Comparison: Louisiana power plant sizes up to proposed Wolverine plant
Mike ModrzynskiBy MIKE MODRZYNSKI
News Staff Writer
Comparisons of a proposed power plant to be built by Wolverine Power near Rogers City, and a nearly completed plant near Royce, Louisiana, stop when the physical characteristics of the plant are complete. According to local media, the plant is being built on a site that already houses two other power plants, had no opposition and little statewide red tape to battle through.
According to the assistant managing editor of neighboring Alexandria, Louisiana's daily, Richard Sharkey, the plant promised jobs and lower electrical utility bills to area residents and that's all it took to clear the way for construction. He said the circulating fluidized bed technology was well received by Louisiana's version of the DEQ, almost welcomed as an alternative power production method. And, as far as local and statewide opposition, he claimed one would be hard pressed to find anyone speaking against the plant.
"The area in which the plant is being built is a very rural area with little else located there except two other power plants, both owned by CLECO, a company well known for its energy production facilities," Sharkey said. "We have taken some note of the protests and red tape the folks in northern Michigan have been going through a process that's almost foreign to us. The plants are identical (Wolverine and CLECO), but the surrounding communities are not very similar at all."
Boyce, Louisiana is approximately one-third the size of Rogers City, but its nearest neighbor, Alexandria, a less than a 10-minute drive on the expressway, boasts a population of more than 150,000. The plant site itself is separated from Boyce by the expressway leaving little chance of much economic impact on that small community, according to Sharkey.
"I would suspect some local workers already working at one of the other two power plants may live near Boyce, but except for the occasional lunch or tank of gas, little business has been thrown the way of Boyce itself," Sharkey said. "In fact, many of the construction workers and permanent employees are living in or very near to Alexandria; a short drive but much more opportunity for housing and the like. I would suspect that in the case of Rogers City's plant they will reap a much larger share of the economic impact because of the distance to other more urban centers in that region."
He added, "You would be very hard pressed to find anyone in the area in opposition to the new plant because CLECO billed the new plant as a step down from a reliance on oil and coal to a new fuel (around here) called petroleum coke. This project to the locals is more about jobs than anything else plus, the promise of lower utility bills."
Sharkey said news from the new plant has been sketchy at best, not because of CLECO trying to hide anything but, he believes, because to locals it's just the third plant and that's not real big news.
"We had a flurry of activity at the plant a few weeks ago when a worker fell and broke his leg," Sharkey said. "That should tell you where concern about the new plant ranks in the realm of local news. We are, of course, paying attention and following progress on the construction of the plant, locals here have received the initial news seemingly with no great concern."
The Boyce plant is approximately 75 percent complete, according to Sharkey and should be on-line by the end of 2009.
Mike Modrzynski can be reached via e-mail at mmodrzynski@thealpenanews.com.
