Get behind Cassville power plant cleanup
October 6, 2008 in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by: George Meyer and Brett Hulsey

We are supporting Alliant Energy Corp.'s proposal to clean up an old power plant and add new hybrid capacity in Cassville, about 100 miles west of Madison.

There are good reasons to do this: It would clean up an old coal plant, reduce carbon emissions, increase Wisconsin's electric reliability without new transmission lines and create a model new design to burn biomass like switchgrass and wood residue that significantly would improve wildlife habitat in southwestern Wisconsin.

Clean up a 50-year-old power plant. As parents, we feel that cleaner air and health are vital concerns. As anglers, we have been working to clean up mercury and other coal pollutants for a long time.

Approving the expansion from 200 to 500 megawatts would reduce by 90% the site's total sulfur dioxide emissions, which cause heart and asthma attacks; would reduce nitrogen oxides by 55%, which cause smog and soot; and would reduce mercury by 75%, which contaminates all Wisconsin lakes. Existing plant cleanup would be complete before the new plant is built. This would help Wisconsin attain current and upcoming Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air standards without losing jobs or industries.

Reduce carbon emissions. The new unit would have cleaner coal technology and would reduce carbon dioxide pollution by 500,000 tons, compared to otherwise importing 300 megawatts. If the permit is denied, we will continue to import 300 megawatts of power off the Midwest grid, most likely from dirty, old coal plants in Illinois.

The plant is also designed to burn 20% biomass like switchgrass, wood waste and corn stover, which would reduce CO2 emissions by more than 500,000 tons per year. Alliant has pioneered co-firing switchgrass in Iowa. Biomass would replace 20% of the coal the plant would burn, reducing CO2 and other pollutants.

Recent Department of Energy studies show we have the potential to replace up to half of our coal use with wood, grass and other renewable biofuels. This not only reduces CO2 and other air pollutants but, importantly, improves forest quality and restores native prairie grasslands, improving wildlife habitat and water quality in our trout streams.

A peer-reviewed study in Environmental Science and Technology found co-firing biomass with coal is the best way to reduce greenhouse emissions now. The study found, "The 2- to 3-year time horizon for deployment-compared with 10 to 20 years for other CO2 mitigation options makes co-firing particularly attractive."

Alliant also is shutting down an old coal plant and substantially increasing energy efficiency and wind to reduce carbon emissions.

Improve our electricity grid reliability without adding significant new power lines. This is important, given the many controversies over power line expansion. This project would add 600 megawatts of new import capacity from the west with only a $20 million investment.

The location of the plant on the power grid would allow the import of more wind energy from Iowa, where the resources are better and cheaper than in Wisconsin. Alliant is adding wind energy at Cedar Ridge in northeastern Wisconsin and seeking 200 megawatts more wind from either Iowa or Minnesota.

This would be the largest flex-fuel hybrid plant in the country and would create a model for other utilities and other nations to burn biomass with or instead of coal. It is consistent with the governor's 25% renewable energy by 2025 goal and the Global Warming Task Force's recommendations for more biomass use. We can perfect this technology here and export it to China and India to reduce emissions there.

It's time to convert rhetoric into reality and biofuels into electricity, and it's time for the Public Service Commission to approve this step toward a cleaner energy future.

George Meyer is executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and former head of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Brett Hulsey is president of Better Environmental Solutions, an environmental consulting firm. He is a former Sierra Club Midwest representative, was an environmental policy adviser for President Clinton and an energy conservation advocate in the Carter administration. He is a biomass consultant for Alliant Energy.

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