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Judge forces coal plant to clean up
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A University of Wisconsin heating plant is in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, a judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Court Judge John Shabaz ruled in favor of the Sierra Club in a pollution lawsuit against UW's Charter Street coal plant. He said plant officials violated the act over the past five years with various improvement projects when they failed to install modern pollution controls in several recent renovations.
"Over the last five years, they have violations including major repairs and modifications without a permit and (they) failed to contact the Department of Natural Resources or install modern modifications to prevent pollution like soot, smog and mercury by 90 percent," Sierra Club Clean Energy Campaign coordinator Jennifer Feyerherm said. "It was like rebuilding a car one piece at a time, they replaced huge parts of that plant without getting the permits."
Shabaz's ruling outlined five separate improvement projects spanning from 1996 to 2004. The first two projects, a $97,300 upgrade in 1996 and a $77,000 boiler project in 2001, were ruled exempt from the Clean Air Act because they fell under the category "routine maintenance, repair or replacement" or did not create a "significant increase in net emissions" according to court documents.
The three other projects totaling $2,591,947 included significant modifications "without having obtained the required preconstruction permits" under federal statues, according to the ruling.
Alan Fish, UW associate vice chancellor of facilities planning and management, said UW had already conducted significant studies revealing the need for renovation, and this ruling may actually expedite the process.
"Frankly we've been working on seeing how we could replace the old coal boilers with much more efficient technology to be able to burn solid fuels and extensively increase the biomass fuels like cornstalks, sawdust and things like that," Fish said. "In the process of sorting things out with the DNR, we'll be developing a really significant renovation plan so that we not only increase air emissions but make the plant much more efficient and technologically advanced."
Shabaz did not hand down any sanctions in Wednesday's ruling, but a trial regarding the future of the plant will take place Nov. 26, according to Feyerherm. Fish said in the past, rulings have focused more on remedies and obtaining correct permits rather than handing down punishments to organizations.
Energy concerns should be on the forefront of UW's discussions, according to Feyerherm, who said the plant, built in 1954, relies on outdated techniques.
"There are certainly other viable options," Feyerherm said. "Combined heat and power or cogeneration is more efficient where you use energy once to make electricity and once to heat the building, so you double the power, and you can burn just about any fuel, and it would be cleaner than coal."
Fish said UW already uses the cogeneration process at its west side facility but the "district" heating and cooling system used near campus from the Charter Street plant could not simply be phased out.
According to Feyerherm, the Sierra Club worked in conjunction with the Sierra Student Coalition on campus for three years and received scarce response from UW even after their notification of intent to sue in December. The club then waited six months, until May, before it filed this lawsuit prompting legal investigation into the permit situation with the DNR.
Fish said the process of acquiring funds for a significant renovation is both complex and lengthy.
"We were in dialogue [with the Sierra Club] before the lawsuit, and I can understand their impatience," Fish said. "But the investment in excess of $100 million has to work through the UW System and the state budget in order to secure the resources we need to rebuild Charter Street."
Andy Jakubowski, a member of the Sierra Student Coalition who led the group during its opposition to the "blemish on campus," said it is unfortunate the case ended up in court in the first place, but is proud the hard work of the groups was not done in vain.
"Our university and the Madison community are leaders in sustainable and renewable energy research and are looked at as role models for the rest of the state and country," Jakubowski said in an e-mail. "Unfortunately, the fruits of our research have not been utilized by the campus as a whole."
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Thanks A LOT, ELI!
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Just hw much storage space would be needed for the “cornstalks, sawdust and things like that” compared to coal?
BAH!
Develop and build a pebble bed nuclear power plant - that would be doing something worthwile.
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Shutting down this plant, or significantly upgrading it, I can’t remember, had been one of Austin King’s pipe dream campaign planks in his first campaign. I lived next to the plant in 2003 and he talked my ear off about it at my door, and got my vote. Wherever he went, he must be smiling now…
Congrats, Sierra Club! Keep up the great work!
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Its about time!
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Tax payers, if you want to phase out the Charter Street plant and other pulverized coal fired plants around WI you had better be ready to pony up the cash for a fluidized bed gassifier, or a nuclear reactor. Either that or be willing to export our environmental degradation to the Deep South where they will inevitably be burning coal and gas.
There is no such thing as free energy, and clean energy is currently far too scarce to meet the ever-rising electricity demand. Conservation is key, we need simply use less.
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We need the energizer bunny! - Germain E. Stemme