The Michigan Legislature is poised to pass one of the most comprehensive clean energy initiatives in the country, requiring 100 percent of electricity to come from carbon-free sources by 2035. The ambitious legislative agenda implements Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s initiative MI Healthy Climate Plan.
What has received less attention is the fact that it also brings long-term benefits to Michigan’s water resources by significantly reducing pollution from burning fossil fuels.
Advocates mobilize for clean energy as lawmakers continue to work on legislation
Water and energy are highly interdependent. Enormous amounts of water are required to produce energy, and significant amounts of energy are required to purify and provide drinking water and to operate wastewater treatment systems.
As we phase out fossil fuel-based energy sources and replace them with clean energy technologies – wind and solar power, green hydrogen, electric vehicles and energy storage – the harmful effects of fossil fuel production and combustion on our Great Lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater are becoming clear is measurably reduced.
Electricity generated by steam from coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants – called thermoelectric generation – makes up 67 percent of water consumption in the Great Lakes region and 74 percent of total water use in Michigan. Power plants need cooling water. Water pumped from the Great Lakes and their tributaries “carries away” or kills millions of fish and aquatic organisms from stress and pressure changes.
After heating, water is released from power plants causes thermal effectsaltered fish populations, lowered dissolved oxygen levels, helped algae multiply, and changed the animals, plants, and bacteria that live in the water and on the lake bottom.
A century of coal burning has resulted in widespread pollution of our Great Lakes. Mercury, releases a powerful neurotoxin from coal-fired power plants is responsible for this 57 percent of all mercury present in the Great Lakeswhich led to official recommendations to limit consumption of Great Lakes fish.
Burning natural gas is It is said to be “cleaner” than coal, but like coal, it releases nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter – all of which inevitably impact Michigan’s surface waters.
The process of fossil fuel production requires large amounts of fresh water that becomes contaminated and must be disposed of – water that is lost forever. Once the drilling process is complete, it produces dirty “flowback water” that is contaminated with a variety of chemicals and oil and gas components, as well as naturally occurring brine that is pumped out with the oil and gas.
There is more than 900,000 active oil and gas wells in the United States. Oil and gas production from shale formations uses 1.5 to 16 million gallons Water for every well. Coal mining also uses large amounts of water 50 to 59 gallons of water for everyone 577 million tons of coal mined in the United States in 2021.
Transporting oil and gas via pipelines can have catastrophic impacts on water resources. There were such between 1998 and 2017 11,758 pipeline spills in the United States, which has been classified as “significant” by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Lake Michigan | Susan J Demas
Effects of climate change
Climate change brings specific climate-related impacts, risks and challenges for the protection and management of public water resources. Thermoelectric energy in 2016 alone Plants in Michigan emit 58,644,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuels has increased regional temperatures 2.3 degrees since 1951.
The benefits of the proposed energy transition for our water resources are not speculative, but measurable and scientifically based. Wind and solar energy are the ones today cheapest new energy infrastructure available worldwide. Every megawatt hour of wind and solar Energy avoids the consumption of 8,240 gallons of thermal cooling water
One hectare of solar systems used to generate electricity avoids more than 120 tons of carbon dioxide every year. The same acre of solar panels will produce enough electricity to power an electric vehicle 40 to 100 times further than Ethanol produced from the same acre of corn. Ethanol production can require up to 865 gallons of water for every gallon of fuel produced.
Whitmer’s clean energy and climate initiatives would bring numerous benefits to public health, the environment, the business community and Michigan citizens at large. And our Great Lakes – the largest and most extraordinary freshwater system in the world – will also benefit.
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