Residents urge Ottawa County to rescind 02/25/2025 resolution supporting J.H. Campbell coal plant
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Summary
Three public commenters asked the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners to withdraw a Feb. 25, 2025 resolution that supported continued operation of the J.H. Campbell coal-fired plant, citing public-health harms and an asserted $615,000-per-day cost to ratepayers.
HOLLAND, Mich. — Three residents used the Board of Commissioners’ public-comment period to ask Ottawa County to withdraw a February 2025 resolution that supported keeping the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant operating.
Ruth Stegeman, a Holland resident, said the board’s earlier action made sense when the future was uncertain but that repeated federal emergency operation orders and new information mean the board should reconsider. She urged commissioners to rescind the Feb. 25, 2025 resolution and to instead promote local clean-energy options such as community and rooftop solar.
Nathan Olsen of Holland cited clinicians and environmental groups and said mature clean-energy resources can replace coal without the public-health harms linked to particulate pollution. “As long as Campbell and other coal-fired power plants keep polluting the air, Michiganders will continue to suffer immediate and long-term health consequences,” Olsen said.
Robert Truro, a ratepayer who lives just over the county line, told commissioners the prior resolution lent support to interests that might pressure utilities to keep the plant open. He repeated a figure attributed in public comment to Consumers Energy that the plant’s continued operation imposes roughly $615,000 in uncompensated cost per day, and asked the board either to rescind the earlier resolution or to commit to covering that cost — a proposal commissioners did not adopt.
Speakers cited several published sources during remarks, including the United Way ALICE report on household economic vulnerability, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s winter electricity forecasts, the Clean Air Task Force’s analysis of health impacts, and clinical groups who have highlighted particulate pollution as a driver of respiratory and cardiovascular illness. Commenters asked the county to demonstrate local leadership by withdrawing explicit support for continued Campbell operation and by endorsing expanded clean-energy deployment.
The board took no formal action to rescind the Feb. 25, 2025 resolution during the meeting. The item remained a request from members of the public for future consideration.
The board’s organizational meeting continued with votes on procedural and administrative resolutions and the election of board leadership.