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“Why is there a rush to get a lease so quickly,” was his biggest question, Hoenle said. There are so many other questions that haven’t been answered, he said, including what affect it will have on fishing, on migrating birds and on the local economy it doesn’t make sense for there to be a rush. Group incorporates to oppose offshore wind farmThursday, January 14, 2010 A group of people opposed to construction of a 100-square-mile wind energy farm in nearby Lake Michigan incorporated this week and next week expect to fill Shelby High School’s auditorium and Ludington High School’s auditorium with people for informational meetings scheduled by the companies proposing the project. “I have never seen more people with such an interest level,” Jeff Hoenle, who was selected president of Lake Michigan POWER Coalition this week, said about his group. “And everything I keep hearing and every e-mail is about other groups forming.” Hoenle, who lives in Sterling Heights and has a family summer home in Oceana County, estimated Lake Michigan POWER has about 800 members and said the membership includes summer residents and tourists as well as local business leaders and residents. “We believe this project is being rushed through the system — for we don’t even know why,” he said. “There has not been enough research done in western Michigan to define the economic and physical impact of such a project.” The proposal Two companies — Scandia Wind, based in Minnesota, and Havgul Clean Energy of Norway — are proposing to construct 100 to 200 wind energy turbines in an area of Lake Michigan stretching south from the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant to Silver Lake State Park. Their plans call for erecting wind turbines that would stand about 300 feet over Lake Michigan’s waves. If completed, the project would cost about $3 billion and produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity. The towers, the developers said, would come within 3.7 miles of land on the northern edge and within about two miles of shore near the southern edge. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have joint jurisdiction over granting permits for offshore projects and they have not yet developed criteria for use in reviewing applications for offshore wind energy facilities. That means it may take time for them to create the criteria and have it approved by the state and federal government before the DEQ and Corps can begin to consider looking at a proposal. The Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council, in its Sept. 1, 2009 report, recommends that the Michigan Public Service Commission study the costs and benefits of placing wind farms in the Great Lakes. (See more information about the report in Thursday’s Ludington Daily News.) The wind council is scheduled to meet next at 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lansing Community College West Side Campus, 5708 Cornerstone Drive, Lansing. A group reacts “We’re not opposed to green energy or wind energy, we are directly opposed to the Scandia project,” said Hoenle, who said his family has owned a second home in Oceana County for three generations. Hoenle said his group hired the law firm Kelley Cawthorne and said group members have many questions about the effects of the proposed wind farm. “Why is there a rush to get a lease so quickly,” was his biggest question, Hoenle said. There are so many other questions that haven’t been answered, he said, including what affect it will have on fishing, on migrating birds and on the local economy it doesn’t make sense for there to be a rush. He expects group members will fill the Shelby and Ludington high school auditoriums for informational meetings about the project scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. There are other groups and people who oppose the project and some who favor it. 843-1122 x346 Representatives of Scandia Wind and Havgul Clean Energy, companies proposing a 100-square-mile wind energy farm in nearby Lake Michigan, have scheduled informational meetings about their plans for Monday and Tuesday. Monday — 7 p.m. at the Shelby High School auditorium, 641 N. State St., Shelby. Tuesday — 7 p.m. at the Ludington High School auditorium, 508 N. Washington Ave.,, Ludington. There will be a presentation of the proposal and time for people to ask questions. See today's Daily News, print or eEditions, for another story about the proposed wind farm, with information from the state and wind energy companies.
Web Link: >> http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=47423
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