WASHINGTON DC - Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards and Flint resident LeeAnne Walters told a U.S. House committee Wednesday that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality engaged in a cover-up to prevent its failure to enforce drinking water laws in Flint from coming to light, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was complicit in that
GRAND RAPIDS - Steelcase is getting into wind power in an even bigger way. On Tuesday, the office furniture maker announced a 12-year power purchase agreement with Apex Clean Energy for 25 megawatts of wind power, nearly half of Steelcase’s renewable energy purchases. Under Steelcase’s long-term PPA with Apex’s Grant Plains Wind project, a 150-megawatt
LANSING - Some 300 fewer customers are participating in electric choice programs as of December 2015 when compared to 2014, the Public Service Commission announced Monday in its annual report on electric competition. But approximately 11,000 customers remain in the queue. Specifically, the report founded about 6,140 customers participating in electric choice programs as of
SOUTHFIELD - Jan. 29 is the application deadline for the third $100,000 E-Challenge for Energy Efficiency, to showcase innovative energy efficiency technology in advanced control systems. The challenge is sponsored by DTE Energy, and in partnership with The Engineering Society of Detroit. It encourages demonstration projects that integrate energy efficiency solutions through collaborations, bring under-utilized
WASHINGTON DC - A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a stay sought by numerous states' attorneys general, including Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, of the federal carbon emissions rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where the challenge to the EPA's Clean Power
LANSING - The United States and Canada need some additional structures in place to protect against withdrawals from the Great Lakes, but they also need better data on who is using what water from the basin, the International Joint Commission said in a report released this week. The report, a follow-up on the Great Lakes Compact
NOVI - When eagles were discovered underneath the ITC Transmission lines on Beaver Island in Clinton Iowa, the company worked quickly to install yellow-coiled bird diverters. “It reduces mortality by somewhere between 50 to 90 percent,” says Drew Becker, an eagle biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “In situations like this, it’s all
LAS VEGAS - A Las Vegas, Nev. data center operator said Thursday that its massive planned data center near Grand Rapids would be powered 100 percent by renewable energy. Switch said it had already begun working with the local utility, Consumers Energy, to supply its 2-million-square-foot SUPERNAP data center in Gaines Township with green power.
LANSING - The Michigan Public Service Commission on Tuesday opened an investigation into Consumers Energy Company's estimated billing practices after hearing complaints from customers about estimated bills. "Problems have persisted for several years despite repeated meetings between the MPSC staff and the utility to reduce the number of estimated bills," PSC Chair Sally Talberg said
GRAND RAPIDS - West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum will present a luncheon on sustainable food management and organic waste February 8 at Aquinas College. Featured speaker is Susan Mooney, Chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5 Municipal and Industrial Materials Section. Mooney will introduce various EPA programs and tools that businesses can use
