The Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in Rogers City, Michigan, Part 2
The Citizens For Environmental Inquiry started as a group of five citizens of Presque Isle County who totally believed Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth. They made it their mission to go out and spread the word about how America’s quest for excellence must be stopped, and how Rogers City’s progress must be forever shut down. The first thing they did after they formed was send letters to the editor of The Advance casting aspersions against Wolverine Power and argue against sustainable power. Under the guise of education and innocent prying, they went about turning inquiry to examination, investigation, and environmental activism. They went from, “Hey, we just want to know what there is to know,” to filing lawsuits to demand the State of Michigan define CO2 as a pollutant and make the levels of allowable CO2 considerably less than any major progressive factory could match. In short, and to borrow a popular phrase, they want Wolverine to fail.
In the July 6th, 2006 Advance, it was reported that Wolverine sent a bus of nearly 25 local citizens to their operations in Gaylord and Cadillac in an effort to help explain what could happen in Rogers City. They explained that the proposed site in Rogers City could very well be a CFB (Circulating Fluidized Bed) technology plant that seems to be a perfect fit to the area. CFB technology uses limestone to mix with coal in a sort of boiling fluid. “The limestone removes the sulfur and converts it into gypsum.” Advance 7/6/06
Now, if Wolverine needs limestone to make this plant a reality, it seems to me that Calcite’s title of “crushed and broken” by Businessweek may just turn around. Additionally, if Wolverine does not have to pay to ship limestone from far away, the energy consumer wins. Not only that, but during the process, gypsum is produced.
When gypsum is produced in this way, it is referred to as synthetic gypsum. Synthetic gypsum is used in cement and through emerging technology, now is used for drywall. The largest cement plant in the United States is LaFarge in Alpena, a 40 mile drive from Rogers City and has a deep sea port as well. Here is an idea of how a company can sell gypsum to create more products out of by-products.
On the Monday after that educational bus ride, the City Planning Commission approved the site plan presented by Wolverine.
It was the County’s Planning Commission that had to have a vote next. In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that the County Planning Commission held off it’s decision to grant Wolverine a special use permit. A week after the City approved the site plan, the County granted the special use permit. The reader should take note of two names on the County Planning Commission, Byron DeLong and Thomas Hackleroad. They were the two no votes against the special use permit, and not coincidentally are two of the five members of Citizens for Environmental Inquiry.
What happened next was an editorial back and forth discussing the pros and cons of the idea of the plant. The first, by the Shaftos from Ohio titled, “Consequences of power plant must be considered.” The Shaftos argued that coal is dirty and releases pollutants and no one wants to live next to or visit an area with a dirty coal plant. During the following weeks several citizens shot back at this opinion piece arguing that the Shaftos don’t live in the area, the ‘not-in-my-backyard’ mentality and the need for industry in the area.
This photo appeared in the Advance as the product of two wonderful residents, Paul and Ann Przybyla (pronounced Sha-bella) who operate an ultralight above the area, taking aerial shots. Do you see that big white rectangular roof in the middle of the picture? That is Mariners Mall. Most of Mariners Mall is abandoned. The long street to the side of the Mall is Third Street, more commonly referred to as main street, and is loaded with empty buildings. The Rogers City High School just graduated 63 students last Sunday. The town is often referred to as the “town that Calcite built.”
But times are tough for mining companies these days and Calcite is no exception. If Calcite fails, Rogers City will not exist for many reasons, the biggest is the taxes the company pays the area governments.
Wolverine plodded forward for the rest of 2006, naming an engineering and a consulting firm.
These pictures taken by the Przybyla’s show the south side residential area in November, 2006 and of the ice rink/baseball diamond also called “the hole” in December of that year, also on the south side.
In the beginning of 2006, Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan gave her state of the state address. In one of the lines of her speech she said, “Tonight, I want to talk to the everyday people of Michigan, the people who built Michigan’s schools and churches, its little leagues and Kiwanis Clubs. The people who power its economy and who only expect for themselves a fair opportunity to build a good life for their families.” She also said, “As long as I am your Governor, no state will fight harder to keep our manufacturing jobs.” In November of 2006, Michiganders appointed the Canadian born lawyer to another four years of State leadership.
To be continued……
I completely support Granholm’s Executive Directive No. 2009-2. Due diligence according to this sound Directive when determining the approval status of this coal plant will insure protections for the needs of the community and the environment. If Wolverine can pass ALL current environmental standards without bribes, kickbacks or other skulldudgery they will have earned their name “Wolverine Clean Energy Venture” if not they should change their name or get into cleaner line of business.