The center will serve as a command center to coordinate various local, state and federal agencies at times of emergency.The old center has been activated several times in the past 12 months to coordinate the state response to floods, ice storms, and other natural disasters.Lansing’s mayor may have real ‘power’ at his fingertips at times of emergency, if city voters agree in November.Tens of thousands of Lansing Board of Water and Light customers spent days in the dark last December after a major ice storm.
"When compared to BWL, Consumers Energy restored power to almost twice as many customers in Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties and finished three days sooner than BWL, the State Journal found in a review of MPSC records.BWL completed power restoration to an estimated 38,582 customers on Jan. 1, compared with Consumers' Dec. 29 completion of restoration to an estimated 71,300 customers in the three-county area — and another 317,000 statewide.© 2020 www.lansingstatejournal.com. "I don't blame the ice storm on the Board of Water & Light," she said. DTE Energy spokeswoman Randi Berris says crews are on standby Wednesday in case weather forecasters are right in predicting gusts of 45 mph or higher in southeastern Michigan. "It's unprecedented. severe weather events such as this are not uncommon in Michigan. The heavy ice yanked the wiring out of about 1,000 homes and businesses. Thousands spent 10 days or more waiting for the lights to come back on.By this time next year, state officials hope to be ready to move into a new $22 million center to manage Michigan’s future emergencies. Going forward, that won't be good enough, the utility said, promising to be better than average.A majority of BWL's eight commissioners accepted the report at face value. Restoration crews have been working around the clock to remove tree branches and fix power lines.Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for the city of Grand Rapids over the weekend due to last week's winter weather.But the recovery isn’t over in the hardest hit parts of West Michigan.Nearly two years ago, a massive ice storm knocked out power for more than a week to thousands of people in Lansing.
"As to the future and accountability, the board needs to look very carefully and seriously at that, about leadership and stewardship going into the future," Bernero said.As early as Dec. 30, 2013 — before the full restoration of power — J. Peter Lark, the city-owned utility's leader since 2007, had begun to cast BWL as a victim of weather circumstances beyond its control. Sunday’s ice storm left almost a half million Michigan homes and businesses without electricity. Three months later, Ward and Louney were passed over for the top leadership roles by other board members. Independent investigations proved to be more searing.Faced with public outcry, Lansing's then-Mayor Virg Bernero had appointed McDaniel, a homeland security and emergency preparedness expert, in January 2013 to lead an independent inquiry into the BWL's storm response.The result was a Community Review Team report that determined BWL policies, or lack thereof, had extended the length of outages by two to three days.The report, released in May 2014, did cut the BWL some slack for circumstances beyond its control, like freezing temperature and the time of year. "Despite independent conclusions that BWL failed to take prudent steps in handling the storm, Lark stood firm in a Dec. 11 interview. The 2013 ice storm knocked out power to 40% of Lansing BWL customers, leaving blame and political turmoil and in its wake. "It was one of the worst storms in our history," says Debra Dodd of Consumers Energy.Heavy ice brought down hundreds of lines, and in some cases, pulled the poles down with it.Dodd says customers were patient, understanding and grateful to the line crews, who worked 16-hour days to repair the damage.There are still an estimated 29,300 customers without power in Michigan today (Saturday) after a major ice storm last weekend.
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