By Scott Pohl, WKAR
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-882203.mp3
LANSING, MI –
A citizens panel examining a planned Lansing Board of Water and Light power plant has recommended delaying the project.
AUDIO:
The panel, co-chaired by former state attorney general Frank Kelley, has issued a report urging the utility to put off construction of a billion-dollar facility.
The report says the board should wait until economic uncertainties and environmental
regulations are resolved.
The board's communications director, Mark Nixon, says within the next year, he expects there to be a new plan. He doesn't expect to "close the door" on any options, including fueling the plant, in part, with biomass like paper and wood.
"Right now, as the panel rightly concluded, the stream of biomass is a little shaky," he says.
Up to a third of the plant's generation would have come from biomass, the rest from low-sulfur coal.
The board wants the new facility to replace the aging Eckert Power Plant.