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WPEC closure could bring major outages

HOUGHTON – Houghton and Baraga county boards of commissioners shared regional concerns regarding the impending closure of the White Pine Electric Company with Lansing officials and the overseer of the electric grid in the Midwest.

Last month, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to shut down the White Pine plant by Nov. 26, in response to a proposal by American Transmission Co., which owns most of the electric transmission network in the area.

State Rep. Scott Dianda, D-Calumet, responded immediately, calling the proposal “unconscionable.”

He and other individuals, as well as the Ontonagon County Board, have shared their concern about potential widespread power outages that could affect all of Keweenaw County, most of Houghton and Ontonagon counties, and the northwest corner of Baraga County where the towns of L’Anse and Baraga are located.

“We have always trusted that our system would become more reliable with time, not less,” said the county boards’ nearly identical letters to MISO. Gov. Rick Snyder and Valerie Brader, executive director of the Michigan Agency for Energy, who announced the potential closure and cessation of System Support Resource (SSR) money customers pay the plant to operate.

“We further understand that MISO plans to replace this critical generating resource with a 1998 operating protocol that will not provide the same level or assurance of reliability that the SSR Agreement has. In fact, we understand that the proposed “radial reconfiguration” will introduce an additional reliability risk that will directly affect the quality and reliability of electric service in our segment of the transmission system.

“Although we struggle with the complexity of the change we do appreciate the goal of lower electrical costs, and the long-term solution of generating more power in the U.P., while maintaining jobs,” the letters said. “However, we cannot accept a degradation of electric reliability in our area because it will have a potentially devastating impact on our residents that will jeopardize the health and survival of our most rural residents who depend on a continuous and reliable power source for their daily lives.

“We urge MISO and ATC to reconsider this proposal and, at a minimum, reassess its plan by applying at least as rigorous study as it did over the past two-and-one-half years when it repeatedly found that the White Pine 1 SSR Agreement was needed to provide electric reliability in the area.”

In closure, both counties redoubled outage concerns.

“Baraga Village, L’Anse Village and Baraga County depend on reliable power for our communities and we cannot tolerate or accept any reduction in electrical service without seriously and significantly compromising the health and wellbeing of our residents in this region of the western U.P.,” the Baraga board letter concluded.

If the plant closes, 20 people will lose their jobs in White Pine.

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