Mike Berkowitz, mike.berkowitz@sierraclub.org
Monroe, MI - Thursday night, members of the public and concerned environmental organizations showed up to voice their opposition to a permit that would allow the DTE Monroe plant to pursue a minimum compliance strategy for its water-based cooling system.
“EGLE has not held DTE to strict compliance with the Clean Water Act,” said Elena Saxonhouse, a Sierra Club Managing Attorney. “This plant has a number of harmful impacts on the environment, and this is an opportunity for EGLE to close loopholes that DTE Monroe has enjoyed for too long, to the detriment of wildlife and water quality.”
The DTE Monroe plant, which is the largest coal plant in Michigan and the second-largest climate polluter in the nation, uses vast quantities of water to cool itself. The proposed permit allows the cooling system to continue operating without significant modifications, grinding up fish and discharging thermal pollution into Lake Erie.
Members of the public also voiced concerns about DTE Monroe’s other impacts, including the release of bromides into the Great Lakes watershed. The wastewater discharge from Monroe’s scrubber (a type of air pollution control equipment) releases this toxic chemical. Bromides in sources of drinking water can result in the formation of extremely dangerous carcinogenic compounds as a result of water treatment facilities’ disinfection processes. A number of commenters also cited the high climate impacts of the plant.
“After a week of record-breaking heat, one of the last things we need to be doing is giving a pass to hurt our wildlife to a coal plant that is one of the largest contributors to climate change in the nation. Allowing this lax permit to go forward gives one of the dirtiest fuels in the world a license to continue negatively affecting the ecosystem with impunity, despite much better technology being available and already installed at DTE’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant next door” said Jane O’Neil, a volunteer with Sierra Club’s Southeast Michigan Group.
DTE could upgrade its antiquated, "once-through" cooling water to “closed-cycle cooling”-- a readily available technology that plants throughout the country, including DTE's own Fermi nuclear plant, use. However, they have chosen not to do so, and Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is not requiring DTE to make this upgrade.
The Monroe Plant is not scheduled to be retired until at least 2040 under DTE Energy’s current plans. A permit approved by EGLE could allow the plant to continue grinding up fish and harming wildlife at least until the next permit renewal goes into effect more than five years from now.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.