By Anne Woiwode, Chapter Conservation Chair
In the early 2000’s, the George W. Bush administration began to
aggressively encourage the development of new coal-burning power plants. Many
of the electric generating plants around the country were coming to the end of
their expected lives, and the Bush administration put a large bet on coal, an
abundant resource in the United States, as the fuel of the future. At the same
time, this policy initiative was in direct conflict with the growing
confirmation of the massive contribution of carbon dioxide emissions to climate
change. Scientific evidence of the threat of greenhouse gas emissions to the
planet had been accumulating for more than half a century, however President
Bush’s reckless energy policy moved the discussion from the academic arena to
the legislative and regulatory realm.
Sierra Club leaders in the Midwest, heeding the urgent warnings
of James Hansen the top scientist with NASA, recognized that a dangerous coal
rush was underway. Volunteer Verena Owen and attorney Bruce Nilles in Illinois
led the effort as Sierra Club embarked on an ambitious strategy of fighting
every proposed coal-burning power plant proposal around the nation, the Beyond
Coal Campaign. The first of its kind strategy tied together litigation,
regulatory efforts, legislation and on the ground organizing, working to block
electric utilities and independent power companies from building new coal
plants.
In Michigan, the fight started later than in other states, and
was a bigger fight than in many other states. The Michigan Chapter leadership
recognized in 2007 that energy issues were critical ones for our staff and
volunteers to engage on. Legislative efforts, driven in part by Governor
Jennifer Granholm, were being pursued to require increased renewable energy
generation in the electric sector, and increased energy efficiency in both
natural gas and electric industries. As Sierra Club volunteers, particularly
led by Legislative Chair Lydia Fischer and Anna Holden of the Southeast
Michigan Group, engaged in the legislative fight in early 2007, they urged the
Michigan Chapter to increase our legislative engagement on energy issues. Then
Legislative Director Gayle Miller became a critical force in the legislative
fight that culminated in the passage of Michigan’s renewable energy and energy
efficiency law in 2008.
As the Michigan Chapter delved into the emerging energy fights in
2007, State Director Anne Woiwode learned that there were at least five
proposed new coal-burning power plants beginning to move into the permitting
process or being actively discussed. Ultimately, eight plants were proposed
around the state, with five seeking air pollution control permits from the
state’s Department of Environmental Quality. The plants which sought permits
included a 10 MW coal-burning power plant proposed by Northern Michigan
University in Marquette, a 600 MW coal and wood burning power plant in Rogers
City proposed by Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, a 930 MW plant in
Essexville proposed by CMS/Consumers Energy as an expansion of their Karn
Weadock power plant complex. The Lansing
Board of Water and Light and Holland Board of Public Works, both municipal
utilities, proposed to build coal plants for their own use, and possibly to
sell to other munis, and other plant proposals included “merchant plants” in
Midland, near Alma and in Manistee that were proposed to be built to sell into
the grid, but with no specific commitments from customers.
In the end, not a single new coal-burning power plant was built
in Michigan, as Sierra Club led a broad and diverse coalition of local, state
and national organizations in the fight to stop the Michigan coal rush. Sierra
Club organizers Lee Sprague, Jan O’Connell and Tiffany Hartung were
particularly important in training, providing support and information to
grassroots activists throughout the state, educating and engaging community
groups about issues from health impacts to costs. Engaged citizens in Midland,
Holland, Lansing, Rogers City, Manistee, in the Saginaw/Bay City area were
joined by energy and climate activists from Traverse City, Ann Arbor, Grand
Rapids and other communities as increasing numbers of Michiganders recognized
these plants did not simply present local problems. Organizers, both volunteer and staff, with
Progress Michigan, Clean Water Action, the Ecology Center and others helped to
engage the grassroots, as the coalition members collaborated on plans to take
the greatest advantage of the skills and capacity of each organization.
Michigan tribes provided leadership in the coalition,
particularly in the fights against the plants in Rogers City and Essexville. As
consumers of electricity from the utilities proposing the plants, and as
advocates for tribal members health, in particular reducing mercury from coal
pollution that concentrated in the fish the tribal members depended upon, the
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Band and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians
were among the key proponents from dropping planned coal plants. However, their
engagement was not without harassment, including disturbing taunts aimed at the
tribal members at a massive hearing on the Essexville plant held by the DEQ[1].
State-wide and national environmental organizations joined with
Sierra Club in providing technical and legal assistance in each of the fights.
Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign played a primary role in strategizing and
coordinating these efforts, with key roles played by Environmental Law and Policy Center, the
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Great Lakes Environmental Law Center,
and Michigan Environmental Council among others. The five proposed air
pollution permits required analysis, expert review, drafting and submission of
technical comments and, where necessary, litigation to block the permit. The
campaign members also understood that with the growing environmental, health
and financial costs of new coal plants, and the decreasing costs of clean
energy alternatives, in particular efficiency and wind power, delays in the
start of construction of these proposed plants would lead to more and more
pressure to drop the plants.
The Sierra Club and other campaign members also led tailored
advocacy efforts aimed at each business or utility proposing coal plants. As an
investor owned utility, Consumer Energy shareholder advocates also worked with
the campaign to bring pressure on the utility to consider the health and
climate impacts of investing in a new coal plant instead of moving towards
clean energy. In Holland and Lansing
local citizens and campaign members advocated with the decision making boards
that oversaw the municipal utilities, as well as with the elected leaders of
each city to press for an environmentally sound choice. In the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative
case, cooperative members and environmental advocates reached out to the boards
of each of the member electric cooperatives that were part of the Wolverine,
which provides electricity to each member cooperative. The citizens also tried
to recruit and elect board members who agreed that a new coal plant was not a
good choice.
The campaign also brought information and citizen lobbying
pressure to the Michigan legislature and the Granholm administration to take
action to stop the coal rush. Governor
Granholm became a strong advocate for clean energy in her second term,
appointing Stanley “Skip” Pruss as her adviser and later as the head of the new
Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. Granholm and Pruss invested a
lot of work in securing a strong clean energy law, however the new law adopted
in 2008 were not designed to block the proposed coal plants, although they
encouraged alternative sources of electric generation and efficiency. One of the key public interest attorneys
working with the campaign, Shannon Fisk, then with NRDC, working with GLELC attorneys,
developed a strategy within Michigan law that could lead to a requirement that
the state agencies considered whether or not there was a need for power
proposed to be generated by these plants, and whether alternatives to achieve
that goal were available. The campaign advocated for this approach directly
with the administration, providing legal arguments and pointing to the
importance of Michigan taking a stand to protect the future by not approving
new coal plants.
In her State of State address in February 2009, Governor Granholm
announced that the DEQ and Michigan Public Service Commission would be tasked
with analyzing the need for the power from proposed coal fired power plants,
and whether alternatives existed. The
analyses, developed with public input, were conducted on the plants which
continued to pursue their permits. While
the DEQ ultimately decided to issue a permit in early 2010 for the Consumers
Energy proposal for the Karn Weadock plant expansion, despite a finding that
there was no need for the plant. However, as a result of the pressure from many
corners, the company put the plant on hold a few months later. Consumers dropped the proposed plant entirely
in December 2011.
Granholm’s Executive Directive regarding coal fired power plants
delayed action, but was reversed within weeks by Governor Rick Snyder after he
took office in 2011. However, the combination of litigation, citizen advocacy,
concerns about finances and environmental concerns all brought by the Sierra
Club Michigan Chapter, Beyond Coal Campaign and our many partners led to the
remaining coal plants all dropping their plans to proceed within a couple of
years. Sierra Club’s laid the groundwork for a swell of citizen engagement in
energy planning that has become a template for other communities to follow.
The Michigan Chapter is engaged in legislative efforts to defend
and expand our clean energy goals, as well as many other environmental
efforts. Contact Legislative Director
Mike Berkowitz at mike.berkowitz@sierraclub.org
to find out more. The Beyond Coal Campaign has continued in Michigan to work
for the shut down of existing coal plants with the goal of moving our electric
generation sector entirely to truly clean sources of energy by 2030.
Announcements in the past few years by Consumers Energy and DTE Energy of plans
to shut down more than ten coal plants have been a part of the overall
campaign. Learn more about this effort by contacting Beyond Coal Campaign Michigan
Representative Regina Strong at regina.strong@sierraclub.org.
Today, Sierra Club members and community members throughout the state have
begun working through the Ready for 100 Campaign to encourage local governments
to commit to moving to 100% clean energy by 2050. Find out how you can become part of this
campaign by contacting Beyond Coal Organizer Andrew Sarpolis at andrew.sarpolis@sierraclub.org.
[1]
Governor Granholm combined the DEQ and DNR into the Department of Natural
Resources and Environment. For purposes of this article, we use DEQ to stand in
for DNRE as well.
