Wolverine, Rogers City mayor get statewide recognition on WJR radio

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

Listeners to powerhouse radio station WJR from Detroit heard from Rogers City mayor Beach Hall Monday morning on ?The Frank Beckman Show.? The mayor spoke via telephone with host Frank Beckman for 11 minutes on the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture (WCEV) and the deadline looming for a possible $150 million grant for carbon sequestration. Facing an April 15 deadline for the federal grant, Wolverine has asked the state to award its air quality permit in time to apply for the grant.

Now, 895 days since filing its application for an air quality permit, the major permit needed before construction of a 600-megawatt power plant in Rogers Township, Wolverine still awaits a decision by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DNRE). Hall sought out Beckman?s assistance to inform more people of Wolverine?s patient wait for a decision. The mayor contacted Beckman?s staff last week, forwarding information to the popular midmorning radio host. Beckman?s staff contacted Hall the same day and the mayor forwarded additional information he had, along with details as reported in the Advance for Beckman to read.

THE STAFFER contacted Hall and set up the interview for Monday at 10:15 a.m. Hall thought he might be talking with Beckman about the possibility of appearing on the radio show, but instead Beckman put Hall on the air on the spot. ?There is quite a battle going on in the northern Michigan town of Rogers City where WCEV, a company that provides a lot of power up north, has been trying for years to build a new 600-megawatt clean coal power plant. They have gone so far as to try to include so-called carbon sequestration technology,? Beckman began his introduction. Beckman said that even though carbon represents a very small percentage of the atmosphere, ?and yet the alarmists in the global warming front use that as the reason why we must stop using fossil fuels in this country.?

Pressure by these ?alarmists? as Beckman called them, has been successful in some states, including Michigan, to prevent companies like Wolverine from building new plants, he said. With that, he introduced Hall, who spelled out the story to WJR listeners. ?I APPRECIATE the chance to talk about an opportunity beginning to go away, and I am talking about the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture, which would be one of the cleanest coal plants in the entire country, if and when built,? Hall said. The opportunity might slip away because of the lack of an air quality permit, Hall explained.

?Wolverine in a joint venture with Dow Chemical, Hitachi, Western Michigan University and Core Energy, will miss an opportunity to apply for approximately $150 million worth of federal funding to study carbon capture, which if successful, as fully anticipated, will then enable inground oil to be recaptured that is currently unrecoverable,? Hall said. If that occurs, revenues would increase for the state and the Natural Resources Trust Fund.

?It would also enable the governor, who is the presiding chairperson of the Midwest Governor?s Conference, to accomplish two things that are goals. One of them is the Midwest carbon capture project, combined with an enhanced oil recovery project. It has got a lot of potential, not only for northeast Michigan, which is a heavy unemployment area, but the rest of the state,? Hall said. BECKMAN ASKED if Wolverine had met all the guidelines from the state and Hall answered ?yes.?

?Wolverine has presented everything the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality), now DNRE has asked for in their air quality permit. They even voluntarily had another resubmission and hearing because they are now voluntarily going to the new EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) guidelines, even though it would not be required of them, due to the timing of their permit application,? Hall replied. ?So they are bending over backwards to live up to what the hard-core environmentalists want here?? Beckman asked.

?That is absolutely correct,? the mayor said. Hall also spoke about the potential wind farm coming, if the coal plant is built, something environmentalists have pushed in other places. ?This seems to be representative, the fight you are having, representative of the argument over how we are going to power our state and be told how we are going to power our state by politicians rather than private investors who are willing to risk capital on projects like the coal plant in Rogers City,? Beckman said.

The mayor said Wolverine is willing to make the investment because of the difficulties in buying power in the spot market, which will have to be done at the end of 2011. The plant will be in the best interest of co-op members, Hall told the WJR host. ?The known opposition besides in Lansing, are certain environmental groups. There is very little local opposition. There are thousands of signatures on petitions saying we favor the power plant, hurry up and get it built. There was a rally in Lansing in early October that was the most bipartisan venture I have ever participated in during my career, in terms of Republicans, Democrats, unions, manufacturers, and associations of chambers all saying the same thing?we need it, let?s get going on it,? Hall said. Many different groups supported the idea of building th

e power plant, Hall said.

ALTHOUGH POWER demand has gone down in some markets, Hall explained, power demand for Wolverine has gone up, which is another reason for building the plant. He talked about how many jobs would be created, the wind farm and the use of biomass in the plant. After talking to WJR, Hall told the Advance he hoped the additional exposure would be helpful to Wolverine?s cause. ?I was very impressed with WJR and Frank Beckman. I was when I used to live downstate, but this was extremely professionally done. First working with his assistant and then live on the air with him,? Hall said.

?I knew that WJR had a huge listening audience and that Frank Beckman was a well-known radio commentator between 9 a.m. and noon everyday. I was extremely surprised how quickly my e-mail was answered with a phone call, how quickly they requested information, and then how quickly they followed up with an interview,? Hall said. ?All in all, it went much better than anticipated.?

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