Joseph Parnell McCarter, Georgetown Township, volunteer leader of SaveTheCampbell effort.
I thank this Board for deliberating follow up action to the Campbell Resolution, given that MPSC and Consumers Energy currently intend to move forward with its precipitous closure and demolition. I especially thank those on the board who have not let this issue be swept under the rug.
We all have an interest in a commonsense energy solution that helps us prosper and avoids the downward economic spiral of the UK and some other European nations. They have destroyed their coal and many other fossil fuel plants, resulting in the highest electric energy pricing in the world, combined with tenuous electric consistency.[1] We also have an interest not to waste our valuable farmlands on something that does not provide reliable baseload.
We support both of the Campbell motions up for consideration today, but let me propose some possible changes if these might be necessary to obtain majority Board support:
- Amend the litigation motion to first seek a legally mediated solution and only proceed to litigation if the controversy cannot be resolved via such mediation and the Board approves to move to such litigation. The main parties represented in this mediation discussion would be Ottawa County, Consumers Energy, and the MPSC, along with some other invitees.
- Amend the Trump Administration motion to include a request to join in the legal mediation discussions. Extend the invitation not only to the Energy Department, but also the Interior Department, since Secretaries Bergum and Wright co-lead the National Energy Dominance Council. Add also an invitation for the Whitmer Administration to be represented in the discussions, if the Trump Administration accepts.
- Reach out to the Data Center Coalition[2] and its members to determine which of their members might be interested in locating on the Campbell complex, receiving some of its electric power, and helping in the financing of projects there.
- Place on the table for mediation discussion the following: locating a data center on the Campbell complex, seeking an agreed upon timetable for conversion of Campbell units 1 and 2 to gas-fired generation, of which there is significant successful industry history;[3] delay decision regarding Campbell unit 3 for several years, operating for now consistent with NERC and MISO recommendations; construction of additional generating capacity on the complex; and purchase of direct air carbon capture as a way to bridge divides on this issue at the current time. (On the latter point, I will continue to argue that we have no CO2 crisis, but I recognize there are a fair number of you not yet persuaded.)
- Participate in an exploratory effort of an electric cooperative for those townships in the County currently without local control, including for purposes of participating in Campbell plant ownership along with those County municipalities already with local control. It should be a long-term objective to attain more local control of electric in the County and to use Consumers Energy as desired via the local control conduit.
One might ask: what more do mediation discussions provide that submission of the Campbell Resolution did not? Most importantly, that submission did not include the Trump Administration weighing in on this alongside the County.
We need to work and pray together towards a commonsense energy solution, with both Trump Administration assistance and County involvement. If we fail in this, we will all suffer.
Thanks for considering these requests to save the Campbell!
[1] https://co2coalition.org/2025/01/21/the-dark-side-of-europes-energy-devolution/