We’ve been actively engaging the Holland community for over a year now. With the release of the SROI results in August, we began an official period for public comment to collect opinions and questions from anyone interested in our future energy decision. Below, we’ve distilled these comments into a few categories, so you can see what others have been saying. On this site, we’ve discussed many of these topics already, and you can find answers to some of these questions here.
Comments from HBPW Customers
- Move away from coal
- Move to natural gas if you must move away from coal
- Gas still has pollutants
- No fracking
- Include community members on all energy task forces; all meetings should be open to the public
- Embrace renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation (multiple comments)
- Consider potential for green job creation with renewables
- Variance to projected demand and electric market pricing won’t be picked up by gas price contingencies risk-tests.
Comments from Non-HBPW Customers
- Use coal instead of gas
- Use gas instead of coal
- Gas prices are unstable
- Gas prices are stable
- Replace coal with wind/solar
- No fracking!
- Embrace renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation (multiple comments)
- Consider potential for green job creation with renewables
- Proposed plant is too large
- Combined cycle gas plant has: high thermal efficiency, is environmentally friendly, and reduces fuel consumption to save resources
Comments from the Sierra Club
We also received a lot of information from the Sierra club, whose campaign consisted of two parts.
1. A Call-in Campaign
As of October 5, 2012 we had received:
- 91 total calls
- 28 from 616 area code
- 1 from 269 area code
- 7 from 248 area code (Eastern Michigan)
- 55 from out of state numbers
- 61 from Hope College
- Several callers said they did not live in Holland but received an email request to call in
2. A Write-in Campaign
As of October 5, 2012 we had received:
- 1407 total cards received
- Of 110 signed cards, 58 were BPW customers and 36 were Hope College students
- 1297 cards were not signed or authenticity could not be verified because they were illegible/incomplete/etc.
- Illegible
- Incomplete
- False information (e.g. phone number filled out as “same as above”)
- Cards signed by fake names (e.g. “Ampa Watt” with address “5044 Holland”)
- 179 cards were duplicates of others
The card text read:
Dear Holland Board of Public Works,
As a concerned resident, I urge the Holland Board of Public Works to support a sustainable, long-term energy plan that replaces Holland’s reliance on dirty coal. We can do better by investing in 21st century clean energy solutions like renewables and energy efficiency. Please act now to move our city beyond coal to a future of clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
UPDATE: 11/5/2012 – New Responses
Two separate emails came in on October 29, 2012 with this content:
Hi, my name is ____________ and I’m a concerned citizen and member of a few local environmental groups from Holland, Michigan [Zeeland, MI]. I’m contacting you regarding the joint study session taking place tonight between Holland BPW and city council. Though this is a public meeting, the public is not allowed to express concerns or ask questions regarding the city’s energy future. I am outraged by this because Holland residents have a huge stake in the decisions made by city council and the BPW and should not be excluded from this decision making process. Residents are concerned about the environmental impact of the James DeYoung Power Plant and the proposed 114 megawatt natural gas power plant. We are particularly concerned about fracking, the environmentally destructive method used to extract natural gas that uses millions of gallons of fresh water and hundreds of chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens and hazardous air and water pollutants. We believe that Holland can do better, and Holland residents should have a say at public meetings.
I urge you to include the public in deciding what Holland’s energy future should be. Thank you for your time.
Another email came in on October 29, 2012:
To Whom It May Concern:
As a public utility, the HPBW should put the health of its customers and the residents of the Holland area before any privately-owned energy company.
I presume your researchers have had time to read about the extensive damage to the communities whose lands have been acquired by gas companies for the purposes of horizontal fracturing of shale rock. This is considerably more dangerous to ground water (and–further on–surface water) than the earlier methods of drilling (not perfect, either.)
Moreover, when Cheny was vice-president, he exempted the natural gas companies from the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Unlike other companies, they do not have to disclose the nature of the contaminants they will pump into the ground; the ones they have disclosed are known carcinogens.
Nor do they advertise how many millions of gallons of drinking water they will permanently foul in their fracking process.
As your district is right on Lake Michigan, and has already experienced horrendously expensive pollution, it seems short-sighted–if not foolish–to take any chance of polluting the waters. The profits go mainly to the gas companies, and the costs “remediation” fall squarely on the taxpayers.
The DEQ went broke in 2008; since then it has issued permits recklessly to extraction corporations who will suck out our water and leave us indebted, thirsty, and ashamed before our children and grandchildren who wondered why we did not speak up for them.
Tonight you hold a meeting to discuss this matter. Why is the public not permitted to enter the building and voice our concerns face-to-face?
Sincerely yours,
