House resolution urges support of Wolverine
by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor
Wolverine Power got support at the state level, but not the kind of support company leaders want the most. While Wolverine still waits on word from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) on its major permit, the air quality permit, elected state leaders voice their support in the state house and state senate.
State Rep. Andy Neumann (D-Alpena) and State Sen. Jason Allen each stood up in favor of Wolverine in separate events last week. On April 15, Neumann joined his house colleagues in approving a bipartisan resolution (HR 230) urging the approval of pending air quality permits for two Michigan energy projects ? including the proposed Wolverine Power Cooperative facility in Presque Isle County, which would create nearly 2,000 jobs. The other proposed power plant is a 78-megawatt addition to the Holland Board of Public Works plant. The air permits, which Neumann said ?are being stymied by the governor,? await authorization by the DNRE.
?While the DNRE and governor continue to stall on approving this application, our hard-working families continue to struggle to make ends meet,? Neumann said. AS OF TODAY, it has been 938 days since Wolverine filed its application for an air quality permit to construct a coal-fired 600-megawatt power plant in the quarry of the Calcite Plant in Rogers Township. At the outset of the permitting process, DNRE officials estimated a turnaround time of around six months.
?This project has the potential to get thousands of workers back on the job and it?s a shame that folks in Lansing are costing our residents that chance. We must seize every opportunity to create the good-paying jobs our workers need and provide the energy that will power our homes, businesses and communities. If Wolverine Power wants to set up shop in northern Michigan, our state government should be rolling out the welcome mat, not setting up roadblocks,? Neumann said.
The resolution?s sponsor, Rep. Joe Haveman (R. Holland), agrees that the governor?s office has been the holdup, even though DNRE officials and the governor?s representative have denied that claim. ?Again we have got the state?s bureaucracy and the governor?s office holding us back, saying no you have to show us an alternative method besides clean coal. It is wrong. We have got to move those coal plants forward. We have got to produce that power now,? Haveman said.
Haveman said 70 of 109 state representatives signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution showing strong bipartisan support. MEANWHILE IN the state senate, Allen?s floor speech April 14 called for action by the DNRE and the governor. ?This project applied for an air permit over 900 days ago. How much longer is the governor willing to wait when thousands of jobs are at stake?? Allen said. In 2009, Wolverine a nearly $3 million federal grant to construct a carbon capture and storage project at the facility. Wolverine plans to use the grant to install technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which would help position Michigan as a leader in developing and implementing green energy technologies. However, the potential $150 million grant, which is part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is contingent upon approval of the air permit. Even though the deadline for the application passed without the company gai
?This federal money is available because even President Obama has embraced clean coal and carbon sequestration as a legitimate source of energy for our nation?s future. This project includes a mutually beneficial partnership with one of Michigan’s largest employers, Dow Chemical, which also wants to see this built in its home state,? Allen said. He said the governor has it within her power to make the permit happen and he urged her to support Wolverine?s project.
?Unfortunately, Governor Granholm seems to be willing to lose this tremendous economic development opportunity to another state. I urge the governor to embrace this state of the art technology, and to embrace the job creation that this project will bring and to issue an air permit that will allow this project to move forward.?