Air permit approved for Sempra plant
Lake Township project's next hurdle wetlands
Jim Meenan
South Bend Tribune
01/29/2003

BRIDGMAN ---- It's not the last step by any means. But it's a major step.

Sempra Energy Resources received word this week from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality that it is going to get the air quality permit it needs to build a power plant in Lake Township.

Art Larson, media relations manager for Sempra, confirmed Wednesday that the company had received an e-mail from Lori Peacock, environmental engineer for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Air Quality Division, confirming that Sempra had been given the permit, which would arrive in the mail in the next few days.

"We are very pleased," Larson said. "This is a key milestone in the development of the project.

"The approval underscores and verifies the statements we have made about the cleanliness of the South Shore power project."

San Diego-based Sempra Energy Resources plans to build a $300 million, 500-megawatt natural gas-fired power generating plant on a 50-acre site at Gast and Lemon Creek roads in Lake Township.

The Lake Township Board of Trustees approved a development agreement approving the project last June by a 4-3 margin. A subsequent recall effort against the four trustees who approved it went down to defeat.

Letters have been mailed out not only to Sempra but to everyone at the September hearing at Bridgman High School that filled out a response/comment card, Peacock said Wednesday.

Also included in the letter from Vinson Hellwig, the division chief of the Air Quality Division, were answers to questions raised by the public on the response/comment cards.

The permit becomes effective March 3 and runs indefinitely, Peacock said.

"They met all the applicable state and federal air quality regulations," Peacock said of Sempra.

Next up for Sempra Energy Resources is a public hearing on an application Tuesday at Lake Township Hall at 7 p.m.The hearing will discuss Sempra's working around or replacing less than half an acre of wetlands that could be disturbed by constructing the power plant.

"We are confident that we can meet the wetlands regulations associated with that," Larson said.

Mabel Ott, who helped lead the charge in the recall election and who is against the plant, said she expects 50 to 60 people to be on hand.

She is displeased with the DEQ's ruling.

"I think it stinks," she said. "And that's what we are going to have around here is stink."

She thought the proposed plant has been graced with good timing because she believes if it had come up during new Gov. Jennifer Granholm's term, Granholm would have stopped it.

"She's for the environment," Ott said.

Some people have already moved out of the neighboring subdivision on Linke Street, Ott said.

"I can't afford to move," she said.

Still, she is hoping for a delay in construction of the plant.

"We may not be able to stop it ... but we are sure going to try," Ott said.

"We will sure slow it down if we can."

Larson said the actual beginning of the building of the plant "depends on the remainder of the permitting process and the market conditions.

"On the permitting side, we are still looking for a water intake approval from the Army Corps of Engineers for the cooling systems," he said.

Larson said he could not be specific on when the plant would begin to be constructed.