Killing good jobs and driving up the cost of energy hurts those at the bottom of the economic ladder the most. The officials at the EPA who are responsible for killing this Michigan clean coal plant (and many others) can well afford to pay more to heat their homes. Many Americans cannot…and will suffer as a result. The government bureaucrats and elected officials don’t care about the community that will suffer. Rich environmentalists don’t care about the community that will suffer. The community supported this plant, needs the jobs, and wants the energy. But environmentalists and the distant government bureaucrats don’t care. More than seven years after making public its plans to construct a major coal-fired power plant in Rogers Township, Wolverine leaders have given up. Faced with years of government red tape and what backers of the project agree were unreasonable regulations, the cooperative admitted investing more than $25 million to jump through constantly moving hoops set up to block construction of new power plants. What started as a promise for as many as 2,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs is now off the table. Baker and Ken Bradstreet, director of community and government affairs brought the news to the Rogers City Senior and Community Center to a group of invited community leaders. As he promised on several occasions, if the news was bad, Baker said he would deliver it in person. He made good on that in his first public appearance in Rogers City since January of 2012. The decision to abandon the project comes as no surprise. In Baker’s last meeting with community leaders in January, 2012, he said a 2011 ruling on power plant emission handed down by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had the company reeling. That EPA ruling, which Baker called a “double standard,” proved to be too high to hurdle. We at Citizens for Self-Governance care about those suffering in America at the bottom of the economic ladder. Someone must stand up and say, “Stop punishing those economically disadvantaged who have no political voice.” There is no “lobby” to speak for them, equivalent to the multi-billion dollar “environmental industry.” The conspiracy to by the environmentalist lobby to impose high energy prices must end. Time to allow local communities to self-govern and decide for themselves. Mark
