Wednesday, February 11, 2009
By GEOFF RANDS/Staff writer

Sewer main replacement, upgrade of electrical generators and increased costs to Marshall Municipal Utilities for purchase of electricity were the main items discussed at the MMU Board of Public Works meeting Tuesday, Feb. 10.

The board voted to approve the replacement of two sections of sewer main using in-house labor.

The first section is located on Effie Street between Jefferson Avenue and Bueker Middle School, and the second section is an easement between Jefferson Avenue and Lafayette Avenue south of Summit Street.

By TOM HENRY
TOLEDO BLADE STAFF WRITER

MONROE - Suddenly, Monroe County has high hopes for wind power.

First was the announcement last week that Great Lakes Towers LLC, a start-up headed by three primary investors, plans to construct a $19 million factory on 38 acres of Port of Monroe land to build giant towers for commercial-sized wind turbines.

The project, mentioned in Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's State of the State address on Tuesday, is to create 152 jobs.

On the heels of that is speculation that a turbine-wind farm will be developed in LaSalle Township to harness breezes coming off western Lake Erie.

The township's planning commission has scheduled time at a Feb. 19 hearing to learn about a proposed ordinance to help make that project viable.

The 7 p.m. hearing is to be at the township hall, 4109 LaPlaisance Rd.

Monday, February 09, 2009
By Lynn Moore

HOLTON -- Holton Public Schools may harness the wind as part of an overall strategy to reduce energy and operations costs by $100,000 per year.

But rather than provide a lot of savings, wind turbines would be more of an educational and "goodwill" gesture by the school district, said Holton Public Schools Superintendent John Fazer.

The turbines could be part of a retrofitting plan, which rough estimates place at $2 million, for such equipment as boilers, windows, lighting and ventilation systems. The district has applied for an interest-free government loan to pay for the improvements.

by Kristin Longley | The Flint Journal
Wednesday February 04, 2009

LANSING, Michigan -- Could the battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt be assembled in Flint?

Competition is stiff, but we're in the game, one state lawmaker said.

General Motors officials already have said that Flint workers will build the gasoline-powered backup engine for the electric Volt -- and landing the battery work, too, would be a major coup that could spark even more life into the sagging local economy.

"I have a good feeling about it," said state Rep. Lee Gonzales, D-Flint Twp., about Genesee County's chances for landing the Volt battery work. "I think it's a good possibility. In other words, we're in the game."

Speculation about where the battery packs would be assembled began circulating Tuesday after Gov. Jennifer Granholm's State of the State address, during which she pointed to GM as an example of a business keeping jobs in Michigan.

GM is staying mum on the prospect, saying the only details it has confirmed are that the battery packs will be built in Michigan.

February 04, 2009

Perhaps the largest coal-fired power plant now under construction, the 1,600-megaÂwatt Prairie State Energy Campus in downstate Illinois, might become a model for other successful build-outs as the electrical industry negotiates the green transition. The goal is to advance coal generation by making it cleaner.

Early on in the Bush administration, Peabody Energy, the largest public coal-mining company in the world, decided that one way to increase its slumping coal sales in the Illinois Basin and the Southwest would be to convert its vast coal holdings into electricity on its own. The company intended to do this by constructing three mine-mouth coal-fired power plants -- one each in New Mexico, western Kentucky and southern Illinois -- and sell the power commercially. The New Mexico and Kentucky projects became mired in permitting challenges and other obstacles.