Tentative dates set in Rogers City for DEQ hearings on Wolverine project

The time for public input at the local level on the Wolverine Clean Energy Initiative?s application for an air quality permit is drawing near. At Monday?s meeting of the Rogers City Board of Education, it was announced that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Division (AQD) has asked the schools to reserve space for October 1, 29 and 30. Communication with the AQD indicated the October 1 date would be an informational meeting while the October 29-30 dates reserved for the public hearing. As of today, those dates are tentative, with a formal announcement expected to come next week.

Those dates will be used to give information to and receive information from the public regarding Wolverine Power?s request for an air quality permit from the AQD. This is the next step along the path to the power cooperative building a coal-fired power plant in Rogers Township. The AQD said in June it would extend its public comment period from the usual 30 days to 60 days to get input from each of the four communities where coal-fired power plants are proposed.

AT A JUNE meeting in Lansing, covered by the Advance, Mary Ann Dolehanty, of the AQD permit section, walked the audience through the permit process, specifically a Permit to Install (PTI) for a major facility. The first step is the administrative and technical completeness check to assure that all the components are provided so the DEQ can begin its review. That began when Wolverine submitted its application about one year ago.

The ?heart and meat? of the process, Dolehanty said, occurs next with the technical review of the application. The permit reviewers first look at the type, size and location of the source of the emissions. The proposed emissions listed on the application are recalculated to be sure they are within state and federal requirements, using established scientific standards. Third on the permit review process is the development of draft permit conditions taking into account all of the rules and regulations set by state and federal standards.

?This is a coordinated effort between the AQD staff,? Dolehanty said, pulling together the efforts of toxicologists, modelers, field personnel, testing staff and engineers. The results of the effort are shared with the applicant. A draft permit is expected to be issued to Wolverine next week.

THE FOURTH PHASE of the permitting process is public participation, which is a requirement of federal law, Dolehanty said. A fact sheet on the project will be available, she said, and notice of the public input sessions will be published in a local newspaper, on the DEQ Web site, and mailed to interested parties. The public input for the coal-fired plants will be 60 days instead of the customary 30 days, because the DEQ wants to give as many people as possible time to have their say. The AQD will use two different formats for public participation. An informational session set for approximately 20 days into the comment period will feature a panel discussion with DEQ staff answering questions from the audience. A moderator will oversee the session. There will be no public hearing associated with this session and no oral public comments will be accepted. That date for this is tentatively set for October 1 in Rogers City.

The second public session, tentatively set for October 29 and 30 in Rogers City, will be an open-house style set one-hour before the local public hearing. In June, the AQD said the tentative schedule for first day of the hearing would be an open-house discussion at 5 p.m. followed by a public hearing accepting oral testimony from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. The second day will include opportunities for oral testimony from noon until 3 p.m. and again from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. The dates and times of the hearings will be finalized next week.

?ONCE PUBLIC participation has been completed we move into the decision making mode,? Dolehanty said at the June meeting. ?As part of the decision making process, AQD will review any comments received and if those comments warrant additional or further review we will do that in the decision making process.? A response and comment document will be prepared and made public. At this point the application can be approved, approved with modifications or denied. It will be approved if it meets all state and federal requirements and denied if it does not. Notice of the decision is provided to the public at this point.

Each of the four proposed coal-fired power plants have an AQD engineer assigned as its permit reviewer. Melissa Byrnes will handle the Wolverine plant. ?This new plant is proposed to be constructed in the quarry south of Rogers City and will generate about 600 mega watts of electricity. This is enough electricity to power 423,000 homes,? Byrnes said. There will be two 300 MW fuel boilers with circulating fluidized bed (CFB) design.

?This type of solid boiler design is capable of utilizing a wide range of solid fuels, plus provide good combustion efficiency,? Byrnes said. The CFB design, she said, utilizes the principle where fuel and limestone are crushed and injected into the furnace and circulated. The process allows complete combustion of the fuel, lowering nitrogen dioxides and sulfur dioxides in the furnace.

Fuels to be used, according to the application, are Powder River Basin coal, drawn from the coal-rich area of northeast Wyoming, with a blend of up to 70 percent petroleum coke, and 20 percent biomass. By contrast, the Consumers Energy project lists its fuel as sub-bituminous coal with a secondary source of a blend of eastern bituminous coal. The Mid-Michigan project plans to use Powder River Basin coal, and biomass as well as natural gas. The Holland project lists a combination of coal, coke, sewage sludge, tires and wood waste.

?THE AVERAGE TIME for a permit right now is running at about 70 days,? Dolehanty said at the June meeting. ?But these applications for power plants have been in house as long as a year and one-half.? Wolverine submitted its air permit application September 26 of last year.

Consumers Energy submitted its application October 15, 2007, Mid-Michigan turned in its application September 12, 2007, while Holland Board of Public Works submitted its application January 17, 2007. ?The timing isn?t as much of an issue to us as it is to the companies. What we are looking to do is provide a sound decision that takes into account compliance with all state and federal regulations. These projects are still under review right now. We are nearing the end of our technical assessment,? Dolehanty said.

Additional review, which could take weeks or months, depending on comments received on each project.

(For more information on the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture, the other three applications and more on the DEQ, see the DEQ Web site at www.deq.state.mi.us.)

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