by jboullion | Aug 24, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on August 19:
Two state utilities said this week new federal pollution rules will lead to higher electricity costs come January.
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay said its residential customers can expect an increase of more than $4 a month next year, including about $2 linked to the new rules designed to limit air pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The utility said it would see higher costs of about $32.6 million in 2012 from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that was finalized recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That will result in rates going up by 6.8% instead of 3.4%, the utility said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month finalized stronger regulations for Wisconsin and 26 other states aimed at curbing air pollution from long-distance sources.
Environmental groups praised the new rule because it would reduce acid rain and air pollution as well as help curb health effects from dirty air linked to coal plants. The EPA projected the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals. . .
The new rule has been in development for several years but the first phase of compliance hits utilities in 2012. WPS said it won’t have time to install pollution controls by next year at its plants, but will be able to comply by purchasing credits from other utilities that have cut emissions.
The utility also said it plans to operate its coal plants less next year than it otherwise would have, and will buy more power from the Midwest wholesale power market as a result, a move that it said is also a factor in higher costs for customers. . . .
On Thursday [August 18], Wisconsin Power & Light Co. [Alliant] of Madison said it would face an additional $9 million in costs linked to the air pollution rule. With the change, the utility is now seeking an increase in 2012 of $20 million, or 2%, utility finance manager Martin Seitz said in a filing with state regulators.
Todd Stuart, executive director of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, criticized the increases, and he noted that large energy users like paper mills will see higher than average increases, compared with homeowners and small businesses. Paper mills served by WPS could see a 9% hike, he said. . . .
“Industry always cries wolf whenever EPA tries to reduce air pollution,” said Katie Nekola, lawyer with the conservation group Clean Wisconsin. “The fact is, the new rule will affect old, inefficient, unnecessary coal plants that should have been shut down long ago. The continued operation of those old units is costing ratepayers money, but you don’t hear industry complaining about that.”
by jboullion | Aug 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
A story on WXOW, La Crosse:
Five area businesses are splitting more than $65,000 for renewable energy grants.
The money will help them install renewable energy systems or flex fuel pumps, and make energy efficiency improvements. The funds come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program.
USDA Rural Development State Director Colleen Landkamer says the funding helps reduce America’s dependence of foreign energy and boosts the rural economy.
Here are the local recipients:
-Robert Lambert, Fountain City, $9,075 for energy efficiency
-Harriet Behar, Gays Mills, $15,121 for solar
-JDI Enterprises, Inc., Hillsboro, $3,019 for solar
-Golden Acres Grain Farms, LLC, West Salem, $17,315 for energy efficiency
-Corr Investments, LLC, Viroqua, $19,099 for solar
by jboullion | Aug 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Betsy Bloom in the La Crosse Tribune:
Outdated power plant cooling systems take a major toll on fish and other wildlife in the upper Mississippi River, according to a Sierra Club report released Thursday.
The report refers to the plants’ open-cycle cooling systems as“giant fish blenders” that also spew out heated water harmful to aquatic habitats.
The plants suck in millions of gallons of water each day from the river that is circulated to help cool equipment, then released back into the river, according to the report.
Larger fish can become trapped against screens at the mouths of intake pipes, while smaller fish and other organisms are churned through the system and succumb to the high-temperature water, the report claims.
Mentioned in the region were Dairyland Power Cooperative’s plants at Genoa and Alma, along with the Alliant Energy plant at Lansing, Iowa.
The four coal-fired plants on the Wisconsin side of the river combined draw in more than 890 million gallons of water a day, according to the report.
The Sierra Club faults not only the power companies but also the Environmental Protection Agency for not requiring the plants to upgrade to a closed-cycle cooling system it contends uses 95 percent less water.
Dairyland Power spokeswoman Katie Thomson disagreed with the report’s conclusions, saying the plants have a “a very minimal impact on the Mississippi River.”
by jboullion | Aug 4, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a story by Lindsey Hayes on WXOW, La Crosse:
LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW)– It’s the largest academic building on the UW-La Crosse campus and its name is Centennial Hall.
The facility will officially open on the September 6th for the first day of classes, yet on Wednesday UWL’s Chancellor Joe Gow lead a tour to introduce the new state of the art building.
Centennial Hall is 189,000 square feet.
It houses 44 classrooms, two auditoriums and offices for fourteen departments.
Each classroom is equipped with advanced technology, has flexible seating for interactive teaching, and 90 percent of the building has natural lighting.
This $40 million facility also has special interior design.
Much of the furniture, carpet and even the solar panels on the roof were based on input from students and staff.
by jboullion | Aug 1, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by by Jason Smathers, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, posted on WisconsinWatch.org:
State feeds national fracking boom; health, environmental concerns rise
TUNNEL CITY — Retiree Letha Webster’s voice briefly cracks when she talks about leaving the town she and her husband have called home for 56 years. But she says selling her land to an out-of-state mining company was the best move she could have made.
The 84-year old was approached in late June by a Connecticut-based company, Unimin, that planned to build a sand mine in the area and was paying a good price for houses in the way.
Webster’s struggle to maintain her home and 8.5 acres of land while caring for her husband, Gene, who has Alzheimer’s, meant she would need to move soon anyway. Webster, whose property was valued last year at $147,400, says she has agreed to sell for more than double that amount: $330,000.
Others in the area are selling, too. . . .
This western Wisconsin community is in the midst of a land rush — call it a sand rush — fueled by exploding nationwide demand for fine silica sand used in hydraulic fracturing. In this process, nicknamed “fracking,” sand, water and chemicals are blasted into wells, creating fissures in the rock and freeing hard-to-reach pockets of oil and natural gas. . . .
[Fracking has been a contentious issue in most states that have fracking operations. Critics argue that chemicals used in fracking may be contaminating water supplies. And it’s the subject of a documentary titled Gasland.]
Health effects feared
Residents in several Wisconsin counties say they have been alarmed by the speed with which mining companies have snapped up land.
Some communities lack local land-use controls such as zoning that would allow them to manage the land rush. And despite concerns about the health and environmental impacts of such facilities, the state Department of Natural Resources has only a few regulations for sand mining operations.
Mining companies must file a reclamation plan with the county that spells how much land will be disturbed and how it will be rejuvenated once mining is completed, and they apply to be covered under a general DNR permit covering stormwater and wastewater. Other permits regulating air emissions and groundwater use may be required from the DNR.
But none specifically limits how much crystalline silica gets into the air, the main health worry for those living near the facilities. Drew Bradley, Unimin’s senior vice president of operations, says that while the risks of crystalline silica are well known in an occupational setting, there’s no evidence that ambient exposure poses any threat.
