MUSKEGON, Mich — Consumers Energy turned off the B.C. Cobb coal power plant in 2016 as part of the company's effort to develop more renewable forms of electric generation and become net carbon neutral by 2040.
Since the closing of the B.C. Cobb workers knocked down and removed the Cobb's tall stack in 2018, and powerhouse in January 2020.
A portion of the 115-acre site on the shore of Muskegon Lake, including the land where the stack and powerhouse once stood is now used for unloading and storing construction aggregates.
At the northern edge of the property work is underway to close the B.C. Cobb Generating Facility's ash ponds and repurpose them as natural wetlands.
Charah Solutions, a Louisville, Kentucky-based provider of environmental and maintenance services to the power generation industry reached an agreement with Consumers Energy to do the work to meet in advance of the Federal CCR Rule compliance deadline which requires pond closure by March 2023.
Charah Solutions began working on the site in the spring of 2020.
It's estimated the site holds about 650,000 cubic yards of coal ash that will be excavated and moved by rail and truck to Consumers Energy's J.C. Weadock landfill in Essexville.
"All of the material will be removed by late next year," said Eric Effinger, Charah Solutions Vice President of Operations. "We plan to button up late 2022."
The coal combustion residuals (CCR) materials from the B.C. Cobb will be beneficially reused by Consumers Energy to build a crown on top of the Essexville landfill in an effort to eventually close the licensed site.
"You can imagine just the way you see roads are crowned so that the water runs off to the sides, the same thing has to be done with landfills," said Dennis Dobbs, Consumers Energy Vice President of Enterprise Project Management, Environmental & Services.
Following the remediation and reclamation project, the B.C. Cobb bottom ash ponds totaling about 62-acres will be returned to natural wetland areas.
"Over time you will likely see some natural wetlands develop in the shallower areas," said Effinger.
"That will just become part of the landscape there," Dobbs added. "I think it will be beneficial for the ecosystem."
The wetland area will continue to be separated from the Muskegon River by a big berm.
To meet state and federal requirements Charah will need to get all the ash once contained by the eight-ponds on the Cobb property. In some location excavation work will go down 25-feet.
"We'll be on the bottom with our excavation equipment, and we'll inspect it and have engineering firms come in and inspect it as well," said Effinger. "The state will certify it as clean closed."
"That means 100-percent of the product is gone," Dobbs added. "It has to be verified that 100-percent of that material is gone."
The project employs over 25 local operators, and workers specifically trained for the remediation and restoration project. Using heavy equipment workers dig the coal ash up, load it into covered trucks that transport the material to a Muskegon rail yard. There the material is loaded into covered rail cars to be transported to Essexville. Other larger trucks with double-trailers transport loads over the road to the Consumers Energy landfill, a three and a half hour drive from Muskegon.
Charah Solutions assists utilities with all aspects of managing and recycling ash byproducts generated from the combustion of coal in the production of electricity. Effinger says the company currently has project in 28 states.
For more information, please visit www.charah.com, or www.consumersenergy.com.
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