To the Expositor:
It has been a sad week for Manitoulin Island, yet I haven’t heard any street chatter or read any newspaper headlines addressing the topic. The problem? The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued a permit this week to construct a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Rogers City, Michigan. (Manitoulin Island is less than 75 miles downwind from Rogers City.)
While Island residents remain divided about alleged wind energy effects, a verified, established threat looms on our horizon, literally. The same wind that is pitting neighbour against neighbour, will someday be blowing in millions of tonnes of pollutants to this bucolic Island. Air quality will be degraded and public health will suffer.
‘Clean coal’ is an oxymoron beyond logic. While the Snyder administration in Michigan was pursuing energy in the wrong direction, we were caught debating energy with the wrong focus. Only time will tell what ill effects Manitoulin residents will be burdened with.
Jillian Smith
Sudbury
