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MARQUETTE —  Northern Michigan University students and faculty demanded “no new coal” at a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality hearing Tuesday on NMU’s permit proposal for a power plant that could burn wood, coal and other fuels.


“My professional opinion is that even the potential of burning coal is a step in the wrong direction,” said Ron Sundell, NMU geography professor and director of the environmental science program. “We can do a number of things with alternative energy. It’s a new energy age. No new coal.”


Sundell, another faculty member and about 15 students who addressed the DEQ said they are upset about NMU’s project to develop a combined heat and power cogeneration addition to its existing Ripley Heating Plant. The cogeneration plant would be capable of burning wood chips, coal and natural gas to produce energy for NMU’s campus.


“The plan is to burn wood chips,” said Gavin Leach, NMU’s vice president for finance and administration. “This enhances the university’s goal of becoming green. We plan on being one of the cleanest plants in the state.”


But opponents question whether the university can find enough wood byproducts for the plant and fear that NMU would end up resorting to using coal — a fossil fuel that opponents say has the potential to pollute and is not a sustainable resource.


“I’m concerned about the potential CO2 emission from the power plant,” said John Rebers, a NMU biology professor who represented the Sierra Club at the hearing. “The environmental effects are not limited to what comes out of the stack.”


Several students — including Eric Miller, Luke Obermeyer, Krista Blair and Amanda Boyle — asked the DEQ to set higher standards to encourage alternative energy, help create green jobs and support sustainable resources.


“We need you to be stewards in the right direction,” Boyle said. “We’re the future, we’re pushing for it and we’re taking it in our hands.”


The proposed addition to NMU’s heating plant is estimated to cost $55 million and may save the university up to $1.9 million annually. Students argued that this money should be invested in wind and solar energy and not in a fossil fuel such as coal that is not sustainable.


Leach said the proposed addition will have a positive impact on NMU and the Upper Peninsula. He said NMU plans to create a research facility adjacent to the new addition that would allow students to study and research bio-fuel production and other alternative energy projects. Leach also said the overall project has the potential to create between 90 and 120 new jobs in the forest industry.


According to the DEQ’s Bill Presson — representing the department’s decision-maker Vincent Hellwig — the public comment period for NMU’s permit, which was scheduled to end Tuesday, was extended to Dec. 27. Presson said the request to extend the deadline was made by Marquette’s chapter of the Sierra Club.


Written comments can be sent to: Michigan DEQ, Air Quality Division, P.O. Box 30260, Lansing, Michigan 48909, attention William A. Presson, Acting Permit Section Supervisor.


For more information, contact David Riddle at the DEQ’s Air Quality Division at (517) 373-7081.

 

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