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Karn-Weadock Coal Plant: One Step Back, One Forward By Mike Thompson On the mid-Michigan environmental front, even the holiday season wasn’t the time for Peace on Earth ...... or Peace Regarding the Earth. The corporate side won a victory, and then the environmentalists scored a triumph. Consumers Energy gained long-awaited Michigan Department of Environmental Quality air permit approval for the proposed Karn-Weadock coal-fired plant in Essexville. “This is a great Christmas present,” said State Senator Jim Barcia. But a few days later, federal EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced stricter dioxin cleanup standards in the Saginaw Bay watershed. The Lone Tree Council’s Michelle Hurd Riddick sounded as though she maybe/possibly was aware of Barcia’s remark. “This is a wonderful New Years’ present,” Riddick said. Give and take on two mid-Michigan flagship environmental issues shows no sign of abating in 2010, so keep watch for Valentine’s Day presents, Easter presents and so forth.
State Agencies Contradict One thing is for sure: President Barack Obama and Governor Jennifer Granholm may both be Democrats, but environmental activists nowadays are far more happy with Obama (and Lisa Jackson) than with Granholm. Mixed messages abound from the state environmental establishment under what critics describe as the “Granholm-Cherry Administration,” tossing in the name of Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, a candidate this year to succeed the term-limited Granholm. In September, a Michigan Public Service Commission reported that electricity from the $2.3 billion Karn-Weadock facility wouldn’t be needed until at least 2022, if ever. Then, during the holidays, the DEQ issued an air permit as a key step toward scheduled completion in 2017. What gives? Furthermore, the slated DNR and DEQ merger in mid-January to create the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (with “Quality” removed from the moniker) is happening fast. Confusion is happening among people on both sides of various issues. The next step for Consumers Energy will be to seek a “certificate of need,” circling back to the same Public Service Commission that seemed to have tossed a monkey wrench into Karn-Weadock’s future back around Labor Day. Karn-Weadock’s local and regional foes apparently will receive aid from the Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York, which will oppose a Public Service Commission certificate of need and possibly will challenge the DEQ air permit in court. Back-and-forth arguments will continue. Karn-Weadock advocates will talk about construction jobs and ability to close older, dirtier coal-fired facilities after the new plant goes on line. Project opponents will answer that there’s no such thing as “clean coal” and that true job potential, with lower costs, will come through alternative energy. Labor unions and environmental groups will remain at odds. Another question is whether the federal government will intervene with standards for emissions of carbon dioxide, because CO-2 so far is not regulated. A copy of the DEQ air permit approval is at www.deq.state.mi.us/aps/cwerp.shtml.
Dioxin Cleanup Gears Up As complicated as dioxin cleanup has been during the past three decades, the outlook is becoming clearer than for coal-fired power plants. Jackson and the EPA have released preliminary dioxin cleanup standards of 72 parts per trillion in residential areas and 950 parts per trillion for industrial sites and certain commercial locations. Existing numbers are 1,000 ppt for residential, and 5,000 to 20,000 for industrial or commercial. Loan Tree’s Terry Miller said, “After some disappointing end of the year news on global warming efforts and coal plant approvals, this is the best end-of-the-year environmental news.” Well, at least he did say “news” instead of “present.” The EPA press release is at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/6526d9a72fbc7f388525769d004fc223?OpenDocument |
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