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Executive Summary
As the new home of WISPIRG’s environmental work, Wisconsin Environment can be reached for questions regarding this report. In the coming years, Wisconsin
will need to make some difficult choices about its electricity sources. The
Public Service Commission state’s electricity demand is expected to grow by
2.3 percent a year for the next decade. Efficiency measures can mitigate this
demand growth, but additional power generation facilities will also be necessary—both
to satisfy this increased demand and as replacement power as dirty or unsafe
plants are retired. Generating power by using fossil fuels or nuclear power
imposes unbearable costs on our environment, our health, and our economy. Considering
these costs reveals one clear path for Wisconsin: the state must tap into clean,
sustainable energy resources such as wind power, rather than increasing our
dependence on dangerous, polluting power sources such as coal, natural gas and
nuclear-powered plants.
Global Warming
Global warming, caused by the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil
fuels, is the most severe impact of our current energy path. If emissions of
greenhouse gases are not dramatically curtailed, life in Wisconsin will be significantly
altered within the next century.
- Some scientists have estimated that global climate change could lead to a
three to eight foot drop in Lake Michigan
- Global warming will cause significant disruption of ecosystems and thus wildlife
habitats. Changing vegetation will alter wildlife population size, density,
and behavior. Shifts in habitat may force as many as 35 species of birds to
change their ranges to exclude Wisconsin.
- Warming is already occurring:
temperatures in the past century have risen by an average of one degree.
- In 2003, Wisconsin’s coal-fired power plants released an estimated over 123.6
million tons of carbon dioxide—emissions equivalent to four times the number
of cars on Wisconsin’s roads.
Air and Water Pollution
Fossil fuels burned to produce electricity also contribute to Wisconsin’s and
the region’s air and water pollution problems, threatening the health of residents
and impacting our quality of life.
- During 2003, the eight-hour health standard for ground-level ozone (“smog”)
was exceeded 80 times in Wisconsin, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has designated ten counties in Wisconsin as violating health standards for ozone.
Ground-level ozone, which is partially caused by emissions of nitrogen oxides
(NOx), can lead to asthma, bronchitis, increased susceptibility to bacterial
infections and other respiratory problems.
- Acid rain, the result
of NOx and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, kills forests and damages aquatic
ecosystems. In Wisconsin, 37 percent of our lakes are acidic or sensitive to
acid rain.
- Mercury from coal power plants has contaminated the state’s lakes and streams,
leading to a statewide advisory on fish consumption.
Nuclear Hazards
Nuclear power plants are another environmental crisis in the making. Wisconsin’s
aging plants generate tons of radioactive waste that will remain lethal for
centuries.
- Exposure to radiation from nuclear waste can cause serious health problems,
including cancer, developmental disorders, hereditary disease, accelerated aging,
and immune system damage.
- Wisconsin’s two nuclear power plants are projected to have 1327 metric tons
of spent fuel on site by 2011. These facilities have no safe storage options
for their waste, and aging equipment at the plants increases the odds of an
accident that will release waste.
- An accident involving radioactive material—whether due to mishandling, equipment
fatigue or a terrorist act—could endanger thousands of people.
- Evacuation plans are woefully inadequate, so the growing populations of Kewanee
and Manitowoc counties are vulnerable to the release of nuclear material from
an accident or terrorist attack.
Wildlife and Habitat
Destruction
Statistics about wildlife deaths related to different energy sources indicate
that wind power, a renewable energy source, has a more modest impact on wildlife
and habitat than do coal, natural gas, or nuclear power.
- Mining for coal or for uranium destroys vast areas of habitat. A single mine
can strip up to ten square miles, disrupting individual animals and in some
cases entire species. Coal mining in Tennessee threatens the habitat of the
Cerulean warbler, a species that is in precipitous decline.
- One study of wind turbines indicates an average of 2.3 avian fatalities at
each turbine each year, for a total of 10,000 to 40,000 birds killed per year
nationwide. As more wind farms are erected in the United States, new research
continues to discover ways to design and site these facilities to minimize wildlife
disruption from wind farms.
Wind: The Least Damaging
Choice
Wind has great potential for generating electricity that we have only begun
to tap. While concerns about wind power’s impacts on vistas and birds and more
recently on bats have slowed its development, the impacts are minor when compared
to the harm caused by the mining and burning of coal and natural gas, or by
nuclear power. Wind power does not contribute to global warming, and produces
no air pollution or wastes. For these reasons, wind power, in combination with
energy efficiency measures, constitutes one of the few sources with which to
reasonably meet Wisconsin’s growing electricity demand.
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