Jennifer VerHelst: Living in the shadow of Campbell: Why D.C. shouldn't force coal back on us

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

I have lived near the Campbell coal plant for 28 years.

My first awareness of the pollution caused by this plant occurred one winter when I was walking my dog and my daughter down the bike path near there and was mystified by the black-speckled snow.

Suddenly, I realized this was coal ash from the plant, coating the snow.

The Campbell coal plant sits on land between Lake Michigan and Pigeon Lake and River, where I regularly kayak and paddleboard in the summer and fall.

In 2021, I celebrated with other Ottawa County residents the four-year plan to close the plant, and in early 2025, I anxiously awaited the final weeks until the closure.

For the first time, I was looking forward to no more towering smokestacks spewing pollution into the air, which then fell onto the land and water where residents and tourists alike enjoy the beach, kids play in the sand, and people walk their dogs.

The water is my happy place. Now I would be able to relax even more without listening to the constant drone, buzzes, and bells of the plant mechanics — not to mention the lengthy coal trains making their squealing and creaking way to and from the plant.

Yes, the entire community could finally turn the page on coal-generated energy here in Holland! But suddenly, on May 23, 2025, in one fell swoop of an executive order, all that changed.

So much for local government and business plans, four years in the making, to retire the plant. So much for the large majority of the community and local politicians (and yes, even you, Bill Huizenga), supporting the planned retirement.

So much for Consumers Energy, who referred to their retirement decision as an “economic one” for the company. And for what? A so-called “national energy emergency” determined by people who live nowhere near us? Really?!

If this is the case, please show us the evidence! The evidence that supports the idea that keeping open a 60-plus-year-old coal facility, in need of major updates, located on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan, the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world, would help mitigate a possible energy shortfall.

In fact, on June 23, 2025, an especially high electricity-demand day, the Department of Energy did claim the plant’s energy was “essential.” However, in reality, that day, the regional grid operator already had an electricity surplus of 10 times more than the Campbell plant provides, and on that particular day, only one of Campbell’s three generating units was even working.

Instead of having our energy bills cut, as promised by the Trump Administration, now we Michigander ratepayers, as well as those in 10 other states, are in fact experiencing rising electricity bills. My monthly bills have increased this past year by an average of almost $16. Add that to the rising inflation and gas costs, and I’m noticing a big difference in my available spending money. (As an aside, the cost to operate the Campbell plant is $622,000 per day with a one-year total of over $180 million spent so far!)

To add insult to injury, I was hoping to put solar panels on my house to bring down my costs, but the tax incentives to do so were also taken away starting in 2026 by the Trump Administration. In fact, this past year, Michigan has lost out on 23 planned clean energy projects, and 7,834 jobs — not to mention $1.2 billion in clean energy investment opportunities.

And now the most recent development by Consumers Energy is their desire to drill two waste injection wells deep into the ground to dispose of “non-hazardous” leachate from coal ash landfills, currently on site. “Non-hazardous” doesn’t mean “uncontaminated,” only that the level of contaminants isn’t high enough to be labeled hazardous. They can contain elements such as arsenic and selenium. Intensive monitoring by skilled employees will be necessary to ensure our beautiful Lake Michigan doesn’t get contaminated.

Local and state decisions that were made with the best interests of our community in mind are now being trampled on by our federal government. In addition to Michigan Attorney General Nessel, who has been working hard on our behalf, our local elected officials, including Bill Huizenga, should be doing all they can to push back on this ridiculous order.

It’s well past time the Campbell coal plant be allowed to retire as originally planned five years ago.

— Jennifer VerHelst is a resident of Holland.

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