Along the shores of Traverse City and the surrounding Leelanau Peninsula
are dotted several clusters of wind towers. These wind turbines are not
new and are barely visible against the horizon of sky and water. They
are lit and are visible at night along with the other lights from
Traverse City which reflect on East and West Bays which surround the
city and the peninsula.
Currently Traverse City Power and Light, the municipal power company, is
proposing to build between one and four biomass plants using woody
material gasification. The biomass plants would supply energy for
Traverse City and beyond.
The proposal has garnered significant opposition from residents who have
organized against the project. Opponents have created Michigan Citizens
for Energy, The Economy and The Environment (MCE3) to oppose the
project and are currently collecting petitions to force the city to
allow voters to decide on the proposal rather than the utility's board
of directors.
Opponents are concerned about emissions and concerned that four plants,
once constructed, would burn 133,000 tons of trees annually. Opponents
insist that no new plants of any type be built and that conservation is
more important.
Interesting that biomass - which local groups and the University of
Vermont have identified as potentially feasible as a means of fair,
renewable energy that meets Vermont's environmental standards - should
be the subject of such antipathy 1,000 miles west of here. Both states
are very heavily forested. There is no shortage of the renewable
resource of trees.
Is this symptomatic of the prevalence of NIMBY-ism vis a vis any type of
alternative energy project with which people are unfamiliar? Or are the
Vermonters who are studying biomass for this state wrong? Are the
Michigan people overreacting?
Or does the answer lie somewhere in between? Conservation is absolutely
critical, but so are alternatives to oil. Are wind turbines okay in
Traverse City because they are disbursed in groups of two or three? Is
biomass workable in Vermont because heating with wood is already so
prevalent?
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