HARRIS — Despite technical difficulties with telecommunication devices, various members of the Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force met and discussed the technical report on propane availability in the U.P. at the Island Resort and Casino in Harris Friday.

Due to precautions associated with the spread of Coronavirus, the panel members did not all meet in Harris. Most of the local members met in-person at the conference room at the casino, while other members at farther distances, like Lansing, communicated through video calls.

The task force was created by an executive order signed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this summer. Its responsibilities are to:

– Assess the Upper Peninsula’s overall energy needs and how they are being met.

– Formulate alternative solutions for meeting the U.P.’s energy needs, with a focus on security, reliability, affordability and environmental soundness. This includes, but is not limited to, alternative means to supply the energy sources used by U.P. residents, and alternatives to those energy sources.

– Identify and evaluate potential changes that could occur to energy supply and distribution in the U.P.; the economic, environmental and other impacts of such changes; and alternatives for meeting the U.P.’s energy needs due to such changes.

Liesl Eichler Clark, director of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and chairperson to the task force, explained to the other members and people attending the meeting how the task force will post the draft of their recommendations on their website next week and allow the public to submit their recommendations and comments through April 6.

The comments will then be considered and incorporated into the final report, which will be reviewed by the task force at another meeting on April 13.

Eichler Clark further explained the task force’s final report will be submitted to Gov. Whitmer in two stages, with the first report on recommendations of a propane plan due April 17. The remainder of the report is due March 31, 2021.

During Friday’s meeting, representatives of Lansing-based public policy research and consulting firm Public Sector Consultants gave task force members a brief overview of their analysis of propane supply alternatives.

The firm was hired by the state through a contract with EGLE and the Michigan Public Service Commission to support the task force’s efforts.

According to Director Eric Pardini, one of the goals for the Public Sector Consultants’ study was to model Michigan’s current propane supply system based on existing research that assesses Michigan’s existing propane supply and distribution system throughout the state and with respect to each peninsula. The second goal was to identify alternative approaches to meeting the propane needs of Michigan’s residents and businesses to optimize the propane distribution network for reliability, cost, and emergency preparedness.

There were three scenarios the analysis worked off of.

“We had a discussion with the task force, I believe in January, where we landed on three different scenarios to look at as they relate to Michigan’s propane supply,” Pardini said.

The three scenarios included Enbridge’s Line 1 disruption, Enbridge’s Line 5 disruption, and extreme weather events — like the 2013-2014 winter’s polar vortex temperatures.

Pardini explained other sensitivities considered in the analysis were the weather variability affecting seasonal heating demand, demand reduction through energy efficiency, and customer storage optimization.

Pardini highlighted various alternative approaches of transporting propane, and the costs associated with it, to five different areas in Michigan: Kincheloe, Rapid River, Alto, Kalkaska, and Marysville.

The conclusion of the analysis was there were a lot of options to supply propane.

“You have a lot of options for propane delivery to the state, not all of them are cost effective. And from the priority options we’ve identified you can see some options within range of the current option, however, to meet the expected impact of the scenarios we evaluated you would have higher costs on the range of around … 75 cents per gallon of propane,” he said.

The panel also discussed their own recommendations to the report at the meeting.

The draft recommendations of the U.P. Energy Task Force Part I – Propane Supply will be available beginning next week on the Task Force’s website, Michigan.gov/UPEnergyTaskForce.

The public can continue submitting their comments to be reviewed for the final recommendation for part one through April 6.

Those comments on the recommendations section of the draft document can be submitted by emailing EGLE-UPEnergy@Michigan.gov.

Members of the public were given a chance to share their questions and comments with the task force during Tuesday’s meeting. One topic of discussion was the Line 5 pipeline.

Jeanne Sekely, of Marquette, said Enbridge has been taking advantage of Michigan.

“I believe if there were a rupture of Line 5, in my future daughter-in-law’s backyard in Superior, that … if the line were disrupted — I’m not convinced Enbridge would repair it. It is an old line, priorities change…,” she said.

Although the U.P. Energy Task Force is focused on propane supply in the Upper Peninsula, many of the people who got up to speak about solar power.

Renee Richer, who is running for state representative, spoke on the solar power she utilizes at her farm to offset the costs of UPPCO in Escanaba Township.

She explained she was concerned with how she cannot provide excess clean energy to the grid via net metering.

“Our communities would be best served by having the opportunity to have solar cooperatives and distributed generation. Michigan would also be best served in regards to renewable energy if there were no caps on net metering for solar production,” she said.

Escanaba Township resident Kim Wyckoff spoke about a controversial proposed solar project in her community.

She spoke on how the community in KI Sawyer wanted the industrial solar farm and the community in Escanaba Township does not. She suggested the project be moved where it is wanted.