BARAGA COUNTY, MI-- Emissions from a Baraga County power plant will be reduced, now that the Department of Environmental Quality says it can burn biomass pellets.
The L’Anse Warden Electric Plant in Baraga County supplies energy to downstate DTE Energy.
Ed Lancaster is district supervisor of the DEQ’s Air Quality Division. He says the plant used to be over emission limits, likely because it used to burn old railroad ties treated with PCP.
“They immediately stopped using the pentachlorophenol railroad ties, and since that time they’ve done several other stack tests and they have been well within their emission limits,” he says.
Local residents complained about dust fallout from L’Anse Warden in the past. Lancaster says the plant’s fuel conveyor belts have all been enclosed to prevent dust from escaping.
