Report:  Consumers Energy Said To Abandon Multi-BillionDollar Project

LANSING– Clean energy advocacy and environmental groups today welcomed the reporteddecision by Consumer Energy to forgo a proposed giant 830 megawatt coal plantnear Bay City.

“Thisis a tremendous victory for Michigan and a real opportunity for Michigan togrow clean energy jobs,” Sierra ClubMichigan Director Anne Woiwode said. “For years, the people of Michigan have spoken loud and clear: No moredirty coal and more clean renewable energy. And today, the citizens of Michiganhave a much-deserved victory in the fight to build a strong, clean energyfuture that will create jobs and make our economy more competitive in the 21^stcentury.”

Newsof Consumers’ decision came in a press report today from the Saginaw News,quoting TownshipSupervisor Terry Spegel as saying he had spoken to Consumers officials who gavehim the decision to abandon the project.  Michigan Public Service Commission staff had recommended delaying anydecision on the coal plant until 2022. The recommendations stemmed from thefailure of the utilities to show that Michigan needs more energy in comingyears. The utilities also failed to counter growing evidence that renewableenergy – and not dirty coal – could meet future needs.

Thereported decision by Consumers’ parent company, CMS Energy, comes as Consumersrecently announced it was lowering costs to its 1.8 million customers forrenewable energy charges, a projected $54 million savings.   It would also be the 159^th coalplant project abandoned in recent years across the United States. 

“Michigancan breathe easier knowing that a huge, polluting and unneeded coal plant willnot be built,” Clean Water ActionMichigan Director Cyndi Roper said. "It appearsthat Consumers Energy has finally seen the light that customers should not haveto pay the huge financial cost of this unneeded plant and our naturalresources and our health should not have to pay the heavy cost of pollutionthis plant would have added to our environment.”

TheLone Tree Council, a Bay City area citizens group that has led the local fightagainst the plant, said residents are relieved that Consumers has apparentlytaken this final step in abandoning the plant project.

“Thisis great news for local residents who would have had to endure the addedpollution that would have come with this dirty coal plant,” said Terry Miller, Lone Tree Council President.  “We know that for our Great Lakes, our health and our communities thisis the best possible outcome.”

“There is consensus brewing here---Consumers Energy has come tothe same conclusion as 158 other companies, that coal just doesn’t makeeconomic sense,” said Shannon Fisk ofthe Midwest Office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The $3.5plus billion that would have gone towards a dirty plant can have a much betterimpact in Michigan going towards energy efficiency and renewable energyresources that will create jobs, save ratepayer money, and benefit publichealth.”

According to a 2009 report by theNatural Resources Defense Council, Michigan can meet its energy needs through acombination of wind power, biomass, and other renewable energy sources coupledwith aggressive energy efficiency programs.[1]  Among the NRDC’s findings:

• Energy efficiency program alone could save Michigan $3 billion in electricity costs over the next 20 years.
• Michigan’s previous energy plan, written in 2007, is out of date, with unrealistic projections of future electrical demand, limited implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and reliance on outdated 20th century coal technologies.
• Clean renewable energy is less expensive, cleaner, faster, more economically robust, and creates more jobs in Michigan than a 20^th century plan based on new but obsolete large power plants driven by fossil fuels.