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CEA in the News |
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Windsor to be affected as Dearborn energy plant asks to release more pollutants An energy plant located in Dearborn, just a few kilometres away from the Detroit River and Windsor, has applied to add thousands of tons annually of air pollutants. DAVE BATTAGELLO, WINDSOR STAR An energy plant located in Dearborn, just a few kilometres from the Detroit River and Windsor, has applied to release thousands of tons more air pollutants annually. Dearborn Industrial Generation is a 752 MW natural gas and waste gas power plant that largely supplies the Ford complex in River Rouge and steel operations near the Zug Island industrial corridor. More than 300 residents showed up at a public meeting earlier this week to voice their anger at Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials who are on the verge of approving the company’s application to add a new natural gas-powered turbine. The plant’s expansion would annually add 913 tons of carbon monoxide and 416 tons of nitrogen oxides — both major contributors to smog and ozone, according to the Detroit Free Press. The plant sits close to several neighbourhoods in Dearborn, southwest Detroit and Delray with Windsor sitting directly downwind. Derek Coronado of the Citizens Environment Alliance in Windsor called it “deja vu” when it comes to MDEQ assessing applications to increase air pollutants in the River Rouge industrial zone that blows toward this city. He is frustrated how the state government’s regulatory air quality division keeps approving applications for a section of Wayne County known already as the most polluted in Michigan. “That area already far exceeds sulphur dioxide and they claim that’s okay,” Coronado said. “Their monitoring is ridiculous, too (with the closest located nearly 15 kilometres away in Allen Park). They will tell you the emissions are not expected to affect ozone monitoring — that’s because the monitor is so far away.” The increase of emissions at the energy plant will bring it to 1.4 million tons annually — almost equitable to the 1.9 million tons produced throughout the entire city of Windsor, he said. The impact combined with a plethora of pollutants from the industrial corridor of Zug Island, River Rouge and Ecorse will further create harmful lung and heart health impacts caused by the “soup that already comes our way,” Coronado said. “It’s become routine to get these approvals, you never see them get denied,” he said. “This is a community already impacted, so it’s like they are saying a little bit more won’t make a difference. “Given the way they ignore concerns from their own people, they certainly are not going to listen to us (in Windsor).” MDEQ officials did not respond Thursday to The Star regarding the application by Dearborn Industrial Generation. A spokesman for CMS Energy, which oversees the plant, issued a statement Thursday which says the company was “proud of our record to deliver affordable energy to customers while also caring for our environment and local communities.” The investment at the plant “will improve efficiency in our operations,” said Brian Wheeler, senior public information director for the company. “We look forward to hearing from neighbours and other stakeholders during the public comment process and will closely align with (MDEQ) on our request,” the statement said. Michigan state Rep. Stephanie Chang (D — Detroit), who represents residents in southwest Detroit and Delray, called it “disheartening” how the pleas of residents are ignored. “Why they are adding more pollution is a little baffling,” she said. The company has technical advances at its disposal to better filter and reduce emissions, but that comes with an added cost, she said. “It’s disappointing,” Chang said. “Especially with all the information we have how air pollution affects kids, our schools and causes increased asthma rates. People are fed up.” She issued a letter to MDEQ opposing the application, noting the added emissions of ozone-causing pollutants, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide “are troubling.” “While I understand cost considerations are part of any company’s decision-making, it is MDEQ’s responsibility to ensure that companies who emit pollution into our air are held to the highest standards in order to protect public health,” Chang wrote. She encouraged MDEQ to call on the company to use “the best available control technology” if the application is approved. Leading the fight on behalf of residents is state Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D — Dearborn), who detailed Thursday how both he and most of his siblings grew up with childhood asthma because they live so close to the energy plant and other nearby industry. “We understand we live near an industrial zone,” he said. “Our plea is simple. All we are requesting is no more additional pollution — not to roll it back — just nothing additional.” He called it an issue of “environmental injustice” given how 70 per cent of nearby residents fall in the low-income category. “When you drive down the road you can smell and taste a difference in the air,” Hammoud said. “You wash your car and by the time you get home it’s covered in soot.” © Copyright (c) The Windsor Star |