Dear Members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners:
As the Board appropriately cited in its Campbell resolution, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners has the authority to “enter or to intervene in any action or certificate proceeding involving the services, charges or rates of any privately owned public utility furnishing services or commodities to rate payers within the County.” (Article VII, Section 15 of the Constitution of the State of Michigan, 1964, as amended). This constitutional role serves as the basis for two requests I herein make to you as a Board:
1. Please pass a resolution at your upcoming Board meeting calling for a public hearing on the topic of the two deep injection wells for wastewater proposed by Consumers Energy at the Campbell site.
2. Please join the exploratory committee for a locally controlled electric cooperative for those parts of Ottawa County currently with the Consumers Energy monopoly.
Concerning the first request, there is good reason to believe there are better ways to address the wastewater issue than simply burying it deep underground, where it potentially can leak and cause damage. I am specifically asking for investigation of its use in a possible closed loop cooling system of a data center co-located with the Campbell facility. The wastewater at the Campbell could likely be treated and used at the co-located data center for its closed loop cooling system; this would be a more environmentally responsible avenue than Consumers Energy’s current plan of injecting it deep underground. The fly ash waste can be used for rare earth mineral extraction and other industrial purposes. We can also do more to further reduce pollutant emissions at the Campbell so that it becomes essentially negligible. As moderator of the exploratory committee for a locally controlled electric cooperative, I am finding significant interest by data center representatives in such a co-located data center. It is possible for a data center to help resolve environmental issues while lowering residential customer rates, by charging premium prices to the data center for the electricity and water the Campbell can provide.
Concerning the second request, this is Ottawa County’s opportunity to form an electric cooperative and purchase the Campbell with Trump Administration assistance. The Trump Administration has just issued an executive order to assist in energy infrastructure efforts, which is precisely what a locally controlled electric cooperative would need to purchase the Campbell. Consumers Energy, sold on the Net Zero agenda, is determined to demolish the Campbell as soon as it can. We have a path to form an electric cooperative and purchase the Campbell with Trump Administration assistance, so that it can generate electricity both for residents at subsidized rates, and a co-located data center at premium rates. It also helps get us off the hook of wasting our valuable farmlands on what are really unreliable forms of energy (solar/wind/battery) in Michigan for baseload electric. We need more local control of our grid to pursue a more common sense approach to electricity.
As Mlive has reported, electricity bills are causing financial stress for Michigan families. We need the Ottawa County Board to perform its constitutionally mandated function and help us address rapidly rising prices of the Consumers Energy monopoly. A locally controlled electric cooperative board holds out the prospect of introducing competition where there is none now, but only the Consumers Energy monopoly rapidly raising prices. And we have a reasonable path to get there.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of these requests.
Sincerely,
Joseph Parnell McCarter
Volunteer leader of SaveTheCampbell.com
Georgetown Township, MI