Joseph Parnell McCarter, Georgetown Township, volunteer leader of “Save The Campbell”
I commend this Board for how you have judiciously weighed in on matters pertaining to the County’s electric grid, which the Michigan Constitution empowers the county board to do. Time has fully vindicated the county board’s decision to request the delay of the Campbell closure. Even Consumers Energy and DTE now acknowledge that we need more fossil fuel plants given our rising electric demand. The problem is that they want to build new fossil fuel plants on the east side of the State, demolish our Campbell fossil fuel plant in Ottawa County, and use many of our valuable county farmlands for unreliable solar. Ottawa County is getting a raw deal on the current Consumers Energy monopoly path, and we need the county board to help protect us.
Consequently, I request the County Board today to intervene in the Silver Maple Solar case in Zeeland Township, opposing the large industrial solar development which replaces valuable farmlands with an unreliable form of baseload electric.
In addition, I continue to request the County Board join the Exploratory Committee for a Locally Controlled Electric Cooperative, just as many township boards are already represented. We need your help to secure the assistance of the Office of Energy Dominance Financing under the Federal Department of Energy. To pursue this successfully, we need to display the same level of public support for this as was displayed in the request to delay the Campbell closure. A locally elected electric cooperative board for those parts of Ottawa County currently under Consumers Energy control would not preclude using Consumers Energy to help service our grid, but introduces alternative possibilities where now there is only monopoly pursuing energy policy against our county’s interests. At the end of the day, this effort will amount to giving county voters the opportunity to decide whether we want our electric grid controlled by a locally elected electric cooperative board or Consumers Energy executives under MPSC control.
We will be living with what happens with our area electric grid, farmlands and water, so it behooves us to pursue more local control. Cities in Ottawa County have already demonstrated how well local control over electric works.
Thanks for considering these requests and for your public service.