Joseph Parnell McCarter, Georgetown Township, volunteer leader of SaveTheCampbell effort.
It is important that we realize how the planned Key Capture’s battery plant in Blendon, Consumers Energy’s demolition of the Campbell in Port Sheldon, and the solar panel fields development by RWE in Zeeland Township are all just the beginning of the Net Zero Agenda in Ottawa County of destroying fossil fuel plants and replacing them with solar panel fields and battery plants. The Net Zero Agenda has always been the primary vehicle to the UN’s Agenda 2030, which threatens our way of life of historic US liberty by its degradation and centralized control of our energy and food, for which the Covid pandemic restrictions were just a foretaste. Solar panels and batteries that store energy for 4 hours are a poor substitute for fossil fuel plants like the Campbell, and solar panel fields and battery plants significantly waste and damage our valuable farmlands. Net Zero is a very expensive, misguided agenda we need to thwart.
This Blendon Township Board unanimously passed the first round of Campbell resolutions, and now we need you to pass the second round of Resolutions which has been provided to you. This second round paves the way to take on Consumers Energy and DTE, which are the money conduits for the Net Zero Agenda at the behest of the Whitmer-appointed MPSC. Key Capture and RWE will be getting their revenue money from Consumers Energy and DTE. We have the ability to kill that money path dead in its tracks in this County, and effectively stop it. We can get local control through an electric coop of the Campbell and Ottawa County’s electric not already under local control. Zeeland’s Electric Coop already has local control, and its electric prices are around half of Consumers Energy prices.
Additional tools should also be employed, including taxation of the environmental costs of solar and battery enterprises. But it needs to be kept in mind that Consumers Energy and DTE will likely legally challenge such, as they already are, using utility rate payer money to do so. The Michigan Supreme Court is in the hands of liberal Democrats, and it is not probable conservative Republicans will get the control of the State Government we need to change PA 233. We should try to repeal PA 233, but our strategy should not depend on it. In contrast, the “Save The Campbell” strategy utilizes legal mechanisms where Republicans control and that are local-based, with the assistance of the supportive Trump Administration.
The Jamestown Board passed the second round Resolutions, and the Utilities Committee of the Georgetown Township Board unanimously passed them. We are getting positive indications of other local Boards. We now need you to.
The Bible says to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” We need the wisdom and grace of God to prevail.
Thanks for considering these resolution proposals.
Note: The Proposed Resolutions Handed Out to the Blendon Board of Commisioners-
Resolution#1:
“WHEREAS, Consumers Energy has publicly stated it will seek cost recovery to keep the J.H. Campbell generating plant operationally available consistent with the Trump Administration executive order, which would result in customer price hikes on top of already high and escalating energy charges by Consumers Energy; and
WHEREAS, Consumers Energy is spending significant sums of money in achieving the “most aggressive clean energy plans in the nation” towards Net Zero goals, beyond what Michigan law requires; and
WHEREAS, there are significant warning signs of rapid implementation of Net Zero goals, such as manifested in recent nationwide power outages in Spain and Portugal, and excessively high electric rates and a tenuous grid in the United Kingdom; and
WHEREAS, Net Zero goals depend significantly on taxpayer subsidy, but much of that subsidy will likely be reduced or eliminated soon given the new Republican President and Congress; and
WHEREAS, regional grid operator MISO and grid expert NERC have recommended delays in planned fossil fuel plant closures in order to avoid undue risks to the regional electric grid, wherein electric supply cannot meet demand, as even recently occurred on our own regional grid in Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, there are justified concerns about converting our valuable Michigan farmlands and forests into solar panel fields, facilitated by the undermining of local zoning rights by the MPSC; and
WHEREAS, there is increasing demand for reliable electric by AI data centers, including location of an AI data center next to an electric generating facility; and
WHEREAS, Michigan law recognizes the important role of municipalities with respect to utility services;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the ______ Township Board hereby requests that Consumers Energy foregoes seeking cost recovery to keep the J.H. Campbell generating plant operationally available, but instead offsets those costs by reducing its Net Zero expenditures and delaying its Net Zero implementation, as well as seriously exploring providing an AI data center with some of the electric provided by the Campbell, in order that residential electric rates can be reduced.”
Resolution#2:
WHEREAS, a 2022 Zealand BPW study showed Consumers Energy residential rate electric pricing was already around 58% higher than Zealand BPW electric pricing, and a more recent Mlive study showed it was more than 80% higher; and
WHEREAS, there have been a significant series of price hikes by Consumers Energy since the Zealand BPW study, and recently Consumers Energy proposed the largest price hike in decades; and
WHEREAS, Consumers Energy says it will seek cost recovery for its Campbell closure delay, which would further hike electric pricing, rather than offsetting this cost by scaling back its Net Zero implementation; and
WHEREAS, Consumers Energy is far in advance in its Net Zero spending and plan of what Michigan law requires, and has shown no signs of scaling back, despite many reasons to do so; and
WHEREAS, studies indicate Net Zero is more costly than traditional fossil fuel electric generation because the solar and wind that Net Zero generally relies on is variable, and so requires redundant fossil fuel back up, given the current state of battery technology; and
WHEREAS, Consumers Energy has thus far been determined to close the JH Campbell generating facility rather than using it in part to provide electric for an AI data center, for which reliable electric is currently in high demand; and
WHEREAS, regional grid operator MISO and grid expert NERC have recommended delays in the currently planned fossil fuel plant closures in order to avoid undue risks to the regional electric grid; and
WHEREAS, three cities in Ottawa County successfully exercise local control over electric rather than utilizing Consumers Energy as their public utility for electric; and
WHEREAS, Michigan law recognizes the important role of municipalities with respect to utility services;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the _____ Township Board hereby joins together with other township boards in Ottawa County in setting up an exploratory committee to investigate acquiring Consumers Energy’s interest in the JH Campbell generating plant, via local electric cooperative(s), financed with the assistance of a data center that would utilize some of the Campbell’s generated electricity and/or Federal Government assistance, and facilitated with the assistance of the Ottawa County Board. It would also investigate the possibility of attaining local control of electric for the parts of Ottawa County currently utilizing Consumers Energy as its electric public utility.