By Joseph Parnell McCarter
The article is here, and I address each lie below:
Lie #1: “Consumers Energy intended to close the J.H. Campbell coal plant on May 31 as it moved to adopt cleaner power sources in compliance with Michigan law.”
$1 billion was invested in anti-polluting equipment in order to keep the Campbell open to 2040, making the Campbell one of the cleanest coal plants in the nation. Nevertheless, Consumers Energy has sought to close it in 2025 long before even Michigan’s misguided Net Zero laws require. Battery sites and solar panel fields are NOT “cleaner” than the Campbell, which is why so many residents in Blendon Township are up in arms about plans there.
Lie #2: “No one here asked for this plant to remain open,” Wooden told reporters on Monday. “The fossil fuel industry asked for this to stay open.”
This has to be one of the BIGGEST lies in the whole article. The “Save The Campbell” effort has been a local grassroots effort from the beginning, not receiving one dime from the fossil fuel industry. Thousands of local residents have supported our effort. Many township boards and the county board passed “Save The Campbell” resolutions. Local legislators joined in. Together we asked the Trump Administration to “Save The Campbell”.
Lie #3: “U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing noted Consumers Energy spent $29 million in the first five weeks of Trump’s order to keep the aging plant online.”
While it is true that this is what the filing stated, it is false that Consumers Energy had to spend $29 million to keep the Campbell open if it had pursued a sane energy policy of scaling back on their aggressive Net Zero agenda- curtailing Net Zero expenditures- and pursued using the Campbell in part to provide electric to an AI data center at top notch pricing given demand. Irrespective of the Campbell, and due to its aggressive Net Zero agenda, Consumers Energy already has high electric rates, and they are now proposing outrageously expensive increased rates.
Lie #4: “In addition to the financial burden the aging plant poses, it also threatens residents’ health with harmful air and groundwater pollutants…”
Most of the negative health impacts of the Campbell specifically have already been addressed, and the rest can be without closing the plant. They are closing down one of the most environmentally responsible plants in the nation and not soon addressing ones which are far more polluting, while at the same time pursuing a Net Zero agenda which threatens thousands of acres of Michigan farmland.
Lie #5: “Michigan utility regulators also have said there is no emergency in the state or the region and called Trump’s federal order ‘unnecessary.’”
NERC, a preeminent evaluator of the grid, describes the current situation of our regional MISO grid as “elevated risk” and goes on to say: “With higher demand and less firm resources, MISO is at elevated risk of operating reserve shortfalls during periods of high demand or low resource output. MISO’s most recent energy assessment reveals that the period of highest energy shortfall risk has shifted from July to August. This shift is driven by the decline in dispatchable generation and the increasing share that solar and wind resources have in meeting demand. The risk of supply shortfalls increases in late summer as solar output diminishes earlier in the day, leaving variable wind and a more limited amount of dispatchable resources to meet demand.”
Furthermore, the long-term with the Net Zero agenda is dangerous: “Modeling completed by the Center of the American Experiment and Always On Energy Research for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy demonstrates that achieving net-zero goals will cause Michigan’s already-high electricity prices to skyrocket…It would expose Michigan residents to a greater risk of blackouts…” See here.