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From a concerned citizen regarding a matter of public
policy: On February 19, 2004 there was a Public Hearing before
the City of Manistee Planning Commission concerning the proposed Northern
Lights Project - a 425 megawatt coal-fired electrical generating plant that the
Tondu Corporation of Houston, Texas seeks to build in our town of 6,000 people
– at the mouth of the Manistee River and between the shores of Lake
Michigan and the Manistee National Forest.
Before this project can proceed, the Tondu Corporation must obtain a
Special Use Permit from the City of There were over 500 people who attended the Public
Hearing, and there were so many people who signed up to speak that the Public
Hearing was extended to this Thursday, February 26th at ·
Manistee County Democratic Party ·
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Traverse Group of the Sierra Club ·
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·
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Sweetwater ·
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council ·
Little River Band of Ottawa
Indians Tribal government ·
Grand Traverse Band of ·
Manistee And the list grows. During the three hour public hearing, there were only
three people who spoke in favor of the proposed coal plant: Joe Tondu, the owner/developer; Tom
Kubanek, Director of the Manistee Industrial Development Corporation; and Lydia Murray, Account Manager for the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation and representative for the Michigan Department of Labor
and Economic Growth. During Lydia Murray’s remarks, she cited that she was
specifically asked by David Hollister
and the Granholm Administration to
attend this public hearing and speak in favor of the project. It appears that someone in the Granholm Administration
does not give much credence to the seriousness of the action that took place at
this public hearing. If the Governor was not aware that a spokesperson, Lydia
Murray, was doing what she did, then the Governor needs to say something
now. It seems inconceivable that a
governor would weigh in on a local issue at this point. It may actually be without
precedent. The region is quite
upset, to put it mildly. If the Governor’s advisors are not reading the
newspapers up and down this coast and the Traverse magazine, they need to be
doing so. I can tell you that the
opposition to this plant has now been contacted by the UPI, AP and CNN. Regionally there are talks of organizing bus trips to The interference in local politics is newsworthy
enough, but when you analyze the speech of Lydia Murray it has sentence
structure and vocabulary, facts and data that appear to be lifted right out of
Tondu Corporation public statements.
The people in this area in opposition to this plant are bright, research
oriented Democrats who are not going to let this one alone. And, Republicans have now joined the
effort, which is going to force the hand of their representatives in this
area. This situation is even more
newsworthy because the developer of the project, Joe Tondu, who now has presumably
been supported by the Governor’s
office, sits on the Governor’s
advisory panel on mercury emission controls. More newsworthy is that the Governor has said she
wants to move to zero mercury emissions by 2020, yet the proposed plant is to
be built on There are serious questions being asked around here. Questions include: ·
When did the Governor’s office and Hollister’s office know of this
proposal? ·
How can the Governor sacrifice the
people of northwest ·
Why didn’t the Governor send a representative to
talk with the people of before making a public statement in support of the
Tondu Corporation? ·
Why didn’t the Governor take more seriously the
resolution of opposition from the Manistee Democratic Party? ·
Have there been any campaign
contributions from a PAC that is supported by the Tondu Corporation, its
principals or family members? ·
Have there been any direct
campaign contributions from the Tondu Corporation, their principals or family
members? ·
Was this project discussed in the
Governor’s
advisory committee on mercury emissions? This issue is not going to go away. Yesterday, The headline is: “Mercury: Tighter
Rules Can and Should Go Further.” The article goes on to
discuss EPA scientist’s findings that probably one in six women of
child-bearing age have enough mercury in their systems
to affect the offspring – rather than previous estimates of one in
twelve. It goes on to urge the EPA
to toughen its rules based on its own research. Once again it states the obvious: “The biggest remaining output of
mercury comes from coal-burning power plants.” The Governor is rapidly slipping into heavy scrutiny
unless a statement is forthcoming. This
reminds me of the last song by the Beatles on the “Her Majesty’s a
pretty nice girl but she doesn’t have a lot to say, Her Majesty’s a pretty nice
girl but she changes from day to day…” |