By JOEL THURTELL
Instead of selling Henry Ford’s historic former hydroelectric plants to developers, Wayne County could convert the old dams into state-of-the-art, revenue-generating hydro facilities.
Wayne County citizens have recently protested the proposed sale of three former Ford-owned mills on the Middle Rouge River.
The county’s current plan calls for letting developers turn the buildings into privately-owned, profit-making shops. Opponents want the county to preserve the old mills as part of the public park system.
Why not convert the former Phoenix hydro plant in Plymouth Township, Wilcox mill in Plymouth, and Newburgh mill in Livonia into modern hydroelectric generating plants? They could transmit income to Wayne County. The same could be done for the Nankin Mill in Westland.
It’s not a new idea.
I proposed it in a December 6, 2006 Detroit Free Press column:
THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE: WAYNE COUNTY COULD MAKE COOL CASH FROM SALE OF WATER-GENERATED POWER.
One of the people now protesting Wayne County’s plan to sell the mills was the chief naysayer to my proposal for renovating them back in 2006.
Ann Arbor’s hydro plants
I wrote that Wayne County could repeat Ann Arbor’s experience renovating two former DTE hydro dams on the Huron River in the mid-1980’s. Those two plants have been generating watts and bucks for Ann Arbor since 1986. In the mid-1980’s, Ann Arbor changed its city charter to allow it to operate a public utility. The city issued 24-year revenue bonds that financed improvements to the Barton and Superior dams and installation of modern generating equipment. By spring of 1986, the dams were generating electricity whose sale to DTE eventually paid off the revenue bonds. With the debt long ago repaid, those two dams’ income is adding money to the city’s treasury.
My 2006 proposal
I proposed that Wayne County issue revenue bonds to pay for improvements to the four former Ford hydro plants. I suggested the revenues could be used to finance a women’s museum then proposed for the Phoenix mill. My model for a Wayne County dam program was Ann Arbor’s success. I wrote that “the city sold municipal bonds to raise money for new generators and water control equipment.”
Push back
My article generated a protest from Livonia resident Bill Craig, who recently was picketing against the sale of the old mills. In an email response to my column, he listed his credentials: former DTE power plant operator, president of the Holliday Nature Preserve Association and cochair of the Rouge River Remedial Action Plan Advisory Council. He wrote:
“So, anything to do with the Middle Rouge dams would require close inspection for contaminants = $,” Craig wrote. “The Nankin Mill turbine would require dredging flume, extensive repairs or replacement of ALL equipment, upgrading to modern specifications and questions of historical classification.” At Newburgh Lake, the “dam and facility would need extensive upgrading — $$$$.”
I wasn’t sure Bill Craig understood my argument that all costs of dam renovation — including environmental remediation — would be covered by the municipal bond issue, as was done in Ann Arbor. The debt would be repaid from electricity sales.
I took note of Craig’s comments about industrial contamination of the Rouge River in a December 24, 2006 column:
“Such a deal: Water power, a renewable resource, could actually finance an environmental cleanup.”
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
