State likely to answer Wolverine’s appeal of permit denial

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

The state is expected to file a response to Wolverine?s petition in Missaukee County Circuit Court to appeal the denial of Wolverine?s air quality permit. On May 21, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE) issued its denial of the permit to install a 600-megawatt power plant in Rogers Township and Wolverine has chosen to challenge that denial in court. After nearly 1,000 days of consideration by the state, the MDNRE issued the denial to Wolverine May 21.

Those opposed to the project lauded the decision, as they did when the state denied a permit for the Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW) August 20. In its suit, Wolverine insisted the state denied the permit for the wrong reasons, using input from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) instead of ?science and the law? as required.

G. Vinson Hellwig, the MDNRE ?decision maker? for both the Wolverine permit and the HBPW permit application, used similar wording in each denial letter. Input from the MPSC in the Holland matter said ?HBPW failed to adequately demonstrate the need for the proposed facility as the sole source to meets its projected capacity requirements.? Hellwig used that report as the basis of his denial of the Holland project, a 78-megawatt facility which would eventually replace an 11.5 megawatt plant in Holland. ?In assessing the HBPW submittal, and the findings of the MPSC, the DNRE is persuaded by the MPSC report. HBPW has not adequately demonstrated that the proposed new boiler is necessary to meet its projected capacity requir

ements,? Hellwig wrote in the denial letter.

Hellwig?s denial letter to Wolverine concluded that ?the MPSC estimated that building Wolverine?s proposed coal plant would increase the rates of its customers by approximately 60 percent to over 20 cents per kilowatt hour,? an assertion denied by Wolverine. The lawsuit asks the court to reverse the action of the MDNRE when it denied the permit and send it back to the state for reconsideration based on science and the law. Secondly, it asks the judge to declare Gov. Jennifer Granholm?s executive order of 2009 unlawful, when she asked for input from the MPSC.

Reasons for denial were not air quality reasons, Wolverine contends, and business and political considerations were used to deny the permit instead of science and the law as they claim is the MDNRE?s calling. In a recent appearance in Alpena, the governor insisted that the state made the decision to deny for the right reasons. Wolverine had 90 days to appeal the ruling and chose to file the petition in Missaukee County, the home to Wolverine headquarters.

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