Traverse City Record-Eagle

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THE ISSUE

-- Biomass plant site scotched

Our view

-- Time to look at options

May 23, 2010

Editorial: Time to look at biomass options

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So how do you misplace a $30 million biomass plant?

Not misplace like forgetting where you put it, of course, but in a more basic way: How, after months of planning and public hearings, did Traverse City Light & Power say its preferred site for a biomass plant was a place where it apparently can't be built? And why did uility officials give assurances that the site near Cherry Capital Airport was just fine when they apparently didn't know whether it was or not?

Spin? Telling people what they wanted to hear?

Not long after the Light & Power board voted 4-2 to "pursue the development" of a wood-burning power plant at its preferred site near Cherry Capital Airport, airport officials said, in essence, "no."

The Federal Aviation Administration, it seems, has been planning for more than 10 years to build a 160-foot air traffic control tower with a 360-degree view at the airport. Building a wood-burning power plant with a 120-foot smokestack just east of the new tower "would definitely create a threat to aviation safety," said Ron Hubbard, the FAA's air traffic manager for Cherry Capital. He said he had spoken to airport manager Steve Cassens and Cassens had spoken to Light & Power.

If it had gotten as far as the FAA, Hubbard said, the agency "would have had some very, very, very strong objections." In the FAA's world, that means "no." Heck no, even. "You couldn't pick a worse location," Hubbard said.

So why did Light & Power officials give public and private assurances — to direct questions about the airport site, the height of the smokestack and the possible impact of the smokestack and its emissions on air traffic — that the airport site had passed muster?

Even now, with the site essentially dead, Light & Power appears to still be playing the game. Executive Director Ed Rice said, "The site is on a lower priority than it was before." Lower than "no?"

All this leads to an obvious question: If Light & Power was wrong about the site for the new plant (a site it never purchased), what other issues might still be in question?

Light & Power gave the same kind of assurances — trust us — that ash from the plant would be harmless, as would smokestack emissions. Remember the Iceland volcano?

Many people said the process was rushed. Many openly challenged a local poll that claimed substantial support for the plant. Others objected to spending thousands of taxpayer dollars to sell skeptical taxpayers.

This must be considered an opportunity.

Before Light & Power spends one more dime on a new campaign to sell a new biomass site, it must do what should have been done first — take an honest and long look at other power alternatives, starting with the dams on the Boardman River.

Virtually no one, except those on the Boardman River Dams Committee, thought enough time and effort was spent two years ago to determine whether the dams once again could generate electricity. Light & Power board member (the utility used to own two of the dams) Linda Johnson repeatedly dismissed the idea, saying the river doesn't have the current to make power. That's why, of course, they build dams. And it cannot be forgotten that the dams generated electricity for decades with inferior technology. Why can't they again?

Before we spend $30 million on a biomass plant and millions more to tear out the dams, we want some science.

Light & Power also must look into enticing reports that wind turbines placed a few miles into Lake Michigan could create massive amounts of energy. Could a consortium of Michigan governments and private enterprise unlock that power? Should Traverse City be part of that?

And now, at the start of what many expect to be a new boom in natural-gas production, is the time to look again at using natural gas as a baseline generation fuel, if only until other technologies emerge.

Biomass — which is no more than burning trees to make electricity — should be our last option.

This is the 21st century. Let's act like it.

(And hey, how is that WiFi thing working out ...)

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