Traverse City Light & Power officials appear to be the only people in town who believe the city-owned utility has sold the public on plans for a $30 million wood-fired power plant.
In fact, they seem to be some of the few people around who think -- after months of publicity and public forums -- that the proposed east-side plant is even a good idea, let alone ready for a green light.
Given the reality that there appears to be wide and persistent opposition to the proposal -- based on comments at public forums, comments to the utility and letters to the editor -- it is incumbent on Light & Power to push back its self-imposed April 16 deadline to make a final decision.
The community is not ready, the community is not convinced, the community has too many unanswered questions. To proceed now would fly in the face of Light & Power's promise that it would listen and, presumably, act accordingly.
A decision now would give even more credence to the widespread perception that a decision on the plant was made long ago and the process to now has been, as one city commissioner put it, a "charade."
It's time to slow down, at least long enough to adequately answer some basic questions.
n Little has been said by Light & Power about how much ash the biomass plant would produce, what that ash would contain and how and where it would be disposed.
While the kind of plant the utility is proposing is supposed to create less waste than more basic wood-burning plants, there still would be by-products in the form of both ash and tar.
So what's in that stuff? How much is there? Light & Power says the plant would burn 100,000 tons of scrap wood and possibly other so-called "fuel crops" every year; that's 273 tons a day, every day. Where, then, will the ash go. How do we handle it? Is it, by some miracle, environmentally neutral? No down side? Not likely. We need facts.
n Since Light & Power says it is committed to creating 30 percent of its power from so-called renewable sources (some argue burning wood shouldn't qualify as renewable) by the year 2020 (the state asked for just 10 percent) where will the rest of that power come from?
The proposed biomass plant will produce about 10 megawatts of power; Light & Power is required by law to have a capacity of 78 megawatts. Does the utility plan for two or three more plants? They won't/don't say, even though early plans called for as many as four such plants.
n If Light & Power builds even one plant and two or three similar projects being talked about around the region come to pass, do we still believe there will be enough scrap wood and "fuel crops" to feed them without resorting to clear-cutting? Light & Power must prove their contention that fuel won't be a problem.
n The utility must also, in the name of due diligence, take a serious look at the dams on the Boardman River and their potential for generating electricity. The pat answer from Light & Power officials is that the river doesn't have enough flow, but they offer nothing more.
A year-long study of the dams conducted recently fell far short of any meaningful analysis and gave short shrift to again using the dams to make power. We have to know.
Light & Power has not made its case. This is a plant that likely will be standing -- and eating wood -- 30 years from now. Yes, there are incentives to build now, including federal money, but this is a long-term decision and must be made with all the facts -- good and bad -- in hand.
Fifteen days is much too short a time to resolve the many issues left to be debated. Delaying a decision -- by a couple of months at least -- is the best course for Light & Power and the taxpayers it serves.
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