LANSING – Groups opposed to further development of coal power brought speakers from around the state to Lansing on Tuesday to oppose a proposed power plant in Rogers City and to again ask Governor Jennifer Granholm stop further development of the plants at least until the state has carbon emissions regulations.

But administration officials again said the issues of both carbon dioxide regulation and a moratorium on power plants are under review.

“The action before the (Department of Environmental Quality) is not about one permit for one plant,” said Faith Bugel, senior attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. “By permitting the plant, Michigan is setting policy and environmental impact for the 50 years in the future.”

“Stop sending our money out of state to pay for coal that has the potential for polluting our water as well as our air,” said Anne Woiwode with the Sierra Club of Michigan.

Woiwode argued that there was both the wind capacity and the manufacturing capacity to exchange the proposed Wolverine Cooperative plant in Rogers City, as well as the other coal power plants being proposed in the state, with wind turbines at potentially a lower construction and operating cost than the coal plants.

“Saying that coal is the only option is just not true,” she said.

Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd said the administration is still reviewing how best to address the state’s energy needs, noting that some 70 coal-fired power plants were canceled last year and that some financiers are raising concerns over the long-term cost viability of the plants.

“We’ve been clear that CO2 emissions from coal-fired plants are a growing concern,” Boyd said. “It’s an issue we continue to study.”

DEQ officials have argued that Michigan should not develop its own carbon regulations until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has federal rules in place.

The agency has issued air permits recently for a power plant on the Northern Michigan University campus, but environmental groups are appealing that permit to the EPA.

Both Woiwode and Boyd said the incoming Obama administration is expected to issue new regulations on the issue.

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