Governor Rick Snyder made a stop at NMU on Tuesday, Nov. 27 with executives from We Energies and Wolverine Power Cooperative to announce a new agreement that will ensure Marquette’s Presque Isle Power Plant remains operational.

The two companies will now have joint ownership of the plant, saving the 170 jobs that would have been lost with the plant’s closure.

New equipment will also be added to the plant to assist with emissions.

“The partnership of We Energies and Wolverine Power Cooperative to keep the Presque Isle Power Plant open is good news for the current and future availability of a reliable electric supply for businesses and residents in the Upper Peninsula,” Snyder said in a press release.

The announcement took place at 10 a.m. in the Great Lakes Rooms of Northern’s University Center, according to a press release.

Wolverine will be assisting the plant’s new air quality control additions through funding and construction. These new additions will bring the plant up to the required federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for pollution control, according to a press release.

We Energies’ part will remain with the operation of the plant and the air quality control system.

“We look forward to working with Wolverine,” said Allen L. Leverett, executive vice president of We Energies, according to a press release. “Presque Isle is important to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and we have developed a life extension option that is the most economic and timely solution.”

According to Cindy Paavola, director of Communications and Marketing at NMU, the event was private and invitation only by the governor.

This announcement paves the way for Snyder’s Special Message to the Legislature on Energy and the Environment that took place on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station in Hickory Corners.

There, he addressed the energy supply, transmission and reliability needs of the U.P., according to a press release.