Opinion | Don’t let Consumers Energy sell out Michigan rivers and communities

Consumers Energy, Michigan’s second-largest electricity provider, has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to greatly increase tourism, river-based recreation and safety in rural communities across the state.

Consumers owns and operates 13 old and money-losing hydroelectric dams on some of Michigan’s greatest rivers — the Au Sable, Manistee, Muskegon, Grand, and Kalamazoo (see “Cost of Generation,” pages 29-32.)

Removing the dams would ultimately save money for residential, industrial, and commercial electricity customers statewide. Removing the dams would remove the grave, long-term threat of dam failures, massive floods, downstream deaths, and billions of dollars in property damage. Removing the dams could create one of the greatest networks of free-flowing natural rivers in the United States — the best state east of the Mississippi for canoeing, kayaking, and river fishing. 

But Consumers Energy isn’t planning to bring those great public benefits to fruition. Instead, the utility plans to sell the dams to get out from under the financial losses and long-term liability and disaster risks. 

Michigan should not let that happen. The Michigan Public Service Commission which regulates electricity providers, should not let that happen. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should not let that happen. If you care one bit about Michigan’s beautiful rivers, river-based recreation and property values, and the safety of small towns downstream of dams, I urge you to urge all authorities to block any sale of the Consumers dams to any third party.

We all know what happens when dams fail. In 2020, the privately owned Edenville and Sanford dams on the Tittabawasee River upstream of Midland failed, causing $200 million in flood damage and forced the evacuation of some 10,000 mid-Michigan residents. In response to the 2020 disaster, the Michigan Dam Safety Task Force stated that “removing a dam reduces the greatest amount of risk while also providing substantive ecological benefits.” 

For nearly two years, Consumers Energy held community meetings across the state about the future of the dams. The single top priority on which virtually all stakeholders vehemently agreed was insistence that Consumers not sell the dams. Virtually all river stakeholders agree that selling the dams to some third-party operator — quite possibly including international firms with no history or civic responsibility in Michigan — is the quickest path to uncertainty, financial failure, and ultimate physical failure of the dams and downstream disaster 

Most of the Consumers dams have already operated far longer than intended. Consider just the five dams in the Au Sable River corridor. Each is: 

• At least 100 years old
• At least 50 years past engineered lifespan
• A HIGH hazard risk. Failure or misoperation would probably result in human deaths. 
• Outrageously expensive to maintain

In 2023, Consumers Energy projected spending $132 million to operate and maintain the Au Sable dams over the next five years. In return, the dams are projected to produce only $14.8 million in electricity.  

The financial writing is on the wall. If Consumers Energy can no longer profitably operate its hydroelectric dams, it defies reason to expect any other operator to do so. The dams are simply too outdated and inefficient — with costs far too great — to continue as legitimate revenue-generating enterprises. 

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources “is concerned (new dam owners) may overlook safety issues or sustainable production economics and may exploit gaps in regulatory oversight and enforcement to extract the waning value of dams already deemed uneconomical by consumers. This puts the public at much higher risk of future dam failure or abandonment than the existing management paradigm by Consumers.”

Still, in early June, Consumers Energy announced it was negotiating sale of its 13 Michigan dams. It seems executives conclude passing off the albatross to someone else and walking away from local communities is what’s best for the shareholders.

Don’t let it happen, Michigan.