LANSING – “What part of J-O-B-S don’t you understand?”

That was the question asked at a rally held at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 6 on the lawn in front of the State Capitol Building. Doing the asking was Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council (MBCTC) Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin, who, along with a host of other bi-partisan speakers, called on Gov. Jennifer Granholm and state regulators to stop holding up the permitting process preceding construction of two clean-coal power plants in the state.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 construction workers and supporters from all corners of the state attended the rally, sponsored by the MBCTC. The rally was scheduled out of frustration with the Granholm Administration, which has turned away from the coal plant construction in favor of “green” alternatives like windmills, solar and introducing energy efficiency.

The result: huge construction job creators – a new $1.2 billion plant by the Wolverine Power Cooperative in Rogers City and a proposed $2 billion Consumers Energy plant on the grounds of existing Karn-Weadock facility near Bay City – are on ice. The already slow two-year state permitting process has been extended even longer by the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Granholm Administration, who want to know what power production Consumers intends to remove from the electrical grid, while declaring that the proposed Wolverine Plant near Rogers City isn’t necessary at all.

Four other power plants are also on the drawing board in Michigan.

Michigan Building Trades Council President Patrick “Shorty” Gleason, who MC’d the event, recalled the dark economic days in the early1980s, when residents were exiting the state in such great numbers because of the lousy economy, the question was asked, “will the last one out of Michigan please turn out the lights?” To the rally attendees, he said, “I’d like to tell our state lawmakers, ‘if you don’t get this right, it’s going to be, ‘will the last one in Michigan please blow out the candles,’ because that’s what it’s going to be like without power.”

Numerous speakers expressed frustration at the Granholm Administration for putting the promises of the Green Energy Movement in front of the immediate need for jobs, and the long-term need in Michigan for reliable electrical power. 

“We don’t have to look far for what’s wrong with this state, when you realize that six utilities want to build six power plants in Michigan, with a combined price tag of over six billion dollars,” said IBEW International Representative Jeff Radjewski. “But only in Michigan do our leaders and regulators look at that kind of potential investment and say, ‘Naah, no thank you.’

“Apparently, only in Michigan do the state’s construction workers have to take a day out of their lives to come to the State Capitol, and insist that their lawmakers and regulators open up their eyes and approve projects by utilities and private companies that could literally turn around lives of thousands of lives  here in Michigan.

“You know this state is still a good investment, and I know it is too. Now it’s our job to get the message to the people who work here in Lansing that these utilities are offering us a gift of jobs, jobs, jobs, and shame on us if we don’t take them up on their offer!”

A coalition of labor, utilities, Republicans, Democrats and the state Chamber of Commerce and other business groups worked for four years to change the state’s regulatory environment, in order to allow the construction of the clean-coal plants. The new legislation was adopted a year ago. Four months later, Granholm pulled the rug on the work of the coalition, and started putting up roadblocks for permitting the coal-fired plants.

“You cannot run factories on pixie dust,” said state Republican Rep. Ken Horn, whose district includes the power-hungry Hemlock Semiconductor Plant in Midland. “This coalition is a partnership between the trades, the manufacturers, the chamber and both parties. You more than anyone else knows this is about jobs. There’s one person who needs to hear this: the governor.”

Numerous speakers urged attendees at the rally to contact their state legislators, and urge them to get the clean-coal plants back on track.

 Said Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon (D): “I feel betrayed. We agreed to change the rules, with bipartisan support. Then the bureaucrats stepped in” and halted the plants’ permit applications. “Keep the heat on them,” Dillon urged.