In a quick and quiet decision, Michigan environmental regulators have given Wolverine Power Cooperative another year to break ground on its long-delayed, highly controversial Rogers City coal plant. But stricter coal plant emission limits, soaring coal-power costs, cheap natural gas, and falling demand for electricity could still doom the 600-megawatt project.
In an historic vote, the Holland City Council has pre-empted longstanding plans to build a highly controversial coal plant in the city and, instead, approved a natural gas-fired power plant that will likely provide more power than the town actually needs.
Reading the text of Governor Rick Snyder’s Special Message on Energy and the Environment, which is a bit more detailed than the remarks he delivered last Wednesday, it’s clear he’s serious about energy efficiency and, to some extent, renewables like wind and solar power. But he was also less detailed than some hoped.
The ruckus over renewables isn’t over: Proposal 3’s advocates sound even more determined to boost renewables goals beyond their current “10 percent by 2015” target and make Michigan a jobs-rich, global, renewables manufacturing leader. And on Wednesday, Gov. Rick Snyder used his Special Message on Energy and the Environment to say he’s ready to start a conversation next year about resetting the goal for renewables.
With Gov. Rick Snyder set to deliver his Special Message on Energy on Nov. 28, several Republican state representatives are declining to say whether they will renew their attack on Michigan’s “energy optimization” law, which saves residents money by requiring utilities to help customers use less power and natural gas.
There’s a brand-new wind turbine spinning in Leelanau County. The sparkling white machine high on a hill near Northport may be Michigan’s first-ever “community renewable energy” project, and it offers a fresh spin on Proposal 3, which requires 25 percent renewables for Michigan by 2025.