Clean Air News

As the new home of WISPIRG's environmental work, Wisconsin Environment can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.  

MADISON—As a key U.S. Senate committee considers the Bush administration's bill to delay and weaken clean air safeguards, a new Clear the Air report released today by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) finds that sixty-four percent of Wisconsin's oldest and dirtiest power plants are getting dirtier, not cleaner.

"When it comes to power plant pollution, many of Wisconsin's dirtiest power plants just keep getting dirtier," said Jennifer Giegerich, WISPIRG state director. "Pollution from power plants fuels global warming and causes serious health problems, including asthma attacks, heart and lung disease, and even premature deaths."

With research finding adverse health effects from air pollution at levels once considered safe, more people than ever live in areas that fail to meet national health standards.

According to the new report, annual soot-forming sulfur dioxide (SO2) and smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions increased at many of Wisconsin's oldest and dirtiest power plants from 1995 to 2003. "Pollution on the Rise: Local Trends in Power Plant Pollution" examines U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data on power plant emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOx since 1995, the first year the Clean Air Act's Acid Rain Program capped SO2 emissions from power plants. Key findings include:

• Seventy-six percent of the Wisconsin's dirtiest power plants increased their annual CO2 emissions from 1995 to 2003, an emissions increase equivalent to putting 852,694 more average cars on Wisconsin's roads.

Plant-by-Plant increases in Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 1995-2003

1. Alma power plant in Buffalo County, 189 percent
2. Manitowoc power plant in Manitowoc County, 49 percent
3. Blount Street power plant in Dane County, 47 percent
4. Pulliam power plant in Brown County, 43 percent
5. Bay Front power plant in Ashland County, 34 percent

- Sixty-four percent of the Wisconsin's dirtiest power plants increased their annual soot-forming SO2 emissions from 1995 to 2003, an emissions increase equivalent to building ten typical new power plants in the state.

Plant-by-Plant increases in Sulfur Dioxide Emissions, 1995-2003

1. Nelson Dewey power plant in Grant County, 253 percent
2. Alma power plant in Buffalo County, 240 percent
3. Manitowoc power plant in Manitowoc County, 113 percent
4. Pulliam power plant in Brown County, 46 percent
5. Blount Street power plant in Dane County, 26 percent
6. Weston power plant in Marathon County, 26 percent

• Fifty percent of the Wisconsin's dirtiest power plants increased their annual smog-forming NOx emissions from 1995 to 2003, an emissions increase equivalent to putting 540,471 more average cars on Wisconsin's roads.

Plant-by-Plant increases in Nitrogen Oxide Emissions, 1995-2003

1. Alma power plant in Buffalo County, 172 percent
2. Bay Front power plant in Ashland County, 115 percent
3. Pulliam power plant in Brown County, 79 percent
4. JP Madgett power plant in Buffalo County, 70 percent

The report concludes that national caps on SO2 and NOx alone are not enough to protect the health of local communities but must work hand-in-hand with plant-specific safeguards, such as the New Source Review program, which ensures that all power plants eventually meet modern pollution standards.

"The past decade shows that pollution trading puts the health of communities near the oldest and dirtiest power plants at risk. The solution is to couple real pollution caps with stepped up enforcement of current Clean Air Act rules that require each and every power plant to meet modern pollution standards. We certainly shouldn't be gutting the law," said Giegerich.

The Bush administration's so-called "Clear Skies" bill would delay by at least a decade - until after 2018 - and dilute SO2 and NOx reductions called for in the Clean Air Act, repeal New Source Review for power plants, and repeal or significantly weaken other plant-specific clean air programs to rely instead on pollution trading, while ignoring global warming altogether. Earlier this month, the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that the administration's bill is weaker than current law for individual power plants.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety is holding on a hearing on the administration's bill today.

"WISPIRG commends Senators Kohl and Feingold for standing with medical and public health advocates who vigorously oppose the Bush administration's bill instead of with big corporate polluters who support it. We ask them to do everything in their power to stop the bill," Giegerich concluded.

The report recommends that EPA and federal and state lawmakers:

• Enforce existing Clean Air Act programs, including New Source Review, designed to ensure that every community has healthy air;
• As a first step, pass a national cap that limits CO2 emissions economy-wide to 2000 levels by 2010;
• Strengthen and finalize EPA's proposed Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to cap SO2 and NOx emissions from power plants in the eastern U.S. at 1.8 million tons and 1 million tons, respectively, by the end of the decade, as the law requires; and
• Strengthen the Clean Air Act's existing programs to further reduce all four major power plant pollutants.