive Director. “The Public
Service Commission should either halt the comment period until we get
all of the documents, or require their immediate release. Otherwise,
they are calling into question the integrity of this important public
process.”
Consumers Energy Argues for Karn-Weadock
Consumers Energy responded with a press release that states “a
balanced portfolio of diverse energy resources will be needed to meet
the future power demands of the utility's 1.8 million electric
customers.”
"Even using historically low customer demand growth assumptions,
it's clear that we'll need to move forward aggressively on energy
efficiency, renewable energy expansion, and a new clean coal plant to
serve customers with reliable, competitively priced electricity in the
future," said John Russell, Consumers Energy's president and chief
operating officer, in a prepared statement.
Consumers Energy argues lack of Karn-Weadock construction actually
would cause more pollution through extended reliance on existing
coal-fired plans.
“The utility has the oldest fleet of coal plants in the nation.
Those units have an average age of 50 years,” states a Consumers Energy
press release. "Eventually replacing several of the company's older,
less efficient plants with an advanced supercritical pulverized coal
plant will
significantly reduce the company's system-wide emissions and have a
positive impact on the air quality in Michigan."
New technology, says Consumers Energy, will reduce emissions as
follows: sulfur dioxide 91 percent, nitrogen oxides 83 percent, mercury
81 percent, carbon dioxide 10 to 15 percent. Consumers Energy further
states that carbon capture could allow even more CO-2 emissions to be
controlled
Carbon capture is a highly controversial proposed method to store
greenhouse gases within the earth’s surface. Critics of carbon capture
assert that energy for this process could require even more coal to be
burned, a self-fulfilling procedure, while reducing incentives to
produce alternative energy. |
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