CARRE Has Legal Standing; Mason County Does Not

[XLFD]

"All officers, legislative, executive and judicial, before entering upon the duties of their respective offices, shall take and subscribe the following oath:..."

 

Thus begins Article Sixteen of the Michigan State Constitution.  All means all, shall means must.  Michigan citizens have no such oath to ask to, but when several gather together to prevent their life, liberty, rights, or pursuits of happiness from being stolen or circumvented, they should have the right to organize and have their positions judged in a court of law by an impartial arbiter.

 

"I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States..."

 

The local group of concerned Mason County residents named Citizen's Alliance for Responsible Renewable Energy (CARRE) went through a frustrating process of defending their, and their neighbors', lands against the incursion of 500 ft. tall wind turbines and what they perceived as safety, health, quality of life, and a host of other issues that arise near these colossal structures.

 

"... and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of ......"

 

They presented their case in front of the County's Planning Commission (PC) and failed to make a dent.  They later brought their case to the County's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) with as much success.  Some of these people on those boards were their neighbors.  They took their case to the 51st Circuit Court, and were thwarted/stalled by County and Consumers' Power attorneys claiming that CARRE had no legal standing to sue.  A minor victory for CARRE occurred when Judge Cooper found they had such legal standing, and that next hearing will occur on Wednesday.

 

"... according to the best of my ability."

 

But let's take a look at the legal standing of the previous arbiters of the County's zoning laws, the County's PC and ZBA.  Our offices received this FOIA response back from the County Administrator Fabian Knizacki:

"Oaths of office are not required for the members of the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals..."  Fabian, this is as wrong as saying that the County Administrator is not required to have an Oath of Office.  We are a nation and a state of laws, and just because you are the chief executive of the County, like Mr. Knizacki, or the chief executive of a city, like John Shay-- you need to take and file an oath of office, or vacate that office.  The same is true of all the PC and ZBA members.

 

Here is the E-mail I sent back to the office of the County Administrator:

 

Mr. Knizacky

 

One of the reporters from my local newsblog, The Ludington Torch, recently made a couple of FOIA requests from the County and you replied.  In these two responses, you indicated that both you, the County Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals were not legally required to have an Oath of Office on file.  The second is forwarded herein.

 

That statement is incorrect.  MCL 15.151 (included here:  http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(htn5trycxcgnes45xdphpi45))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=mcl-15-151) states that "All persons now employed, or who may be employed by the state of Michigan or any governmental agency thereof, and all other persons in the service of the state or any governmental agency, shall, as a condition of their employment, take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation required of members of the legislature and other public officers by section 2 of article 16 of the constitution of 1908 of the state of Michigan."

 

If this isn't clear enough, MI AGO 7236 states succinctly "It is clear that a member of a local planning commission is an officer subject to this requirement, and that taking the oath of office is a condition precedent to entering upon the duties of planning commission member."  Also see Meiland v Wayne Probate Judge, 359 Mich 78, 87; 101 NW2d 336 (1960).

 

I have no beef with you or either the commission or the board, but in the interest of the public good, please have the County Officials with no Oath of Office on file step down and have the County Commissioners select new ones who will swear duty to the state and federal laws.  Also have the various actions performed by the Planning Commissions, the Zoning Board of Appeals, yourself, and any other County Agency in violation of state law reviewed and re-addressed by the new members in open meetings.  Thank you, and please reply, or have your legitimate successor reply with your proposed actions within two weeks.  Thank you.

 

Tom Rotta

The Ludington Torch

 

 

No other oath, affirmation, or any religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.

 

I hope that CARRE's attorneys on Wednesday can make the case that Mason County's seated Planning Commission and ZBA members have illegitimately created zoning law that does serve the interest of the people of this county and hat they serve contrary to the laws stated in the Michigan Constitution.

[Willy]

Very good explanation XLFD

[Willy]

Again, Heaven, you are missing the point. Do you not understand that the "money" received from the County is our money, paid to them in the form of taxes and fees? Their loyalty is to the citizens who elect them and pay the bills not the County and it's agencies. If an oath is required then it must be taken.

[AQUAMAN]

I think too many times the very elected and appointed officials we have, whether local or state level, tend to want their privacy and no interruption/questions from the public at large. This is where the "apathy attitude" by you and me gets started, and sometimes finishes. You and I want to care, and participate, at least if we see we are not ignored, and not put down, then we can feel good about participating. When we get deluged with non-responsiveness, or unusual and unfair fees for FOIA requests, we tend to withdraw and be apathetic, and this plays very well into their field to basically hide and evade the public from seeing and knowing all that we have a right to know.

[Colleen Plummer]

I am going to post information so the Mason County public can be aware of just what your elected and hired/appointed public officials have been up too. You judge for yourself. Everything posted can and is documented.
RE: Proximity of Proposed Industrial Wind Turbines to Existing High Pressure Gas Lines

September 12, 2011

Governor Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, MI 48909

Dear Governor Snyder,

The Mason County Planning Commission has approved Consumers Energy’s (CE’s) special land use application for their Lake Winds project. This project, approved on July 7th, 2011, proposes fifty-six (56) 476-foot tall wind turbines for Riverton and Summit Townships in Mason County. With this approval, the Mason County government (the County) would have the public believe that they have resolved all questions brought forward from residents concerning the proximity of wind turbines to the lethal sweet and sour gas lines that run through these townships. However, from emails received through the Freedom of Information Act, it is clear that the Operations Manager for the Omimex sour gas line, Ken Prior, did not agree with the distances of turbines to the sour gas line approved by the County Planning Commission (see attached list of distances). The following quote from Mr. Prior’s email of May 19, 2011 makes this clear and calls into question the decision of the Mason County Planning Commission:

“Since they (Consumers Energy) are trying to steamroll this project through, I feel they are trying to get us pipeline companies to agree to lesser setbacks, so they don't have to re-file with the FAA. Most of the public that will be addressing Mary (Reilly, Mason County Zoning Director) have stated to me that the setback should be 1.5 times the height or 714' from pipelines. I have not made any statements back as to my position except that I feel that it should be at least a windmill height and that we have not worked out the details yet. Since I only have two windmill locations to worry about which would have to be moved beyond the 100' and require new FAA permits, I feel Consumers should move them to maximum setback they can beyond the 476' since our pipeline contains 900 psi of sour gas. If Consumers has to re-apply to the FAA, I would rather have them do that than sacrifice the potential safety of the public and our companies potential liability than expecting us to agree to lesser setbacks. If Consumers would of done their homework ahead of time this all could of been avoided. As always please feel free to contact me via phone or email for discussion. Remember that Consumers has 8000 acres leased in Victory township of which both of our lines are present again and what ever setbacks we agree to here would probably be applied there as well.” (See attached email Ken Prior – May 19, 2011 – bolded emphasis is Mr. Prior’s.)

Mr. Prior’s concerns about ‘steamrolling the project’ appear well-founded as Consumers Energy has not moved turbines to locations that would require another review by the FAA, Michigan Aeronautics Commission, and the Mason County Airport Zoning Board. Statements made by Consumers Energy’s Development Manager, Steve Schneider, confirmed their position:

“Any movement of a tower that is more than 100 feet horizontally, or a change in height of one foot plus or minus, will require us to go back through to obtain a FAA determination of no hazard and will require us to go back through and get an airport variance from you folks again, the ZBA process, as well as going back through the Michigan Aeronautics Commission to get their approval of any new location that meets that criteria that I just addressed…as we’ve been talking here, if you move it south, there is definitely an elevation change that would require us to do so, moving it more than a hundred feet requires us to go back. What that’s going to do is going to create a delay in our schedule, and right now we can’t afford delays in our schedule and keep this process moving forward.” (Steve Schneider at Mason County Zoning Board of Appeals setback variance request hearing - February 16, 2011.)

“To answer your question, can we move the turbines away at this point? – that would require us to go back and to seek approval of the FAA, MAC, as well as the Airport Zoning Board of Appeals. That will require a delay in our schedule and ultimately increase cost which would probably, which would be detrimental to our project and ultimately we would not be building.” (Steve Schneider at Mason County Board of Commissioners meeting - May 10, 2011.)

It may be Consumers Energy’s schedule has been driven by deadlines for federal grant monies that require wind projects to be in production before the end of 2012 to qualify. As seen in the quotes from Mr. Schneider, Consumers Energy did not want to move turbines beyond the limits in which they risked having to return to FAA or MAC for further approval. It seems that because of these time constraints, during the process outlined below, efforts by the public to draw attention to the danger of 6 turbines located within falling distance of the gas lines were disregarded by the Mason County Planning Commission. The Planning Commission ignored the safety of residents and approved CE’s special land use plan with 6 proposed wind turbines located within falling distance to either the existing sweet or sour gas lines.

• November 30, 2010: The Mason County Airport Zoning Board approved Consumers Energy’s request for 46 height variances for turbines located within the Airport Zoning Bowl. The FAA and Michigan Aeronautics Commission had also reviewed CE’s plan and gave their approval.
• January 18, 2011: When Consumers Energy submitted their special land use application to Mason County in January, their drawings were incomplete as not all of them indicated the location of the Omimex sour gas line - including the Site Plan Overview.
• February 16, 2011: The Mason County Zoning Board of Appeals met for a public hearing for 4 setback variances requested by Consumers Energy. Members of the public asked the Zoning Board of Appeals and Consumers Energy questions about the sour gas line and proximity of turbines to it. Consumer’s Energy addressed the distance of one turbine to the sour gas line but did not indicate that 7 other turbines were located within falling distance to the existing gas lines. (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• April 4, 2011: Evelyn Bergaila supplied Ken Prior, Omimex Operations Manager, with Consumers Energy’s Site Plan Overview plan of the turbine project. (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• May 18, 2011: Evelyn Bergaila requested that the County require complete drawings from Consumers Energy that included the alignment of the Omimex sour gas line. She indicated that the Zoning Ordinance required complete drawings from the applicant before the County could continue to review Consumers Energy’s special land use application. (See email from Bergaila to Reilly dated May 18, 2011.) (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• May 18, 2011: Consumers Energy supplied a revised Site Plan Overview plan with the sour gas line alignment to Mary Reilly, but Steve Schneider asked that she “hold off on disseminating until we have had time to discuss.” (See email from Steve Schneider to Mary Reilly dated May 18, 2011.) (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• May 25, 2011: In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Fabian Knizacky, Mason County Administrator, forwarded to Evelyn Bergaila the revised Site Plan Overview with the Omimex gas line indicated. From the plan, it was apparent that 9 proposed turbines were located very close to the sweet and sour gas lines – 6 of them within falling distance. (At this time, various other CE drawings still remained incomplete as they did not show the sour gas line.)
• June 27, 2011: CARRE (Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Renewable Energy) submitted a letter from registered engineer John Kreinbrink indicating danger from locating turbines too close to gas lines (See attached letter from John Kreinbrink dated June 25, 2011).
• June 30, 2011: Planning Commissioner Jeff Barnett requested hard copy documentation that all parties had agreed to CE’s proposed turbine setbacks to the gas lines. (See attached excerpt of transcript for Planning Commission meeting on June 30, 2011.) Fran Sinnott repeated his request during public comment. (See attached meeting transcript from July 5, 2011 Planning Commission Meeting.)These requests were never addressed.
• July 7, 2011: The Mason County Planning Commission approved Consumers Energy’s special use plan with proposed turbines within falling distance of the sweet and sour gas lines.
• July 19, 2011: Information is received through the Freedom of Information Act indicating that Ken Prior felt the proximity of turbines to the gas lines were a danger to the community. (See attached emails from Ken Prior).
• July 21, 2011: CARRE appealed the decision by the Planning Commission to approve Consumers Energy’s special land use plan for reasons of lack of due process, failure of the project to meet the Special Land Use Criteria, and “gross negligence and severe risk to the public health, safety and welfare by allowing construction and operation of turbines too close to both the Michcon and Omimex gas lines.” (See attached CARRE Appeal – Attachment A.)

Despite expert information submitted by third parties, our county government has failed to protect the safety of our community. We are bringing this situation to the attention of our state representatives, state authorities, members of the press to alert you to these concerns related to locating wind towers too close to gas lines. We ask you to investigate the matter and assure the public and yourselves that the risk to public health, safety, and welfare is eliminated from the project. We also hope that by bringing outside review to the situation, the County will reconsider their decision.

We welcome the opportunity to answer questions and give more information.

Sincerely,

Evelyn Bergaila, RLA, Cell Phone: [phone], 2908 W. Meisenheimer Rd, Ludington, MI 49431
John Kreinbrink, PE, 1037 North Ferry, Ludington, MI 49431
Frances Sinnott, 903 Lawndale, Ludington, MI 49431
Colleen 6533 South Bass Lake Boulevard, Pentwater, 49449
David Plummer, 6533 South Bass Lake Boulevard, Pentwater, 49449
Randy Plummer, 6533 South Bass Lake Boulevard, Pentwater, 49449
Jill Plummer, 6533 South Bass Lake Boulevard, Pentwater, 49449
Jonathan Plummer, 6533 South Bass Lake Boulevard, Pentwater, 49449
Jim Anderson, 1819 Wilson Lane, Ludington, MI
Alice Anderson, 1819 Wilson Lane, Ludington, MI
Kimberly Johnson, 1819 Wilson Lane, Ludington, MI
Valerie Campbell, 3226 Blundell Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Wendy Morong, 2737 West Meisenheimer Road, Ludington, MI 49431
John Morong, 2737 West Meisenheimer Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Douglas Busch, 1380 North Ivanhoe Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Susan Kaiser, 2085 West Hawley Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Fred Kaiser, 2085 West Hawley Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Mary S. Thiele, 6990 South Lakeshore Drive, Ludington, MI 49431
Henry B. Thiele, 6990 South Lakeshore Drive, Ludington, MI 49431
Patrick McClellan, 4188 South Schwass Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Joan McClellan, 4188 South Schwass Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Jim Stewart, 4644 West Meisenheimer Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Ken Warner, 4644 West Meisenheimer Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Rebecca Mott, 1904 West Kistler Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Dan Connolly, 1904 West Kistler Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Dee Bennette, 328 West Meisenheimer Rd, Scottville, MI 49454
Mitch Grabois, 4509 South Schwass Road, Scottville, MI 49454
Shannon Heidt, 1265 West Hawley Road, Scottville, 49454
Jonathan Ray, 1265 West Hawley Road, Scottville, 49454
Tom Clair, 5257 South Lakeshore Drive, Ludington, MI 49431
Joan Clair, 5257 South Lakeshore Drive, Ludington, MI 49431
Mark Varenhorst, 2969 West Anthony Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Heidi Varenhorst, 2969 West Anthony Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Roger Andersen, 538 East Freeman Road, Free Soil, MI 49411
Janet Andersen, 538 East Freeman Road, Free Soil, MI 49411
Wayne Andersen, 538 East Freeman Road, Free Soil, MI 49411
Jeff Buter, 4489 Deer Road, Hart, MI 49420
Susan North, 921 West Beyer Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Dave North, 921 West Beyer Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Nancy VanNortwick, 3396 West Hawley Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Kim VanNortwick, 3396 West Hawley Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Jeanne Parsons, 3990 West Anthony Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Bill Parsons, 3990 West Anthony Road, Ludington, MI 49431
Joe Szczygielski, 4565 South Brye Road, Ludington,MI 49431



Carbon Copies:
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley
Attorney General Bill Scheutte
State Senator Goeff Hansen
Speaker of the House James Bolger
State Representative Ray Franz
State Representative Joe Bumstead
U.S. Senator Stabenow
U.S. Senator Levin
Orjiakor N. Isiogu, Chairman, Michigan Public Service Commission
Greg R White, Commissioner, Michigan Public Service Commission
Paul Proudfoot, Director The Electric Reliability Division, Michigan Public Service Commission
Julie Baldwin, Michigan Public Service Commission
Steve Begnoche, Ludington Daily News
Roxanne Werley, WPBN-WTOM TV 7 & 4
Juliet Dragos, WZZM TV 13
TV 9&10 Newsroom
Dave Alexander, The Muskegon Chronicle
Bob Allen, Interlochen Public Radio
Mike Tyree, Traverse City Record Eagle
Nancy Crawley, The Grand Rapids Press
Katherine Yung, Detroit Free Press
Michael Moore
Russ Harding, The Mackinaw Center
Carl Weimer, Executive Director, Pipeline Safety Trust
Mason County Zoning Board of Appeals members
Mason County Board of Commissioners
Mason County Planning Commissioners
Fabian Knizacky, Mason County Administrator
Mary Reilly, Mason County Zoning Director

[Colleen Plummer]

RE: Proximity of Proposed Industrial Wind Turbines to Existing High Pressure Gas Lines

September 12, 2011

Governor Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, MI 48909

Dear Governor Snyder,

The Mason County Planning Commission has approved Consumers Energy’s (CE’s) special land use application for their Lake Winds project. This project, approved on July 7th, 2011, proposes fifty-six (56) 476-foot tall wind turbines for Riverton and Summit Townships in Mason County. With this approval, the Mason County government (the County) would have the public believe that they have resolved all questions brought forward from residents concerning the proximity of wind turbines to the lethal sweet and sour gas lines that run through these townships. However, from emails received through the Freedom of Information Act, it is clear that the Operations Manager for the Omimex sour gas line, Ken Prior, did not agree with the distances of turbines to the sour gas line approved by the County Planning Commission (see attached list of distances). The following quote from Mr. Prior’s email of May 19, 2011 makes this clear and calls into question the decision of the Mason County Planning Commission:

“Since they (Consumers Energy) are trying to steamroll this project through, I feel they are trying to get us pipeline companies to agree to lesser setbacks, so they don't have to re-file with the FAA. Most of the public that will be addressing Mary (Reilly, Mason County Zoning Director) have stated to me that the setback should be 1.5 times the height or 714' from pipelines. I have not made any statements back as to my position except that I feel that it should be at least a windmill height and that we have not worked out the details yet. Since I only have two windmill locations to worry about which would have to be moved beyond the 100' and require new FAA permits, I feel Consumers should move them to maximum setback they can beyond the 476' since our pipeline contains 900 psi of sour gas. If Consumers has to re-apply to the FAA, I would rather have them do that than sacrifice the potential safety of the public and our companies potential liability than expecting us to agree to lesser setbacks. If Consumers would of done their homework ahead of time this all could of been avoided. As always please feel free to contact me via phone or email for discussion. Remember that Consumers has 8000 acres leased in Victory township of which both of our lines are present again and what ever setbacks we agree to here would probably be applied there as well.” (See attached email Ken Prior – May 19, 2011 – bolded emphasis is Mr. Prior’s.)

Mr. Prior’s concerns about ‘steamrolling the project’ appear well-founded as Consumers Energy has not moved turbines to locations that would require another review by the FAA, Michigan Aeronautics Commission, and the Mason County Airport Zoning Board. Statements made by Consumers Energy’s Development Manager, Steve Schneider, confirmed their position:

“Any movement of a tower that is more than 100 feet horizontally, or a change in height of one foot plus or minus, will require us to go back through to obtain a FAA determination of no hazard and will require us to go back through and get an airport variance from you folks again, the ZBA process, as well as going back through the Michigan Aeronautics Commission to get their approval of any new location that meets that criteria that I just addressed…as we’ve been talking here, if you move it south, there is definitely an elevation change that would require us to do so, moving it more than a hundred feet requires us to go back. What that’s going to do is going to create a delay in our schedule, and right now we can’t afford delays in our schedule and keep this process moving forward.” (Steve Schneider at Mason County Zoning Board of Appeals setback variance request hearing - February 16, 2011.)

“To answer your question, can we move the turbines away at this point? – that would require us to go back and to seek approval of the FAA, MAC, as well as the Airport Zoning Board of Appeals. That will require a delay in our schedule and ultimately increase cost which would probably, which would be detrimental to our project and ultimately we would not be building.” (Steve Schneider at Mason County Board of Commissioners meeting - May 10, 2011.)

It may be Consumers Energy’s schedule has been driven by deadlines for federal grant monies that require wind projects to be in production before the end of 2012 to qualify. As seen in the quotes from Mr. Schneider, Consumers Energy did not want to move turbines beyond the limits in which they risked having to return to FAA or MAC for further approval. It seems that because of these time constraints, during the process outlined below, efforts by the public to draw attention to the danger of 6 turbines located within falling distance of the gas lines were disregarded by the Mason County Planning Commission. The Planning Commission ignored the safety of residents and approved CE’s special land use plan with 6 proposed wind turbines located within falling distance to either the existing sweet or sour gas lines.

• November 30, 2010: The Mason County Airport Zoning Board approved Consumers Energy’s request for 46 height variances for turbines located within the Airport Zoning Bowl. The FAA and Michigan Aeronautics Commission had also reviewed CE’s plan and gave their approval.
• January 18, 2011: When Consumers Energy submitted their special land use application to Mason County in January, their drawings were incomplete as not all of them indicated the location of the Omimex sour gas line - including the Site Plan Overview.
• February 16, 2011: The Mason County Zoning Board of Appeals met for a public hearing for 4 setback variances requested by Consumers Energy. Members of the public asked the Zoning Board of Appeals and Consumers Energy questions about the sour gas line and proximity of turbines to it. Consumer’s Energy addressed the distance of one turbine to the sour gas line but did not indicate that 7 other turbines were located within falling distance to the existing gas lines. (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• April 4, 2011: Evelyn Bergaila supplied Ken Prior, Omimex Operations Manager, with Consumers Energy’s Site Plan Overview plan of the turbine project. (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• May 18, 2011: Evelyn Bergaila requested that the County require complete drawings from Consumers Energy that included the alignment of the Omimex sour gas line. She indicated that the Zoning Ordinance required complete drawings from the applicant before the County could continue to review Consumers Energy’s special land use application. (See email from Bergaila to Reilly dated May 18, 2011.) (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• May 18, 2011: Consumers Energy supplied a revised Site Plan Overview plan with the sour gas line alignment to Mary Reilly, but Steve Schneider asked that she “hold off on disseminating until we have had time to discuss.” (See email from Steve Schneider to Mary Reilly dated May 18, 2011.) (At this time, CE’s drawings remained incomplete to the public.)
• May 25, 2011: In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Fabian Knizacky, Mason County Administrator, forwarded to Evelyn Bergaila the revised Site Plan Overview with the Omimex gas line indicated. From the plan, it was apparent that 9 proposed turbines were located very close to the sweet and sour gas lines – 6 of them within falling distance. (At this time, various other CE drawings still remained incomplete as they did not show the sour gas line.)
• June 27, 2011: CARRE (Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Renewable Energy) submitted a letter from registered engineer John Kreinbrink indicating danger from locating turbines too close to gas lines (See attached letter from John Kreinbrink dated June 25, 2011).
• June 30, 2011: Planning Commissioner Jeff Barnett requested hard copy documentation that all parties had agreed to CE’s proposed turbine setbacks to the gas lines. (See attached excerpt of transcript for Planning Commission meeting on June 30, 2011.) Fran Sinnott repeated his request during public comment. (See attached meeting transcript from July 5, 2011 Planning Commission Meeting.)These requests were never addressed.
• July 7, 2011: The Mason County Planning Commission approved Consumers Energy’s special use plan with proposed turbines within falling distance of the sweet and sour gas lines.
• July 19, 2011: Information is received through the Freedom of Information Act indicating that Ken Prior felt the proximity of turbines to the gas lines were a danger to the community. (See attached emails from Ken Prior).
• July 21, 2011: CARRE appealed the decision by the Planning Commission to approve Consumers Energy’s special land use plan for reasons of lack of due process, failure of the project to meet the Special Land Use Criteria, and “gross negligence and severe risk to the public health, safety and welfare by allowing construction and operation of turbines too close to both the Michcon and Omimex gas lines.” (See attached CARRE Appeal – Attachment A.)

Despite expert information submitted by third parties, our county government has failed to protect the safety of our community. We are bringing this situation to the attention of our state representatives, state authorities, members of the press to alert you to these concerns related to locating wind towers too close to gas lines. We ask you to investigate the matter and assure the public and yourselves that the risk to public health, safety, and welfare is eliminated from the project. We also hope that by bringing outside review to the situation, the County will reconsider their decision.

We welcome the opportunity to answer questions and give more information.

Sincerely, C.A.R.R.E. MEMBERS


Carbon Copies:
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley
Attorney General Bill Scheutte
State Senator Goeff Hansen
Speaker of the House James Bolger
State Representative Ray Franz
State Representative Joe Bumstead
U.S. Senator Stabenow
U.S. Senator Levin
Orjiakor N. Isiogu, Chairman, Michigan Public Service Commission
Greg R White, Commissioner, Michigan Public Service Commission
Paul Proudfoot, Director The Electric Reliability Division, Michigan Public Service Commission
Julie Baldwin, Michigan Public Service Commission
Steve Begnoche, Ludington Daily News
Roxanne Werley, WPBN-WTOM TV 7 & 4
Juliet Dragos, WZZM TV 13
TV 9&10 Newsroom
Dave Alexander, The Muskegon Chronicle
Bob Allen, Interlochen Public Radio
Mike Tyree, Traverse City Record Eagle
Nancy Crawley, The Grand Rapids Press
Katherine Yung, Detroit Free Press
Michael Moore
Russ Harding, The Mackinaw Center
Carl Weimer, Executive Director, Pipeline Safety Trust
Mason County Zoning Board of Appeals members
Mason County Board of Commissioners
Mason County Planning Commissioners
Fabian Knizacky, Mason County Administrator
Mary Reilly, Mason County Zoning Director

[XLFD]

Thanks Colleen, and good luck in your pursuits.  Government's first duty and highest obligation is public safety. 

[AQUAMAN]

Dittos Colleen, and welcome aboard the trusted Torch of Ludington.

[Willy]

Colleen

This is to let you know that there are a lot of folks that support your efforts. The Government is trying to ram these things down our throats and have put them on a fast track. Good luck.

[Robert]

Colleen,

Hate to say it but you guys are screwed. The project is underway and will never be halted. A shame the residents of Mason County were not proactive but these reactive lawsuits are happening all over the country, will be years in litigation and I predict few victories. I really feel for the property owners that will have to bear this burden (improper setbacks) but government could care less about a personal situation. Unrealistic government mandates will win every time.   

[Willy]

Robert

I attended almost all of the meetings regarding the wind towers and their was a lot of opposition to these towers but nothing was going to stop Consumers and the County boards from approving these monsters. I think that because Consumers is local and could not just pack up and leave like the wind company in your area, Consumers was hell bent on getting their way.

[AQUAMAN]

So,the guys that get into court first, pi__ing match or not, wins the deal? Consumers made similar promises that Scandia also made, and look where the MC Commissioners did there. They were fully for it, until the public meeting of June 2010 when about 150 of us vocal locals showed and protested and opposed it overwhelmingly. There is power in numbers, politicians know it, and want to continue to push us around, until and unless they see it first hand. Apathy begets betrayal and continued unwanted/unfeasible/unfavorable ideas and projects. Most that cost us unimaginable monies too. Some just have to be lining their pockets for such atrocities to be gotten away with too imho.

[Colleen Plummer]

All I can say bis AMEN! I lived in and saw the Civil Rights movement firsthand growing up an hour south of New Orleans (Michigan born!) After watching and living that experience, I know it is possible to stop this behavior. Like I've always believed and someone here stated, you have power in numbers... I've seen it... The problem is we have splintered groups/citizens who have the same opinions, but need to form the big numbers to have an impact