The big coal burners cab be found in areas where there is access by both boat and rail to the coal piles.

Port of Monroe: https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.88897...21136&t=h&z=16
[[note this area also has a large factory producing wind turbines as well as a nuke plant close by).
Mouth of Rouge: https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.27366...10568&t=h&z=17
Between Marine City and St. Clair: https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.76428...42272&t=h&z=15
Marysville: https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.92563...10568&t=h&z=17

Most of it has been cleaned up over the last 50 years. It was a lot worse. Even these plants are cleaner than they once were with the addition of scrubber technology. Perfect? Not even close. Better? Yes.

Geothermal is not something that will get you off the grid. It is a technology though that uses the soil by your home to reduce heating and cooling costs. It is a lot like how LED lights reduce your overall electric bill, but does not provide a source of cheap energy. Homes today use a ton more power than they used to. 50 years ago, dishwasher were rare, more clothes were hung up to dry, the TV, while the unit itself has become more efficient, only had one plug. Now it adds one for the cable, one for the x-box, one for the surround sound, one for the DVD player in most homes. There were no home computers, printers, or other items using energy. The kitchen? If you had electrical appliances they were typically unplugged and only blender. There were no microwave ovens. Telephones too had no power. A small amount of current was needed but that was provided by Ma Bell. No answering machines then too [[those sort of came and gone). Cell phones, particularly smartphones use a ton of energy by comparison.

Much of our wants have driven the needs to keep these old plants operating. Not to mention, there is a sizable coal lobby that has an interest in allowing this to happen. Appalachia would be doomed if these plants would suddenly close. It is already one of the poorest parts of the country.

Solar is becoming a cheap way to go. The cost of panels is way down. Even Michigan can produce a fair amount of energy when we have enough panels. However, these too are not as clean as folks think. The batteries to store the energy need to be kept away from the living areas as they do emit a small amount of stuff that is bad for you.

DTE also has long term plans for a Fermi III. Anyone old enough to remember the China Syndrome, 3 Mile Island, or Chernobyl is pretty leery of them. All most of you posters know is that these are owned by Mr. Burns and Homer works at one.

Consumer's Energy has quite a few hydro plants in Northern Michigan along rivers like the AuSable.