Carbon Capture Project Meeting

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johnm...@gmail.com

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Jun 12, 2024, 9:17:28 PM6/12/24
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We will be having an information meeting Monday June 17, 2024, at 7pm in the Manistee County Democratic Party office at 335 River Street in Manistee. This meeting will be to prepare anyone who is considering attending the Manistee County Board of Commissioners meeting on June 18, 2024, at 9am to express your concerns about the carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project at the TES Filer Station operated by Consumers Energy.  The primary purpose of this meeting will be to ensure we are all properly aligned with our messages and are up to date on the specifics of this project to avoid embarrassing ourselves with misinformation.  

 

Please read my recent letter to the editor printed below to learn more about this project and my personal position I will be speaking on at the BOC meeting.

 

The current members of the Manistee County Board of Commissioners (BOC) have consistently communicated, collaborated, and compromised across political party lines to manage issues thoughtfully and carefully for the greater good of all residents of Manistee County. Concerned voters will be watching how the BOC manages a potential resolution supporting the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project proposed for the TES Filer Station that may be on the agenda for their June 18th meeting.

 

NorthStar Clean Energy (a subsidiary of CMS Energy the parent company of Consumers Energy) and the Tondu Corporation jointly own TES Filer Station. Filer Station is operated by Consumers Energy employees and has the capacity to supply electricity for 73,000 homes using coal as its primary fuel. NorthStar Clean Energy has contracted with Babcock and Wilcox, a highly respected firm, to design and construct a conversion to eliminate coal and convert to biomass fuel with a post-combustion CO2 capture process. According to a letter received by our county commissioners the captured CO2 will be compressed and transported through an existing pipeline operated by Lambda Energy Resources and then stored deep underground in depleted oil and gas wells.

 

Many Manistee County residents retain a deep distrust of the Tondu Corporation from their poorly engineered and managed efforts to obtain a permit to build a larger power plant 20 years ago. Fortunately, Tondu has minimal involvement in this project that is being led by NorthStar Clean Energy. This project is also consistent with the commitment Consumers Energy has made to eliminate coal as a fuel by the end of 2025. Carbon capture technology has not proven to be dependable and cost-effective in many applications, but continuing research and development shows enough promise to make it a part of the comprehensive Michigan Healthy Climate Plan if the captured CO2 is not used for enhanced oil recovery.

 

We recommend that the Manistee BOC listen to the concerned citizens that will be attending the June 18 meeting and obtain answers to their questions and concerns before they issue a resolution in support of this project.

 

As always, do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions or need additional information. 

 

John M. Helge

 

 

 

 

616-915-2403

Johnm...@gmail.com

450 Cedar St

Manistee, MI 49660  

 

 

 

image001.jpg

Margaret Batzer

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Jun 12, 2024, 10:32:17 PM6/12/24
to johnm...@gmail.com, Manist...@googlegroups.com
Thank you for organizing the meeting on Monday evening at 7. I met with Joe Tondu at his request a couple of weeks ago and can provide more detailed information about the proposed project. I’ll plan to attend the meeting Monday to share more information. 

One point of clarification: Joe Tondu is an owning partner in NorthStar Clean Energy. The information below is an overview of what Joe Tondu shared with me during our meeting and facility tour. 

The proposed project would covert the current coal and waste wood burning plant to “sustainable biomass” along with a carbon capture facility at a cost of $300 million. The current plant produces up to 60 megawatts of power under a 35 year contract with Consumers Energy, which expires in the next few weeks. The proposed project would produce a net of 25 megawatts of power, with an additional 25 megawatts of power used for the carbon capture portion (total of 50 megawatts). “Sustainable biomass” would be brought in by freighter or barge at the rate of one per week. I’m looking for the definition of “sustainable biomass” in the Inflation Reduction Act, or if it’s defined in state or federal rules for power generation plants. 

Two biomass plants, in Cadillac and Lincoln, are likely to close according to 9&10 news. 7 plants in Michigan have burned biomass as fuel since the 1970s. 

The carbon capture portion of the project would use depleted gas wells in northern Manistee Township and Bear Lake Township. Each well has a capacity to store 5-8 years of carbon produced from the proposed biomass plant. The compressed carbon would be combined with amines as a solvent and transported via pipeline. Some of the compressed carbon would be used for enhanced natural gas recovery. 

I hope this brings some additional clarification. Thank you for your input and continued care for our community. 

Margaret Batzer


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On Jun 12, 2024, at 9:17 PM, johnm...@gmail.com wrote:



<image001.jpg>

John M. Helge

 

 

 

 

616-915-2403

Johnm...@gmail.com

450 Cedar St

Manistee, MI 49660  

 

 

 

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K.P. Pelleran

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Jun 13, 2024, 7:44:15 AM6/13/24
to Margaret Batzer, johnm...@gmail.com, Manist...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for your comments Margaret; very insightful.

K.P. Mahoney
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On Jun 12, 2024, at 10:32 PM, Margaret Batzer <margare...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you for organizing the meeting on Monday evening at 7. I met with Joe Tondu at his request a couple of weeks ago and can provide more detailed information about the proposed project. I’ll plan to attend the meeting Monday to share more information. 

Vidar Lerum

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Jun 13, 2024, 9:55:37 AM6/13/24
to K.P. Pelleran, Margaret Batzer, John M. Helge, Manist...@googlegroups.com
Good morning;

I am trying to look at this issue from a business point of view and I would appreciate it if anyone can help making sense of the numbers:

If I was the owner of a business about to build a power plant that would produce “50 megawatts of power” (or is it 50 megawatt hours of energy per year?), I could sell that energy on the market. Why would I set aside half the production for carbon capture? I would do that only if I get paid market rate or more for that half. So, how will I get a good return on the investment if half the production is “wasted” on carbon capture? Even if there is evidence of global warming caused by human activity, I don’t care unless I can make more money becoming an “environmentalist”.

Payment for the half of the production going towards carbon capture could come from taxpayers through the Infrastructure Act, in part or in full? Or payment could come from selling the natural gas being pushed up from the “dry” wells?

That is the money part of the issue, but how about the carbon budget?

Carbon is captured and buried underground. That sounds like a good idea. Then we need to ask how much additional carbon is released to the atmosphere from the freighters bringing in “sustainable biomass”? How is that sustainable biomass produced? And how much carbon is released from the process of bringing up natural gas from the wells and burning that natural gas?

As for sustainable biomass: the term sustainability came into world view after the Rio conference in 1993. It was much later that it was co-opted as a buzzword and it is now in danger of being perverted.

Vidar

ltrucks

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Jun 13, 2024, 10:14:02 AM6/13/24
to K.P. Pelleran, Vidar Lerum, Margaret Batzer, John M. Helge, 'Vidar Lerum' via Manistee Dems
There may also be carbon offsets created that could be sold



Dick Landback

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Jun 13, 2024, 10:39:32 AM6/13/24
to Manistee Dems
The original Illinois carbon capture project collapsed as funders abandoned ship.  If this project is financially viable, let Tondu put up his own money, instead of looking for taxpayer money.

Dick Landback

From: 'Vidar Lerum' via Manistee Dems <manist...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2024 9:29 AM
To: K.P. Pelleran <kppel...@yahoo.com>
Cc: Margaret Batzer <margare...@gmail.com>; John M. Helge <johnm...@gmail.com>; Manist...@googlegroups.com <Manist...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [ManisteeDems 8597] Carbon Capture Project Meeting
 

Judy Cunningham

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Jun 13, 2024, 1:34:07 PM6/13/24
to Dick Landback, Manistee Dems
I agree with Tim.  We each of us needs to ask ourselves what role we can play to advance the transitioning away from fossil fuels.  Joe Biden has been the most environmentally engaged President ever and he has had to make so many compromises just to get what little he can done.  Carbon capture is a failed technology, but until we are at zero CO2 emissions, this is what we have to work with.  Not cost effective, but that is why the EPA is doing all these huge grants so that companies can meet the stricter CO2 emission guidlines set by the Democratic Legislature and Gretchen Whitmer.  Most electricity in Michigan is still made with coal, isn’t it?  Texas and Iowa are way ahead of Michigan in renewable energy.  Iowa is at 60%, Texas not far behind.

Judy Cunningham

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Jun 13, 2024, 1:43:07 PM6/13/24
to Dick Landback, Manistee Dems
I just looked it up.  Michigan’s electricity is made from 33% COAL and 34% natural gas.  The rest is numerous forms of renewable energy.  We are far behind.  The state with the most renewable generated electricity is Washington (75%), then Idaho, then Oregon, then Iowa which produces 65% of its electricity from renewable sources. Texas, only 20% total renewables, but it has the most wind generation of any state.
Lots of wind!


On Jun 13, 2024, at 10:39 AM, Dick Landback <land...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Schindler

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Jun 14, 2024, 9:47:19 AM6/14/24
to Judy Cunningham, Dick Landback, Manistee Dems
Dear everyone;

I will say this again.  When presenting (at the county board, for example) the MOST IMPORTANT number one thing is to protect one's credibility.  It is very important to know absolutely what is said is accurate and factual.

 

For example, "carbon capture" is not a single technology, let alone a failed one.  There are many different technologies and methods for carbon capture.  The way to do it in how one manages and harvests a forest is not the same as how a factory might do so with equipment in the smoke stack, that is not the same as piping it to an underground location, which is not the same as choosing fuel used, which is not the same as . . . .

 

Natural gas is, in Michigan, the number one fuel for electricity production.  https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=MI#tabs-3 

 

When making statements that are not accurate, even just one, it may or may not be challenged in public.  But privately, some the errors of fact will be pointed out within their clique.  And much of what is said will then be discarded. Behind the scenes "we" will talk away frustrated because they did not listen to us.  "They" will be pointing out 'see they do not know what they are talking about, should not listen to anything they say.'    

 

Yes:  this is all the harder in a world of different "fact" universes but it is still most important.

----kurt

Kurt H. Schindler, FAICP
Pine Knolls
231 VIking 8 4784


From: "Judy Cunningham" <jpc...@gmail.com>
To: "Dick Landback" <land...@hotmail.com>
Cc: "Manistee Dems" <manist...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2024 1:33:52 PM
Subject: Re: [ManisteeDems 8600] Carbon Capture Project Meeting

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