The presentation by Consumers Energy and questioning by the Board of Commissioners took place in today’s County Planning & Policy Committee. It would appear the issue now is headed for deliberation at a regular Board meeting later in the month.
I (Joseph Parnell McCarter) presented the “Save The Campbell” side in both comment periods.
Here was the content of my comments:
Joseph Parnell McCarter, Georgetown Township, volunteer and leader of Save The Campbell effort.
I want to thank this Board for considering the Campbell issue.
Last night Georgetown Township joined 5 other townships in passing “save the Campbell” resolutions, and there is good reason to believe more will follow. An overwhelming majority of Ottawa County does not want the Campbell plant to be closed in 2025, and that for very good reasons.
Here is what Consumers Energy (CE) will not tell you:
- The safe thing to do is follow the recommendation of the 2 preeminent experts on our grid- grid operator MISO and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Both recommend delay of closures like the Campbell because they say our grid will be in trouble if we do not. What MISO communicated at the time of the settlement years ago is irrelevant NOW. NOW MISO and NERC are saying our grid is in trouble and delay closures.
- CE will say that CE has enough generating capacity to cover its customers, but he will fail to mention the litigation with Wolverine Power because of the way CE left them in the lurch with the precipitous closure of the Campbell. Consumers Energy bought a currently existing gas plant so that on its books it would be fine, but their tactic left the overall grid and Wolverine Power customers in a precarious condition.
- Wolverine Power has had to scramble to find an alternative supply for its customers. The Biden and Whitmer Administrations have poured billions of dollars into a risky 2025 restart of the Palisades nuclear reactor to supply Wolverine Power customers. Never in the history of the USA has a shut down nuclear plant been re-started, because there were economic and technical reasons it shut down in the first place, and now it is in worse shape that at the time it was shut down. Consumers Energy sold the Palisades years ago because it was such an economic and technical headache. The former Palisades lead engineer Alan Blind and many others are warning of the dangers of trying to re-start it, especially if it is done quickly.
- CE has shown they are determined to carry out the unrealistic energy plan of the Gov Whitmer’s MPSC appointees who have ensured CE executives and other investors are handsomely financially rewarded while the citizens of Ottawa County are shafted. They want the Campbell demolished. If they are allowed to close the Campbell in a few months, they will begin to progressively dismantle it, making its demolition a foregone conclusion. We need to stop that.
- MPSC plans do not stop with closure of coal plants. The MPSC is already applying pressure on some gas plants to close as well, reflecting the fact that leaks from gas pipelines mean there is as much greenhouse gas effect from gas plants as coal plants. Oil and gas fracking is actually more environmentally problematic than coal mining. Even though CE is not now saying it, the reality is that MPSC and their executives know the plan is to demolish their gas plants too in the not too distant future.
- CE plans to replace the Campbell with batteries. Batteries do not generate electricity, so what will generate electric for these batteries? MPSC is engaged in the unconstitutional act of overthrowing local zoning and forcing Michigan communities to convert valuable farmlands into solar panel and wind turbine fields which over 79 Michigan counties and townships are suing over it. Grid operator MISO says those solar panel and wind turbines do not qualify as reliable electric baseload, yet MPSC and CE proceed as if they are. Furthermore, they ruin our valuable farmlands and are anything but environmentally safe. Many of them contain toxic chemicals which spill out into the soil, and they become a nightmare to dispose of at end of life cycle. Also, the Trump Administration has indicated it will stop funding solar and wind programs, so their economics become far more problematic.
- CE asserts it will save money if they close the Campbell. This is nonsense, unless it refers to how CE executives and other investors will financially benefit. Billions of dollars are being poured into the current Palisades nuclear plant to try to get it to produce electric that even at its maximum potential does not equal the Campbell. The most recently completed nuclear plant in the nation, generating the same electric as the Campbell, cost over $30 billion. Our Campbell plant is worth billions of dollars, yet they are planning to demolish it soon.
- There are many additional factors that make closing and demolishing the Campbell more risky now, including the trade wars with Canada, in which they are threatening to cease selling us some of their electric. Also, energy-hungry data centers are going up, such as in Kent County already.
- Also, as documented by NERC, our region’s grid is in the worst shape in the nation because of all of the plant closures. We will not have the luxury of depending on others to supply Michigan’s shortfall.
- There is a viable path forward to delay the closure. Michigan law recognizes the need to delay closures if the grid is endangered, which it is. If Consumers Energy fails to heed a County request for delay, then the County should join Wolverine Power in litigation to delay the closure. Wolverine Power has already enjoyed success in the courts. If Ottawa County were to join in this effort, it would add to the legal weight for delay. Now the Federal Administration is on the side of delay as well, and there is a strong possibility they will weigh in to help delay.
- At the same time, Ottawa County should be working on getting local control of electric like Zeeland, Holland and GH have. Zeeland residents pay 58% less for electric than CE customers. CE customers have a very inconvenient 2 tier pricing structure.
Thanks for your consideration to “Save The Campbell”.