LANSING – Two more of the state’s proposed coal-fired power plants may have been nixed Tuesday by reports from the Public Service Commission staff that neither Consumers Energy nor Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative had proven the need for them.

Consumers has applied for a new 930 megawatt plant at its Karn-Weadock Generating Station in Hampton Township in Bay County and Wolverine is proposing a 600 megawatt power plant in Rogers City. But PSC staff found neither utility had growth projections that would support the expense of the new plants.

For Consumers, the report argued the utility could only support building the new plant if it committed to closing one of its older plants. The utility is only projecting 0.3 percent annual load growth for the near future, with much of that based on retiring older plants.

“Consumers Energy’s long-term capacity need is unjustified without the explicit retirement of existing coal capacity in its baseload generation fleet,” the report said.

In the Wolverine report, PSC staff questioned the need to replace the power contracts, about 540 megawatts, with a new plant. “Wolverine has presented no evidence that the capacity currently supporting this existing contract will be unavailable in the future,” the report said.

And neither utility sufficiently considered renewable energy and energy efficiency programs as alternatives to the need for new coal generation, the reports said.

Studies on power supply in the Midwest showed demand is growing faster than supply, but supply should remain above reserve margins at least through 2017, the reports said. That would leave both utilities room to purchase any power they could not gain through alternative sources.

Dan Bishop, spokesperson for Consumers, said the utility is planning to retire some of its older plants once the new plant is built. But he declined to comment whether Consumers would commit to a particular plant or plants as part of the permitting process.

And he said the report is wrong in finding Consumers did not sufficiently explore alternatives. “A new coal plant still the most economic source of power,” he said. “Customers should be concerned because this could hit them right in the wallet. Without new baseload power plants in Michigan, utilities will be forced to buy on the more expensive wholesale market.”

Wolverine officials were not prepared to comment on the report Tuesday.

Environmental groups saw the reports as a win.

“These critical decisions mean Michigan is ready to open the door to clean energy jobs and walk away from dirty coal,” Sierra Club-Michigan Executive Director Anne Woiwode said. “For years, the people of Michigan spoke loud and clear: No more dirty coal and yes to clean renewable energy. And today, the citizens of Michigan have a much-deserved victory in the fight to build a strong, clean energy future.”

Michigan Environmental Council President Chris Kolb said: “This report makes clear that our energy needs can be met with efficiency programs that save money for ratepayers and with clean energy options like wind, solar and biomass that provide manufacturing jobs for Michiganders and revenue for farmers throughout the state. The alternative is building more polluting coal plants that suck the life from our economy by forcing us to spend billions of dollars to buy coal from other states.”

But Bishop said the Consumers plant would mean money for Michigan, about $1.2 billion, as well as 1,800 construction jobs and more than 100 jobs at the plant once it opens.

The reports came out the same day 51 environmental and faith groups, including the environmental council, sent letters to Governor Jennifer Granholm and the eight other Midwest governors calling on them to adopt policies that would require utilities to use 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. The letter also called for standards of 2 percent energy efficiency annually and for changes that would reduce vehicle miles traveled in each state.

The PSC staff report is part of a process created by Granholm to have utilities show the need for new coal plants when they apply for air and other operating permits. The final decision on the permits still rests with the Department of Environmental Quality.

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