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February 18, 2004Coal-fired plant's cost measured in pollutionResidents from communities throughout northwest Michigan crowded a recent hearing in Manistee to protest plans to build a 425-megawatt coal-burning power plant on the shore of Manistee Lake.There's good reason to worry. Toxic fallout from the innocuously named "Northern Lights" (how about Northern Blight?) plant would hurt everyone who calls the region home. The Environ-mental Protection Agency is already threatening sanctions against northern Lake Michigan counties for failing air quality tests. That pollution is directly attributable to coal-burning power plants in Illinois and Indiana. Siting a coal-burning plant here is a bizarre and ironic invitation to further pollute this region with large-scale emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury, lead and nitrogen oxide, among other pollutants. On Thursday, Manistee's planning commission will host a public hearing on developer Joe Tondu's power plant pitch. A decision isn't due that evening, but must be made within 60 days of commissioners' Feb. 5 approval of a special land use application. Planners could render a decision as soon as their March 4 meeting, city officials said. Commissioners should reject the proposal for a number of reasons, but one above all: A coal-burning plant is too detrimental to the region's environmental and public health. More poisons in the air and water simply aren't worth Tondu's jobs, jobs, jobs mantra. The plant supposedly would provide full-time work for more than 40 people - as well as an annual financial kickback to local governments in lieu of property taxes. Tondu has set up the proposed plant to be part of a municipal energy provider, creating tax-exempt status for his business. Whatever local assessment Tondu pays to Manistee County and city, it's guaranteed to be a fraction of the property tax that would have to be shouldered by businesses that don't have such a plum designation. Tondu picked the Manistee site because officials in neighboring Filer Township demanded significant environmental and financial accountability. He also fought the township and county over tax assessments, costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees in a tax tribunal case Tondu ultimately lost. Tondu also would make out wonderfully on land purchase and construction deals in Manistee because a state brownfield designation again means government picks up much of his tab. Early indications are that Manistee officials seem willing to accept Tondu's crumbs, figuring any revenue is better than none. But for a community that's touted itself as a tourist destination, fishing mecca and bedroom community, that kind of thinking seems woefully short-sighted.
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