Michigan Coal On Ice

The clock is quickly winding down on coal in Michigan. Nine coal fired power plants are headed into the final stretch of their service to the residents of Michigan. The nine plants, 7 owned by Consumers Energy and 2 by DTE will burn their last pieces of coal in April. Within a couple of years most will be leveled to make way for a new generation of power creation.

The only problem is with as much as 9 Giga Watts getting yanked out of Michigan in the next few years- there really is no credible plan at this point to replace all that juice. There are some plans to replace the coal plants with natural gas like the City of Holland is doing. Holland Board of Public Works' new natural gas-fired power plant that will cost around 140 million dollars is expected to start sending electricity down the lines in December of next year. However that is one city in a state of ten million people.

In places like Muskegon the last of the coal ships will soon be leaving port, never to return. The last shipment of coal to the B.C. Cobb Consumers Energy Plant in Muskegon is scheduled to arrive November 8, 2015.

Meanwhile there are other concerns- a new book by Ted Koppel the former ABC Newsman that was the face of Nightline for many years says our electric grid in America is in deep trouble. He says not only is it aging and rickety but also vulnerable to attack by way of the internet by countries like Russia and China.