Wisconsin is home to two of nation’s 100 worst polluting power plants

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin is property to two of the worst-polluting electric power crops in the nation, in accordance to info not too long ago compiled by a Milwaukee-centered environmental study and plan group.

The review, printed by Wisconsin Atmosphere Investigate & Plan Center, applied details from the Environmental Security Agency’s eGRID to rank the nation’s 100 worst-polluting vegetation based mostly on the quantity of carbon dioxide each individual plant spewed into the atmosphere in 2020.

Of the 100 crops on the list, two are located in Wisconsin: the Elm Highway Building Station in Oak Creek (rated 32) and the Columbia Power Center in Columbia County (ranked 56). Each vegetation are coal-burning amenities.

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For every Wisconsin Environment’s investigation, the Elm Highway plant in Milwaukee unveiled 7.07 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the ambiance in 2020, which is equivalent to the emissions of 1,524,354 passenger cars. That exact year, the Columbia plant introduced 5.68 million metric tons of the greenhouse gas, which is equal to the emissions of 1,223,378 passenger cars.

On a statewide stage, two of the 10 maximum polluting vegetation are in southern Wisconsin: the Columbia plant (rated 2) and the Riverside Electrical power Heart north of Beloit (ranked 7). The Riverside Power Centre facility is a fuel-burning facility.

Other substantial-polluting vegetation all-around Wisconsin can be observed in Marathon, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Buffalo, Outagamie, Sheboygan and Vernon counties.

Put together, all those 10 electric power plants designed up approximately 90% of all emissions tied to electrical energy generation in Wisconsin in 2020. Of these 10 plants, one particular has given that shut, and 4 other individuals — such as the Columbia electricity plant — are scheduled to partially or totally shutter their operations by 2025.

Included in the group’s research was a advice that the EPA enact “the strongest achievable limits on carbon dioxide air pollution from new and existing ability plants,” a suggestion that became noticeably much more difficult pursuing the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent selection on environmental laws.

The conservative majority court in a 6-3 ruling claimed that the Thoroughly clean Air Act — which was to begin with signed into legislation in 1963 and even more expanded in 1970 — does not give the EPA the authority to broadly regulate greenhouse gas emissions from electrical power vegetation.

Locally, the final decision drew criticism from Dane County Executive Joe Parisi who claimed the court’s ruling would “drag our country’s environmental policy again to the 1950s.”

Parisi and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway have labored in latest a long time to transition the city’s and county’s services to renewable ability. Previously this month, county leaders broke ground on a 90-acre solar undertaking that, upon completion, will satisfy the county’s goal of powering all county amenities with 100% renewable electric power.

Wisconsin Environment Exploration & Plan Center’s total study on the state’s dirtiest energy plants is available in entire on the web.