by Nancy Besonen
The L’Anse Warden Electric Plant generated heat at the April 12, 2016, Baraga County Board meeting when the public and CEO Steven Walsh squared off on plant operations and emissions. Warden is out of compliance with a condition of its emissions permit–a stack test in September, 2015, showed excessive hydrogen chloride emission–and received a notice of violation of fugitive dust. Walsh attended the meeting to provide an update on efforts to resolve the problems. About two dozen citizens also attended, many to express concerns about the environmental impact of the plant. Complaints ranging from burning skin to headaches to residue on boats and buildings were aired before the board. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Barry Drue

An unknown entity has applied to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permits to build 120 giant wind energy turbines across rugged and remote wild country from the Mt. Arvon area to Eagle Mine on the Yellow Dog Plains. The turbines would be 500 feet tall—approximately the height of a 50-story building. The FAA website indicates that the permits for all 120 turbines were applied for on Jan. 22, 2016. Perhaps but not necessarily related, FAA permits for a 46-turbine industrial energy project were applied for in downstate Ovid, Shiawassee County, on Jan. 25, 2016—also by an unnamed entity. The FAA site notes that  the UP permits were filed under a Notice of proposed Construction, and that the proposal has not yet been studied. The FAA indicates the study will be announced when complete. Public comments on the project will not be sought by FAA, and will not be considered. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Barry Drue

“Now we’ll get our day in court. . .” Bellaire Road pig farmer Roger Turunen said after two hours of testimony in Baraga County Circuit Court on Friday, March 4, 2016. Circuit Judge Charles Goodman carefully deliberated the motions and testimony of five attorneys before ruling in Turunen’s favor, and, additionally, agreeing to set a trial date in the four-year saga involving the Department of Natural Resources’ efforts to claim Turunen’s unique breed of old-world pigs violate the DNR’s Invasive Species Order. In a strange procedural case full of twists and turns, more legal maneuvers came up recently in the case still known as Turunen v Stokes. (Rodney Stokes was the DNR  Director from November, 2010, to July, 2012, when the case originated.) To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Barry Drue
For the third consecutive year Baraga County Memorial Hospital has been profitable, and the trend appears to be continuing. A clean audit was presented to the hospital board in December. And according to Chief Financial Officer Gail Jestila Peltola, the outlook is positive in the first quarter of this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2015. “This is the third year we’ve been in the black,” Jestila Peltola said. “Our net income for fiscal 2015 was $665,000.  That’s compared to net income of $373,560 the previous year—almost double.” The CFO, hospital CEO Margie Hale, and Board of Trustees Chair Fran Whitman provided an update on BCMH’s financial picture in an interview on Monday, Feb. 22. “We have a good audit with no major adjustments. It’s the highest rate given,” Hale noted. The audit is performed annually in November after the fiscal year closes at the end of September. The company BCMH uses is Wipfli, a hospital auditing specialist. Their report was presented to, and accepted by, the hospital board in December. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Barry Drue

1st Congressional District candidate Jason Allen passed through the area on a campaign swing of the Western UP last weekend and he was in his element. The Traverse City Republican stopped at a meet-and-greet coffee at the Baraga Lakeside Inn Saturday. Friends Byron and Nancy Sailor arranged the Baraga stop for Allen. “My deer camp is in Covington,” Allen said in a phone conversation with the Sentinel editor on Friday. “I’ve been there going on the 25th year, except for 2014 when we got snowed out. And Byron and I go hunting in North Dakota.” To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.