Supporters, opposition get final say at hearing
by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor
About 300 people were on hand for the last–most likely–public hearing from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on Wolverine’s proposed 600-megawatt power plant last Thursday. The hearing lasted nearly four hours, giving ample time for supporters and those opposed to the project to voice their opinion, or as the DEQ moderator said, give the DEQ additional information that should be considered. Now DEQ staffers will sort out the comments, answering when necessary, in preparation for a decision on the permit before June 30.
?The DEQ, by law, is not allowed to base our decision on whether or not there is widespread support or opposition to a proposed project,? said moderator Bryce Feighner while giving instructions to the audience.
After introductions, C. Vinson Hellwig of the DEQ heard testimony from 40 people during the nearly four-hour hearing. The hearing drew statewide attention and many of the 23 who spoke against the plant were not local residents. Taking a break at around the two-hour mark, less than 75 people stayed around until the hearing ended near 11 p.m.
ELECTED OFFICIALS Congressman Dr. Dan Benishek, State Sen. Howard Walker, and State Reps. Peter Pettalia and Tom Casperson where among the 17 people who spoke in favor of the DEQ granting the permit.
Instead of allowing the first word of the hearing to elected officials, Feighner allowed Joe Veselenak to be first. When the moderator said elected officials would be given the first word, Veselenak stood to vocally object so Feighner asked him to speak before the elected officials in the leadoff position.
?I have some grandchildren and they are going to be stuck with this plant, and the horrors of it,? Veselenak said leading off the list of those to testify. Benishek followed, as the first of four elected officials to speak. Benishek said that in meeting with constituents in his district, opinion varied on many subjects, but not Wolverine and he supports the project. ?THE CONSTRUCTION of the plant has the potential to create more than 1,000 jobs over four years, a project northern Michigan has not experienced on that scale since the building of the Mackinaw Bridge,? Benishek said. ?I hope that the clamor of outside interest groups does not drown out the hopes and needs of local residents.?
William Campbell, an air quality engineer for AECOM, the largest air quality-consulting firm in the world, said Wolverine?s approach to the project has been exceptional, since his involvement began in 2005.
?They have challenged their environmental and technical teams to drive beyond what regulations require for a power plant,? Campbell said. He said Wolverine had taken proper steps for the reduction of nitrogen oxides NO2, and gave a technical explanation of how this would be done.
Anne Woidwode, Sierra Club Michigan chapter director, used her time to speak on the use of biomass as a fuel for the plant. ?Growth over harvest does not tell us there would be available wood for biomass,? Woidwode said. She said a concern on supply would be an issue with the Rogers City plant and a r
Since Oct. 1, 2008, one informational hearing and four public hearings were conducted by the DEQ on Wolverine?s permit to install application?the major permit needed by the state to proceed. The DEQ denied the application last May, citing a lack of need for the plant, as influenced by a determination by the Michigan Public Service Commission. A challenge of that ruling in Missaukee County Circuit Court sent the permit application back to the DEQ for reconsideration, after the court determined lack of need alone could not be a provision to deny the plant.
The hearing was for gathering testimony on only new emission regulations passed since the May 2010 denial. Those regulations pertain to the Best Available Control Technology demonstration and emission limits proposed for greenhouse gases and the air quality analysis demonstrating the proposed power plant will not violate the new one-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for NO2 and SO2. The DEQ will decide by June 30 on the permit–yes, no or yes with modifications.