Public Comment

Coal-fired power plants are controversial due to the resulting air emissions and the debate over the need for additional energy.

Enhanced public participation efforts are essential in order to assure all interested parties are afforded the opportunity to become involved by being informed and providing comment.

In consideration of the issues, locations, potential environmental and human health implications, potential for controversy, and specific needs of the public, the MDEQ has already taken steps to provide meaningful public involvement opportunities.

Read DEQ Explanation of the Public Comment Process PDF
This letter is in reference to a Permit to Install application for Holland Board of Public Works (Holland BPW) proposed installation of a 78-megawatt (MW) (gross) circulating fluidized bed solid fuel-fired boiler; its associated cooling tower and material handling operations; and to cease operation / remove an existing 11.5 MW pulverized coal fired boiler from the existing James DeYoung Plant (proposed project). The boiler is designed to fire multiple solid fuels including coal (bituminous and subbituminous), petroleum coke blended coal (pet coke), tire derived fuel, sewage sludge, and wood waste. The boiler is also capable of burning natural gas during startup and shutdown. The power plant is located at 64 Pine Avenue, Holland, Michigan.

Mark Your Calendar

Jan 30th (Fri) — Public Comment period ends | MAP

Read a Sample Letter to the Michigan DEQ PDF

Re: Draft Permit to Install, Permit No.25-07, Holland Board of Public Works (Holland BPW) Dear Ms. Dolehanty, I am writing to urge you to deny the air permit-to-install application for the Holland Board of Public Works proposed coal plant expansion (“Holland BPW’s James DeYoung Coal Plant”) because of the significant global warming impacts that the plant would have. Please accept this letter as my comments on the Draft Permit to Install for Holland BPW’s James DeYoung Coal Plant. As proposed, the application and draft permit fail to satisfy the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act and Michigan state laws because they do not impose strict and binding limits on the Holland BPW’s James DeYoung Coal Plant’s emission of 500,000 plus tons of greenhouse gases per year. The public notice for the Proposed Coal Plant states that written comments will be accepted through January 30, 2009. Therefore, these comments are timely submitted.

The “Clean Energy Now” Complete Step by Step Guide to Submitting Public Comments

Clean Energy Now is pleased to offer you common sense guides on how to submit public comment. Public Comments may be submitted in person, or via letter, or email. Here's how...

Did You Know?

• If approved this expansion of the James De Young Coal Plant in downtown Holland would more than double its size emitting an additional 500,000 tons of (Carbon dioxide) CO2 in the atmosphere every year for the next 40-50 years.
• Beside CO2 the expansion would also deposit 5.33 lbs of Mercury, 342 tons of Nitrogen Oxides, 478 tons of sulfur oxides and 57 tons of particulate matter into our atmosphere every year.
• Ottawa (home of Holland Coal Plant) & Kent are the only 2 western counties in State to repetitively violate the EPA soot rules that contribute to asthma attacks, heart problems and other illnesses.
• We need to stop the expansion of yesterday's technology of coal-fired power and instead create a Clean Energy future for Holland, by getting any additional energy needs from clean sources, promoting energy efficiency, creating clean energy jobs here in West Michigan and reducing global warming pollution.

Now is the time to Repower, Refuel and Rebuild America right here in Western Michigan.

For more information contact Jan O'Connell at jan.oconnell@sierraclub.org or 616-956-6646. 

News and Letters

Re-powering Holland
There’s some bad stuff in the air.. Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Ottawa and Kent counties must do more to limit harmful soot pollution that contributes to serious respiratory and heart problems. Among the biggest sources of soot are coal-fired power plants, such as the James De Young plant right here in Holland. Coal plants pump out massive amounts of fine particulate matter and other pollution that result in 21,000 hospitalizations, 38,000 heart attacks and 24,000 deaths per year nationwide.

Coal Ash dumps threaten ground water near Lake Michigan shores
Several coal or oil ash waste sites in Michigan and in Wisconsin and Indiana near the shores of Lake Michigan have contaminated nearby ground water and wells that threaten human health, according to a 2007 Environmental Protection Agency. States have done a poor job monitoring huge ponds of coal ash, which aren't regulated by the federal government, says Jack Spadaro, a retired mining engineer. The 2007 EPA study found more than 63 sites in 26 states "where the water was contaminated by heavy metals from such dumps," the New York Times reports.

Near Unanimous Opposition to Proposed Coal Burning Power
Last night the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) opened a two-day public hearing on the proposed coal burning power plant for Holland, Michigan. The plant would cost an estimated $240 million without including the sequestering of carbon produced by the plant. A steady stream of Holland residents stepped up to the microphone to express their opposition to the proposed power plant. Many of them expressed concern over pollution, particularly air pollution that will contribute to increased asthma. One woman, who says she suffers from asthma, was convinced that her asthma is a direct result of the existing coal burning power plant based in Holland. A senior citizen who can see the smokestacks from the current power plant says that he and the other senior citizens "are at risk of contracting respiratory problems" because of their proximity to the coal burning plant. Other Holland residents said that renewable energy should be promoted and produced and that the City of Holland should advocate for a reduction of energy consumption by the residents and businesses of the community. Possibly the most compelling speakers during the public hearing were from the Native American community. Each of the Native speakers addressed the issue of mercury contamination that comes with coal burning and said that it disproportionately impacts Native people since they eat more local fish--much of which have high levels of mercury in Michigan. Another Native speaker criticized the DEQ for not conducting "an environmental justice assessment" and said that they felt like this was another example of how the government "does care about the well being of native people."

Concerns about water, air quality raised at meeting about changes to De Young power plant
Attendees expressed reservations with the project, citing things like mercury emissions harming fish and more carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere. "Unfortunately, I have to tell my grandkids as they grow up that they should be careful about eating fish. When do we stop?" said Robert Stegmier, of Rockford. Stegmier, 79, is the Michigan chapter director of the Izaak Walton League of America, a conservation organization. Holland has applied to the state to build a $250 million, 78-megawatt coal-fired boiler at the James De Young Plant, replacing an 11-megawatt boiler dating back to the 1950s. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing the plans. Robert Sills, a toxicologist for the DEQ, said levels of mercury already are high in Lake Macatawa, the most-directly affected body of water by the plant at 64 Pine Ave.

Consider the Cost of Coal on Health
Holland, MI — From smog and soot to mercury and carbon dioxide, coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of dangerous air pollution in the United States. The consequences for human hearts and lungs are staggering. Yet plans are on the table to build dozens of new coal-fired power plants across the country, including an expansion here in Holland, increasing the health threats for both nearby communities and those downwind. Burning coal creates several different types of liquid and solid wastes that are known as coal combustion waste. The amount of coal combustion waste produced is more than 120 million tons every year. It’s enough to fill rail cars that would make a train 9,600 miles long. The clean coal technologies that have attracted the most attention are carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). CCS remains an unproven technology and IGCC emits just as much global warming pollution as coal plants. This brings us to the Holland Board of Public Works’ James De Young power plant. The estimated cost to replace the 11-megawatt boiler with a 78-megawatt boiler is $250 million. According to figures compiled by the Sierra Club from air permit applications, the additional pollution emitted would be: 478 tons of sulfur dioxide; 342 tons of nitrogen oxides; 8.4 pounds of mercury; 57 tons of particulate matter; and 499,000 to 624,000 tons of carbon dioxides. The health impacts would be devastating with increases in death, heart attacks, lung cancer, asthma and bronchitis attacks, plus lost work hours and school days.

Make Holland a model for renewable energy
I visited the Dec. 15 Department of Environmental Quality’s informational meeting on the air quality permit for the Holland Board of Public Works’ proposed 78-megawatt coal-fired generation plant. Why? Because I am concerned with all of the talk and plans for new electricity generation, with four permits already in process and possibly four more for Michigan, the “Water Wonderland” state. I also live only 40 miles east of this proposed plant and would continue to breathe its emissions along with the other two huge coal-fired utilities in the area. Coal is old technology. It’s dirty and pollutes the air we breathe.

Clean energy
I find it ironic that the Holland Board of Public Works has deemed the Sierra Club's action against their proposed expansion of the James DeYoung coal plant "hogwash" ("Power plant lawsuit rankles Holland leaders: Sierra Club says plant skirted federal regulations," Press, Dec. 18). The real hogwash is the fact that Holland -- along with seven other Michigan cities -- is freely choosing to saddle all of us with an outdated, dirty coal plant while other states are turning away from coal to embrace clean, renewable energy and efficiency. If we want to avoid becoming a state that's defined by its "hogwash" decisions, then I suggest that we leave coal where it belongs -- in the past -- and begin looking to an energy future that will create jobs, protect our environment, and move us into the 21st century. There's nothing "hogwash" about saving our state.