I've been away for a while, but have a lot of new information for you. Along with several other Presque Isle County representatives, I visited a large power plant owned by the Central Louisiana Electric Company (CLECO), actually three individual plants: gas (Rodamaker #1), coal (Rodamkaer #2), and a new mixed fuel plant (Rodamaker #3) under construction and very similar to the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture proposed for Rogers City. The trip was very interesting and it included meetings with government, health care, and school officials who told us about their community's experience with the Rodamaker Plants, a tour of the site, and visits to some community facilities. During the “wrap-up session” conducted Thursday late afternoon, Feb 19, 2009, I took the following note:
- Two major challenges were: traffic and housing
- Two major benefits were: local workforce opportunities and increased economic activity
- The officials we talked with noted no crime problems related to the plant construction workers
- Fire, police, and other government services were generally adequate to meet the demands of
the increased population and activity
- Direct costs for traffic control were paid by CLECO
My comment: Rogers City staff needs to look closely at all expected costs, since increased tax
revenues will come after people arrive (we will need to document any shortfalls)
- Officials had concerns about zoning, especially for trailers on private property
- Water and sewer hook-ups were an enforcement issue (trailer hook up in a back yard
with a jury-rig sewer connection)
- Emergency planning needs careful review and evaluation before construction starts
- 911 routing for cell phones and cell phone coverage (workers try to use cell phones, but they
won’t work)
- Hazmat review (what is coming)
- Contingency plans review (all possible hazards)
- Road infrastructure takes a beating due to high volumes of traffic and heavy trucks
- Alternates routes need development (airport road extension and Park drive extension)
Funding for road work needs to be created (MEDC, Wolverine, etc)
- Medical Issues needing review:
o Walk-in Clinic (opportunity)
o LPN availability on the construction site
o Ambulance availability (are three enough?)
- Educational issues
o Special needs students may increase from workers families
o Some new students may stay less than a year (transient workers)
o Estimated about 40-60 new students
o Worker training opportunities (welding, metal work, construction trades)
- Employment, education, and training opportunities will be available for the community (with
coordination)
- Education of the general public is critical to help people understand the many changes that will
happen; there will be many impacts on local citizens because shopping, dinning, housing, and
roads will have more traffic/demand
- A clearing house for information about business and job opportunities is helpful, such as the
Chamber of Commerce and or Michigan Works
- Wolverine plans to continue to use the Citizen’s Advisory Group as a liaison with the
community
Overall, because of the information I obtained during this trip, my assessment of the Wolverine “Clean Energy Venture” has become more favorable. I think the entire travel group shares my feeling that this project will be a tremendously positive opportunity for our community. However, Wolverine does not yet have an Air Quality Permit, nor have they made a final decision to build. Therefore, we should all continue to lobby for the State of Michigan to approve the project.
If the go ahead is given, we will have about six months to get our act together. If we are prepared for the “fire hose” effect (rapid increase in people and activity) that will begin to come our way, we will be better able to take advantage of the opportunities. There is a lot of planning and preparation (throughout the entire community) needed for us to take full advantage of this once in a life-time opportunity.
Thank you to the City Council for sending me on this trip. Thank you to Ken Bradstreet and Wolverine for making possible this educational trip. If you have any questions, please let me know.
P.S. I'll post some pictures of the CLECO site soon.
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