A proposed Michigan coal plant is a bad investment, say the protestors launching a statewide petition drive urging Consumers Energy, the state’s largest utility, to drop plans to build it. 
Traveling across the state, representatives from the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action and Michigan Citizen Action invited residents to sign the petition asking Consumers Energy CEO David Joos to invest in clean energy jobs and leave coal behind.
Consumers Energy has pursued the coal plant even though the Michigan Public Service Commission concluded that there are many good alternatives, and several recent studies show the benefits of adopting them. One study, from the University of Illinois, Yale University and the University of California-Berkley, found that pursuing clean energy alternatives will create up to 42,000 jobs in Michigan and as many as 1.9 million jobs nationally by 2020. These investments would increase annual household income in Michigan by $667 to $750 per year and boost GDP by $2 billion to $2.4 billion.
In addition, a recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council showed that energy efficiency programs could save Michigan $3 billion in electricity costs over the next 20 years.
— Suzanne Bopp
