Too much power plant study, or not enough?

By David Steinkraus

Thursday, September 30, 2004 12:09 AM CDT

OAK CREEK - Some complained it was more of the same, and others that it wasn't enough, but the common subject for more than 200 people at the Oak Creek Community Center was the proposed expansion of the Oak Creek power plant.

Several speakers said all the necessary analysis has been done and it's time to let construction proceed on the two new coal-fired generators. Others said state and federal agencies have failed in their duty to protect the public interest. They asked that the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct its own investigation to make up for stated deficiencies in assessments by the state.

The gathering in Oak Creek was a public hearing held by the corps, which must issue one of the permits needed for construction of the power plant addition. The corps would like to make one as early as possible, said Ben Wopat of the corps' St. Paul office. If the public hearings bring up some new issue, however, the corps may ask the utility for more information, he said.

Laurel O'Sullivan, staff counsel of the Lake Michigan Federation, and Eric Uram, regional representative of the Sierra Club, questioned the effects of mercury discharge into the lake, the effect of higher temperature cooling water returned to the lake, the effect on the ecosystem near shore, and the effect on human health.

"I really thought I had it make when I moved here 14 years ago - beautiful air," said Manfred Stelter, who said he lives between Racine and Oak creek. He said he can understand the desire for good jobs, "but on the other hand we have to make sure the regulations are in place to come up with clean air, cleaner air than we had before, not dirtier air."

There is opposition to almost any energy proposal, said Forrest Ceel, president of Local 2150 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Nuclear power plants don't create air pollution, yet it's hard to build one, he said. "Every time we try to increase wind generation, there's local opposition to the siting, or people don't want to have the transmission lines going across their lands."

It's unfair to accuse Wisconsin's agencies of ineptness, said George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and a former secretary of the DNR. State law imposes

deadlines that make it impossible to do the detailed analysis, he said.

He said his group, which includes hunters and fishermen, doesn't oppose the power plant. "We do believe in job creation. We also understand there's a need for electricity and electric reliability in the state of Wisconsin." And if more utilities had We Energies' philosophy, the nation's air would be much cleaner.

At the same time, he said, not enough work has been done. The whole project will cost more than $2 billion, he said, so there should be no objection to spending a another million or two to make sure the project is done well.

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