New hybrid power plant could affect Mich. energy industry

Some Michigan students are saying the prospect of a new Lansing power plant will hinder the state’s renewable energy industry, causing graduates looking for jobs in the industry to move out of state.

But the Lansing Board of Water & Light, or BWL, argues dispelling fossil fuels entirely isn’t the answer.

The proposed “hybrid plant” would burn about 70 percent coal and 30 percent biomass, or organic materials, said BWL spokesman Mark Nixon. It would also replace the BWL’s Eckert coal plant in Lansing as soon as 2018, and would cost between $750 million and $1 billion.

In the next 10 to 15 years, the Eckert plant, constructed in 1923, will need to be shut down because of environmental regulations. The new plant would be constructed in Delta Township, Nixon said.

“I think our state can do a lot better in researching and developing alternative energy options,” said Brandon Knight, an MSU alumnus and co-founder of the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, or MSSC.

MSSC formed in 2006 and has chapters at 12 Michigan colleges and universities. The coalition pushes students to promote using energy more efficiently, including using wind, solar and geothermal power, among others, Knight said. Earlier this year, the coalition launched a campaign to rid the state of new fossil fuel infrastructure.

Closing an aging coal plant shouldn’t be looked at as an opportunity to invest $1 billion in coal, he said. And with both MSU and Lansing Community College offering renewable energy programs, Lansing is in a unique position to run on “clean energy,” he said.

“From our perspective, renewable energy has much more economic benefit than coal,” said Knight, now studying alternative energy engineering at LCC. “We feel there’s a great opportunity to make the Lansing economy stronger by making it greener and by bringing more jobs.”

For Skye Black, an MSSC member and MSU senior, the plant represents a “huge setback” for the state’s alternative energy industry. Black said the proposed plant is part of the reason she decided to move out of Michigan after graduation.

“(Michigan) doesn’t have the environmental job industry that a lot of people are looking for,” she said. “A lot of people are moving to (Washington,) D.C. and California and other states that have a huge job market where people are looking for green jobs.”

The hybrid plant is expected to raise utility taxes for Lansing-area residents up to 21 percent over the next five to seven years. But if the current coal plant isn’t replaced, taxes could raise up to 55 percent because the electricity would be bought on the pricey open market, according to a BWL release.

“We want more (renewable energy),” Nixon said.

“But we also have a responsibility to our customers to provide reliable, affordable power. So far it is simply not feasible, or economical, or even possible to satisfy our customers’ needs solely on renewable energy.”

But the BWL isn’t discouraging input from groups like MSSC, Nixon said.

A 10-person panel of representatives from Lansing-area neighborhoods, environmental interests groups and businesses will meet in mid-August to review recommendations.

“We are a public utility,” Nixon said.

“That’s why we are having a community panel review these recommendations.”

Bruce Dale, an MSU chemical engineering professor, said while he agrees with exploring alternative energies, Michigan isn’t ready to rely solely on them.

“It’s taken 100 years to get ourselves into the problem of fossil fuels,” he said. “It’s going to take us a while to get out.”