Opponents say utility needs a shorter straw

By David Steinkraus

Thursday, February 17, 2005 2:07 AM CST

OAK CREEK - It was another hearing on another permit for the Oak Creek power plant expansion, but the duration of the issue has not chased away the project's supporters and

critics.

People turned out in bunches on Wednesday for a public hearing on the draft water pollution permit for the plant. We Energies needs the permit in order to construct a cooling water intake for the new power generators that it wants to build on the site of its present generating station.

The intake would be able to draw more than 2 billion gallons of water a day to cool the plant, and then return it to the lake 15 degrees warmer.

It is these two factors which are the focus of opposition. Although the intake will have 9.5mm screens, it still will kill many small fish and other small aquatic organisms, opponents say. Also, the change in water temperature will harm the local aquatic environment, they say. Proponents say the system will minimize harm to Lake Michigan and is a good balance between environmental harm and power demand.

More than 200 people came to the hearing, which the Department of Natural Resources held in the Oak Creek municipal courtroom.

People talked of their fears of mercury contamination of fish. The utility has said that a certain amount of mercury would be discharged into the lake when cooling water is returned. Daniel Weber, an assistant scientist at the Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said that fish had slowed reflexes when they had been exposed as embryos to mercury for 24 hours after fertilization.

All these arguments look like just another way to attack the project, said Patrick Lawlor, 43, of Kenosha. Fishermen use those spots because that's where the fish are, and there are birds and other creatures in the area because they're attracted to the fish which are attracted to the warm water discharge from the present power plant, he said.

But there is more for people to consider, he said. "I need this state to support me and my family economically."

"I like our way of life, but it's based on cheap, affordable

energy," he said.

It's unfortunate that citizens' concerns so far seem to have fallen on deaf ears, said Steve Bulik, of RESET, a group opposed to the power plant expansion. There are alternative cooling technologies, and it's bad that the environmental studies won't have to be completed until the end of the year, after the permit has been issued, he said.

"I think it's a big gamble. There are a lot of unanswered questions," he said.

"We have a problem in our environment already in our area," said Patricia Morrill, 50, of Caledonia. She urged the DNR to make the utility follow all steps in the application process.

Once the DNR has issued its final permit, the utility, or any other interested party, will have 60 days to file an appeal with the state.

Although construction of the intake was originally scheduled for early this year, a We Energies spokesman told The Journal Times last month that it would be delayed. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court's decision that We Energies' application to expand the power plant was incomplete.

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