Citizens group demands action from DEQ

by: Eric B.

Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 11:45:13 AM EDT

Back in March, DEQ Director Steven Chester said this about global warming:

"The actions that we take over the course of the next few years is really going to determine the environment that we ultimately leave for them," Chester said.

The Citizens for Environmental Inquiry have sent him a letter demanding that the DEQ implement rules to address carbon dioxide emissions expected to be given off by a coal-fired power plant planned for Presque Isle County.

My clients are concerned despite the fact that the climate of our planet is warming at an unparalleled pace and a scientific consensus pointing to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (of which carbon dioxide CO2 is primary) as the culprit; Michigan has not promulgated rules regulating this obvious pollutant. Their concern is heightened when they consider the longevity of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and the catastrophic impact which accumulation of such gases can visit upon our planet.

In a more personal sense, my clients as residents of Presque Isle County are immediately concerned over the intentions of Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. of Cadillac, Michigan, to build a coal-fired power generating plant in Presque Isle County, and particularly, how unregulated CO2 from that plant will negatively impact the ambient air quality of our State.

The plant would, according to a press release from the Michigan Environmental Council, use so-called clean coal technology -- capturing carbon dioxide emissions and burying them (a big picture version of sweeping it under the carpet).  In particular, an engineer quoted in the press release said that sequestering the carbon in a Karst formation is itself problematic.

"No coal is a clean coal. The technology that is being proposed by Wolverine still leaves the dilemma of capturing CO2 - sequestering in a Karst geology is NOT a solution.  Why renewable resources are not put on the forefront for generating electrical power in this day and age is a sad state of affairs."

Neither the state nor the federal government have rules over carbon dioxide emissions, although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the EPA was required to regulate it as a pollutant.  Several states -- including Massachusetts and California -- have set their own standards, and have applied to the EPA for a waiver to implement them.  The EPA has yet to act on the requests.

This revelation surprised local officials, who thought that the state had rules about carbon dioxide emissions.

"I think all of us including our local officials took it for granted that the state would protect us, said John Plath, a Rogers City businessman who was quoted in the press release. "Only after local approval of the coal plant did I learn that there were no state rules governing the emissions of CO2.  I was shocked and so were some local politicians who voted in favor of the plant."

"Wolverine supplied the information that they wanted us to see that would point out it was a `clean coal' plant," (former planning commissioner Tom Harkleroad) said (in an article published by the Michigan Land Use Institute). "Any technical information as to how it would work, or what kind of mercury or heavy metals it would put out, was not supplied. They simply said they could not answer at this time."

McCann said that they have yet to see the letter, and plan to discuss it when they see it.  And, that the DEQ has sought guidance from the EPA on how the Supreme Court ruling requiring the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide emissions as a pollutant will effect Michigan (you may hazard a personal guess at what the same EPA that refused to take action against carbon dioxide is saying if you wish).