Sunday, January 4, 2026

GET ME REWRITE: Speakers urge Ottawa County Board to rescind Looney Tunes Ottawa Impact resolution on coal plant

 
Headline:  Citizen Portal, 1/3/2026
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.

Timeline of dysfunction in county government:
January 2026
 
September-November 2025

July-August 2025
Michigan's Ottawa County Board:  The question remains, "Who would want to work with these clowns?"  (7/19)

June 2025
 
April 2025

February 2025
What's next for far-right Ottawa Impact:  More "Leave It To Beaver" pro-family values, apparently.  (2/1)

January 2025

December 2024
First it was Ottawa Impact, now it's bird flu.  Don't know which is worse!  (12/25)

November 2024

October 2024
Dear Ottawa County voters:  Now is your chance to dump that incompetent clown Joe Moss.  Vote smart!  (10/21)

September 2024

August 2024
2024 primary election Ottawa County Commission:  Far-right Ottawa Impact incumbent Gretchen Crosby gets crush by moderate Republican.  (8/7)

July 2024
 
June 2024

May 2024

April 2024

March 2024.  

February 2024 
Chris Vander Sys challenges Ottawa Impact whackjob Gretchen Cosby for seat on Michigan's Ottawa County Board.  (2/21)

January 2024

2023

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