Jeff Parness led a campaign to stop a proposed Consumers Energy power plant in Lima Twp. “It was like a sneak attack,” he says. | Mark Bialek
Jeff Parness went to Stivers for a beer and left with a mission.
On May 18, MLive broke the story that Consumers Energy was planning to build a massive natural gas–fired power plant in Lima Twp. But at a June 1 special meeting of the Lima Twp. board of trustees, Consumers Energy reps assured residents there were no concrete plans—and no connection to “The Barn,” the 1.4-gigawatt Oracle-OpenAI data center under construction in nearby Saline Twp.
“I’m sitting there at the bar with all these people who had just come from this meeting, and they all felt like they were lied to, which they were,” Parness recalls. “It was like a sneak attack, and that’s how these companies do that. They take advantage of what people don’t know and try to get it in under the radar. … Townships are like, ‘Okay, well, we’ll vote no.’ But then the next day, as soon as they vote no, they’re sued by the company.”
Parness, who lives in Scio Twp., didn’t want Ann Arbor to be exposed to the airborne toxins emitted by a natural gas power plant, and believed Consumers Energy was “taking advantage of folks in Lima Township.” So he took action.
A native New Yorker, Parness graduated from U-M in 1987 and has worked in the political and corporate worlds. He reached out to his political contacts, including congresswoman Debbie Dingell, and laid out a strategy to publicize the controversy.
On June 6, he created a Facebook page for a group he called Neighbors United Against Noxious Consumers Energy (NUANCE). That same day, he wrote a post directed at Consumers Energy CEO Garrick Rochow.
“I look forward to speaking with you and explaining to you the ‘nuance’ of what a proposed massive gas powered power plant between Chelsea and Ann Arbor in Lima Township will mean for Consumers [Energy’s] reputation and stock price,” it reads. “This ain’t my first rodeo and I am happy to respectfully work with you to find an alternative location that will not potentially make my neighbors sick and die.”
Within two days, the page had 1,400 followers. Within six, Lima Twp. passed a yearlong moratorium on new power plants. And within eight, Rochow was sitting at Parness’s kitchen table, where Parness told him power plants belong on brownfields, not farmland.
“I might have lit the fire, but this was a real team effort from the entire community,” says Parness. “That legal moratorium that Lima Township passed, in addition to disclosing where [Consumers Energy officials] were not truthful with their intentions and with their timing, all of that really brought Garrick to the table.”
The battle was won on July 1, when Consumers Energy released a statement saying that “Consumers Energy will not move forward with the proposed plant in Lima Township … We recognize that our communication fell short to the Lima Township community to address their concerns about the project and apologize for that.” The statement maintains there was no connection between the proposed plant and The Barn.
“I think the lesson is grassroots activism works if it’s done strategically, if it’s done thoughtfully, if it’s done respectfully, and without the rancor …” says Parness. “I only hope that all the other communities fighting these battles could take those lessons, and pressure their townships and pressure their city councils to pause, call a moratorium, until you can make sure your ordinances are in line with the values of the community.”