Opposition, in the minority, has say at planning commission meeting
by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor
A few in attendance at last week?s meeting of the Presque Isle County Planning Commission spoke in opposition to Wolverine?s request, with one, Tom Karas of Buelah, representing Michigan Alternative Energies Project (MAEP) requesting time on the agenda, before the public commentary period. Although chairman Mike Libby asked presenters to limit their comments to the question under discussion, (Wolverine?s request to use biomass in the proposed power plant) and to address comments to the planning commission, Karas? 15-minute presentation covered more general topics regarding the Wolverine plant as he faced the crowd while he spoke.
?You will feel better about your decision, if 10 years from now, you can say to yourself and you can say to your kids, that you looked at all the alternatives and weighed things back and forth,? Karas said, directing his comments to the audience.
LOOKING AT a sea of white shirt clad supporters of Wolverine, Karas conceded his comments might not be well received. He downplayed the importance of Thursday?s meeting and the role of the planning commission in the big picture. ?What is very important here, is that nothing these gentlemen do today is really going to push the Department of Environmental Quality?s permit process quicker. There is time to consider some of the new options and new questions brought up in front of you,? Karas said. The planning commission?s decision to delay the vote on the biomass issue gave people more time to research and for the public to learn more about the proposal, Karas said.
?We sent out a press release that wasn?t covered in your local paper, but there was an economic study that came out two or three weeks ago that caught my eye,? he said. The press release he referenced questioned the research behind Wolverine?s economic projections, quoting statements from Tom Sanzillo, a New York City consultant hired by Karas? organization.
Sanzillo concluded, according to Karas? press release, that ?a new Rogers City coal plant would provide direct economic benefits to the people gaining new jobs, but the lack of tax revenue, the additional costs for local governments,? Sanzillo said, ?and the doubling of electric rates of residents living outside of Rogers City, which is not served by Wolverine, would impose significant burdens on all Presque Isle and Rogers City taxpayers and all PIE&G members.?
THE EXPECTED TAXES might even be less than stated, Karas said, because of Public Act 451 which, Karas said, allows a company to deduct the cost of pollution equipment from the tax value. ?Now you can?t tell me Wolverine is going to walk away from a tax break,? Karas said. Wolverine would likely ask for a tax abatement, he said, but he claims the total value of the plant could be reduced by including these options. ?There is a very real possibility that there will be more dollars leaving the four-county area than coming in. I ask you people who make the decisions to do the math,? Karas said. Without elaboration, Karas made a quick reference to a series of reports available at his Web site listing possible health risks of the coal-fired power plant. Karas said that if Wolverine took $750 million and followed his ideas, he could show a plan that could ?keep more money in your pockets,? he said. ?In just over seven years we will show you an efficiency with payroll of $104 million more by instituting an energy efficiency campaign that can come around to everybody?s house. You will be billed for it, but we will do upgrades to your house and you are going to slowly pay it back, but we will be able to decrease the energy requirements to Wolverine. You are going to end up with more property value there and will be more people working in this community,? Karas said.
KARAS SAID he had a co-presenter, Jim Dulzo of the Michigan Land Use Institute, but chairman Libby wouldn?t allow Dulzo to speak, since Dulzo?s name was not on the agenda. Dulzo submitted his name in the public commentary period and his shot at the microphone came later in the meeting. He spent his first two minutes to tell a childhood memory about feeling a Calcite blasting at his family?s cottage some 20 miles from Rogers City, and to give background on his organization, the Michigan Land Use Institute, which he said was a ?pro-growth organization.?
He said he recognized the need for jobs in the area, but said the coal-fired power plant didn?t offer prospects for ?good sustainable growth.? A better way would be to use ?an efficiency model? to save $168 million in a four-county area. His plan would be to reduce local homeowners? electricity bills by 30 percent over a seven-year period by getting them to save energy. ?If
JEAN VESELANK, a retired teacher, said her core issues were the safety of children and what we leave them. ?There is too much Wolverine silence. There is silence in the presentation of pollutants that last for generations. There is silence on public health,? she said. Plants and trees are useful, she said, serving people in many ways, keeping the earth cool and providing oxygen while eating up carbon dioxide.
?Who is going to monitor the planting of trees, or anything? Not the DEQ. They don?t have a great record of monitoring anything,? she said. ?Bit by bit, are we going to defoliate northern Michigan, much the way the rain forest is being dismembered?? She said she was concerned with ?cutting trees in the middle of the night by folks who are desperate for an income.? The cutover forest contributed to the Metz fire of 1908, she said, and would not like to see those conditions return. Karas and Dulzo each offered to return to the area to present more information.