A power plant in western Michigan is getting its last load of coal after nearly 70 years.
As hundreds of people watched, the James R. Barker freighter arrived Sunday with 58,000 tons of coal for a Consumers Energy power plant on the shore of Muskegon Lake, near Lake Michigan.
The utility is pulling the plug at the B.C. Cobb plant next spring.
It began producing electricity in 1948 and is named for a former Consumers president.
The plant burns mostly western coal from Wyoming and Montana, which has lower sulfur content than eastern coal.
Consumers vice president Timothy Sparks calls it a "bittersweet" day.
He says the Muskegon port has a "promising future."
On Saturday, more than 200 miles away, DTE Energy imploded an old coal-burning power plant in Marysville.
