Charter Street plant required to reduce coal burning

Monday, November 26, 2007

From a story by Kevin Murphy in The Capital Times:

An agreement finalized today requires the University of Wisconsin's Charter Street heating plant to reduce its coal burning to 85 percent of past levels and eventually be replaced.

In addition, the consent decree reached between the Sierra Club and Department of Administration, which manages the aging Charter Street plant, will be used as a blueprint for reducing sulphur dioxide and mercury emissions not only at the Charter Street and Capitol Heating plants, but at all state-owned coal burning plants around Wisconsin.

The settlement approved today by District Judge John Shabaz follows his ruling in October that UW was operating the Charter Street plant in violation of the Clean Air Act after making major modifications to the plant's coal boilers without seeking pollution permits.

The settlement calls for the annual reduction of 25,000 to 30,000 tons of coal burned at the Charter Street plant, equal to 225 railcars. It also requires a comprehensive study of how to bring the Charter Street and Capitol Heating plants into federal air quality standards by July 31, 2008, and requires the state to open its emission records for 16 coal fired power plants around the state for possible clean-up actions.

"This is really a statewide solution to bringing the state into the 21st century with how it powers its power plants," said Bruce Nilles, a Sierra Club attorney.