Fight Over Line 5 Heats Up - Michigan Chapter Update 3.19.17

250 Protestors Demand Enbridge Pipeline Shutdown Over Fears of Great Lakes Oil Spill

David Holtz, Chair of the Sierra Club - Michigan Chapter (2nd from left)

 Lorraine Chow

Officials from Enbridge Energy Partners insisted on the structural safety of its 64-year-old pipelines that passes under the Straits of Mackinac even though a company-commissioned study found that the lines' protective coating has deteriorated in some areas.
"I believe this pipeline is in as good of condition as it was on the day it was installed," Enbridge's director of integrity programs Kurt Baraniecki said at a Pipeline Safety Advisory Board meeting in Lansing, Michigan on Monday.
But the 250 protestors who showed up to the meeting responded to the comments with "derisive howls and laughter," the Detroit Free Press reported.

More ...

Rover Pipeline Opposition Demands FERC Inquiry Into Bait-and-Switch Compressor Engine Decision

March 13, 2017

Contacts:      

Nancy Shiffler, Michigan Sierra Club, 734-971-1157, nshiffler@comcast.net 

Lea Harper, (419) 450-7042, wewantcleanwater@gmail.com, www.FWAP.org

Terry Lodge, (419) 205-7084, lodgelaw@yahoo.com

        

The Sierra Club and Freshwater Accountability Project, parties to the E.T. Rover gas mega-pipeline licensing case, have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require the company to install turbine instead of reciprocating engines in each of the planned nine compressor pump stations along the route.

In a letter to FERC, the groups cited a commitment to use turbines which appears in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIS”) for Rover. A citizen watchdog, who is also a professional engineer, found the “bait and switch” and brought the concerns forward for investigation by FERC.

The use of turbines was designated to avoid causing an irritating “pulsing” vibration to emanate from the compressor stations, which is admittedly very distracting to nearby residents.  The staff of FERC wrote the FEIS, and the groups maintain that the assurance of turbine use at the compressor statements is a legally-enforceable condition which cannot be abandoned within the permit that was subsequently granted by the FERC Commissioners.

“The FERC Commissioners met and voted on February 2, 2017 that the Environmental Impact Statement adequately reduces environmental harms, including the pulsing vibrations from compressors,” said Leatra Harper, intervenor to the case as Managing Director or Freshwater Accountability Project. “That should have legally locked in the use of turbines, but instead, the Commissioners approved reciprocating engines and offered no explanation for the switch.”  Besides being noisier, reciprocating engines are also more polluting because they are less efficient, and are likely less expensive as well.

Rover has obtained Ohio Environmental Protection Agency permission to install reciprocating engines in all nine planned compressor stations. “We believe that Rover must be held to the FEIS commitment under NEPA regulations, and that only in the rarest of circumstances (none of which are present here) should any change to that commitment be allowed,” commented Terry Lodge, attorney for the FreshWater Accountability Project. “If the FERC decision is not corrected, we will seek to block construction of any of the compressor stations until this disagreement is resolved.” 

Rover has already been found in non-compliance with regulations by FERC and was sanctioned when the company caused the demolition of the historic Stoneman House in eastern Ohio, which apparently held up FERC approval of the pipeline’s certificate for months.

A copy of the complaint letter sent to FERC can be found here:

http://fwap.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Demand-re-compressor-units-FINAL.pdf

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Sierra Club letter to Michigan Pipeline Board

MI Chapter Update 3-5-17

The Tsuga’s View - Part 5

A Long-Term Look At Environmental, Political, and Social Issues, From The Perspective Of Michigan’s Oldest (and Most Optimistic) Tree Species

By Marvin Roberson

OK. He’s here. President Trump. And it’s bad. Really bad. Worse than any of us expected. Things are going to get worse. Good policies are going to be dismantled. People are going to be discriminated against, they are going to be hurt, and they are going to die. No two ways about it.

I’ve had folks point this out to me, and claim that it contradicts my claim that from the Tsuga’s View, things are getting better overall. I stand by that analysis, even in the face of all of the above.

Remember - the Tsuga’s View is the long view - not a reaction to the immediate events of the day, no matter how disheartening or damaging. And the fact is, while progressive ideals lost the election, we won the vote.

Consider - 3 million more people voted for Clinton than Trump. More people voted for Democratic Senate candidates than voted for Republicans. While the Democrats did not take the Senate, as we had hoped, they gained, not lost, seats. And in fact, Trump won Florida by less votes than the number of people who wrote in “Mickey Mouse”, or other nonsense votes.

The way I have described this situation, is that the Conservative tide is going out, even if we get knocked down by some of the remaining waves.

As I said in an earlier edition of the Tsuga’s View, the fact that the Right has progress to attack means that there has been progress. After eight years of excoriating Obamacare, the Right is discovering that American citizens, even the ones that voted Republican, actually don’t want it repealed.

Look - in the long run, we’ve made huge progress. We will continue to do so. When we get knocked down by the remaining incoming waves, we’re not drowning - we’re claiming the beach left by the receding Conservative tide.

Buck up - it’s awful now, but it’s been awful before (think McCarthy, Nixon, etc). And in the long run, the Tsuga’s View is that we have, and will continue, to prevail.

In the next installment of “The Tsuga’s View”, I explain why sitting in front of a television for much of my youth reflects progress.

MPSC Approves Consumers Energy Rate Hike, Seeks Justification for Keeping Uneconomic Coal Plants Running

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 28, 2017

Contact:

Ricky Junquera, ricky.junquera@sierraclub.org, (617) 599-7048

MPSC Approves Consumers Energy Rate Hike, Seeks Justification for Keeping Uneconomic Coal Plants Running

Lansing, MI - Today, the Michigan Public Utilities Service Commission issued a decision allowing Consumers Energy to increase their customer's electricity bills. In approving that rate hike, the Commission required that Consumers Energy run a benefit/cost analysis on its aging coal fleet and provide that detailed analysis on their next general rate case filing. EarthJustice and Olson, Bzdok, & Howard represented the Sierra Club in this case.

In response, Regina Strong, Director for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Michigan, released the following statement: 

“We do not agree with the Commission’s decision to approve a rate hike, part of which will pay for Consumers’ investments in dirty, uneconomic coal plants. But, we are glad to see the Commission require Consumers Energy to undertake a detailed benefit/cost study of potentially retiring the D.E. Karn 1 and 2 and J.H. Campbell 1 and 2 coal plant units in the relatively near future. Given the escalating cost of maintaining coal-fired power generation units, that are already between 49 and 55 years old, the company should not commit to capital spending on these plants before  that analysis is completed. Ratepayers should not be on the hook for avoidable costs that are no longer economically justifiable.

“Today's decision also initiates a separate proceeding to address electric vehicle issues, to be led by Staff. Its goal is to convene stakeholders from the EV marketplace and develop a statewide master plan for EV charging infrastructure, including the role for Michigan's utilities. Our electric utilities have a critical role to play in shaping the future of the EV market, from infrastructure to education. Today's decision marks a critical step toward realizing that future in Michigan, the birthplace of the modern auto industry."

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About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.7 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.