DEQ staff in town for public hearings on Wolverine project
The Rogers City High School gymnasium is the site of two days of public hearings regarding the proposed construction of a coal-fired power plant in Rogers Township. One came last night (Wednesday, past press time) and the second is set for tonight (Thursday) starting at 6:00 p.m. in the high school gym. Prior to the hearing, an informational session will be conducted in an open-house format from 4:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. in the gym where DEQ staff will be available to answer questions. The 6 p.m. session will be for testimony only where no questions will be answered. This is opposite of the October 1 session at RCHS where a panel of DEQ experts answered four hours of audience questions on a wide-range of subjects relating to the Wolverine power plant. (Part four of those questions and answers appears elsewhere in this edition).
The Wolverine Clean Energy Venture is a 600-megawatt facility planned for mined out land inside the Calcite limestone quarry. The Michigan Department of Environmental (DEQ) Quality Air Quality Division (AQD) chief, G. Vinson Hellwig, planned to hear comments on the project for two evenings at the high school. Hellwig, who has had his current position at the DEQ since 2002, is the designated ?decision-maker? on the Wolverine project.
Prior to his appointment, Hellwig had 11 years of experience with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, most recently working in the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards in Triangle Park, North Carolina. He also had 19 years of experience with various environmental consulting firms, specializing in environmental permitting. He has served as an Air Compliance Officer in EPA?s Region IV and began his career as an air
The announced format for the public hearings is designed to give as many people an opportunity to speak as possible. As people enter the gym, they will be given the opportunity to sign a yellow card requesting time to testify. David Nadolsky will serve as the moderator who will call people to the microphone for a five-minute period. If time allows, people will be given more time after all who used their initial five minutes have been called.
Comments on the draft permit issued by the Department of Environmental Quality to Wolverine Power may be submitted from the Web page http://www.deq.state.mi.us/aps/cwerp.shtml (click on ?Submit Comment? under the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. PTI No. 317-07 listing). Comments may be mailed to Ms. Mary Ann Dolehanty, acting permit section supervisor, MDEQ, Air Quality Division, P.O. Box 30260, Lansing, Michigan, 48909-7760. All correspondence must be received by November 24.