​​​Take Action: Write an LTE Urging the PSC to Reject We Energies' Expensive Methane Gas Proposals

 

The Issue: We Energies is seeking approval from the PSC for several health harming and expensive new methane gas projects, including:

• Building a new 1,100-1,200 MW gas-generating plant at Oak Creek Power Plant campus, costing $1.2 billion. 

• Installing seven reciprocating internal combustion engines near the Paris Solar Farm in Kenosha County, costing $280 million. 

• Constructing 33 miles of natural gas pipeline in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee counties at a cost of more than $183 million. 

• Constructing a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, including systems to pretreat, liquefy, store and vaporize LNG, in Oak Creek, costing $456.3 million. 

 

HCW's Topline Message: Methane gas infrastructure produces dangerous air pollution that harms the health of Wisconsinites, especially children. Wisconsin must follow the lead of a growing number of states and regulators that are saying no to new fossil fuels and telling utilities to look for better and cheaper alternatives. Wisconsin families deserve affordable, renewable energy now!
 

Talking Points: 

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• There is nothing natural about gas. While the fossil fuel industry aggressively promotes gas power plants as a clean energy source, this is a lie.​

• Burning gas releases nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the air. While NOx is damaging in its own right— causing coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks, reduced lung function, and respiratory inflammation — it also reacts with other chemicals in the air to form ozone. Ozone can lead to or exacerbate many health issues, including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and airway inflammation. It can reduce lung function and worsen bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. 

• In fact, a 2017 Harvard study found that gas power plants actually caused more premature deaths than coal plants in 19 states. Children have an increased risk from ozone exposure because their lungs are still developing, they are outside more often, and they breathe in more air-per-pound of body weight than adults do.​

• In 2021, research from RMI showed that 80 percent of proposed gas could be avoided with a combination of wind, solar, energy efficiency, demand response, and battery energy storage. Not only would a clean energy portfolio be cheaper, it also could prevent $23–$74 billion in health impacts over the assumed 20-year lifetime of the gas plants.

 

Publications to Submit to: the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Milwaukee Times,  Waukesha Freeman, and Urban Milwaukee

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     Take Action: Celebrate Dairyland Cooperative's New Clean Energy Grant and Urge the Utility to Scrap its Methane Gas Plans

The Issue: Dairyland Power Cooperative in Western Wisconsin just became the first rural electric co-op in the nation to secure new funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. This landmark investment of $573 million will support Dairyland’s procurement of 1,080 megawatts of solar and wind energy, projected to eliminate a staggering 3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually! 

HCW's topline message:  We hope this funding signals that both Dairyland and the USDA are ready to move away from investing in and subsidizing outdated fossil fuel proposals that harm community health, including the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC). Renewable energy is the path forward. It immediately improves lives through cleaner air and more affordable bills, bringing prosperity and better health to rural Wisconsinites.

 

Talking Points: 

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• Clean Energy Saves Lives: 100% clean energy production in Wisconsin would prevent 650 ER visits, over 85,000 asthma and respiratory cases, and ~ 2,000 premature deaths each year.   

• Renewable energy - including wind and solar power - provides safe, cost effective, and reliable energy, as opposed to gas plants which have been found to be disproportionately vulnerable to failure during severe weather.  

• Grow Union Jobs:  Wisconsin utilities announced union commitments for solar, wind, and battery projects, bringing nearly 18,000 good-paying union jobs to Wisconsin.​​​

• Dairyland Cooperative must focus on building out healthy, affordable, and reliable renewable energy and abandon its plan to build the expensive and health-harming Nemadji Trail Energy Center.

 

​Publications to Submit to: La Crosse Tribune, Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, The Chippewa Herald, and the Ashland Daily Press 

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Take Action: Write an LTE Denouncing Alliant's Energy's Plan to Convert the Edgewater Plant to Methane Gas in 2028
 

The Issue: In May, Alliant Energy announced plans to continue burning coal for four more years at the Edgewater Generating Station and then convert the facility to a methane gas plant in 2028.This is the plant that we could see on the Lake Michigan shoreline at the Strategy Retreat. It’s the second time Alliant has pushed back Edgewater’s retirement, initially planned for 2022.

HCW's Topline Message: There is nothing natural about methane gas. It produces dangerous pollution that harms the health of Wisconsin families, especially children. Burning methane gas accelerates climate change, which leads to more frequent and intense extreme weather events such as severe heat, wildfire smoke, and flooding. Methane gas is an increasingly unreliable energy source, particularly during extreme weather events. Investing in clean energy is a healthier, more affordable, and reliable way for Alliant to meet its customers’ energy needs.

 

Talking Points:​

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• From extraction to combustion, methane gas contributes to increased health harms:  cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, kidney disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease.  

• The fetus, infant, and child are all very vulnerable to air pollution, but those impacted the greatest are those who are socially and economically disadvantaged.   

• Air pollution contributes to low birthweight, miscarriages, and increased infant mortality.

• Air pollution exposure can lead to cognitive impairments, increased rates of autism/ASD, and lower academic performance.  

• Air pollution is a well known trigger of asthma attacks in children and it also has been found to be a cause for the disease.  

• Investing in methane gas is investing in health harms versus health solutions.

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Publications to Submit to: the Sheboygan Press and The Beacon

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Take Action: Write an LTE decrying Alliant Energy's Plan to Expand Methane Gas Infrastructure in Beloit
 

The Issue: Wisconsin Power & Light, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy, is currently seeking approval from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) to build and operate 7 reciprocal internal combustion engines at its West Riverside Energy Center, a methane gas plant in Beloit. 

HCW's Topline Message: The PSC must reject this proposal. Beloit residents already suffer from severe energy burden and dangerously poor air quality. Expanding the methane gas infrastructure further harms the health and well-being of the community. Beloit families deserve affordable and clean energy now!

Talking Points:

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• Fossil fuel polluters often choose locations for energy production that disproportionately impact low-income, elderly, and predominantly non-white and indigenous communities. This is the case for Beloit, a predominantly non-white community that classifies as low-income, relative to the national averages. 

• Methane gas plants like Alliant Energy’s West Riverside Energy Center jeopardize public health, especially for frontline communities located near them. The main pollutants resulting from burning fossil gas are nitrogen oxides (NOx), which can cause coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks, reduced lung function, and respiratory inflammation.  NOx is damaging in its own right, but it also reacts with other substances in the air to produce particulate matter and ozone.

• Particulate matter is a deadly mix of metals, organic chemicals, and acidic substances that are so small they can be inhaled deeply into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Exposure to particulate matter causes increased infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes, cognitive impairments, and premature death.

• Ozone can lead to or exacerbate many health issues, including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and airway inflammation. It can reduce lung function and worsen bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. 

• National Institutes of Health research shows those living in a zip code with a fuel-fired power plant experience asthma hospitalization rates 11% higher, respiratory infections rates 15% higher, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) rates up 17% higher than demographically similar zip codes with no power plant. 

• Premature deaths from burning methane gas have already surpassed deaths from coal in 19 states. Let’s not add Wisconsin to this list when we can choose healthy, affordable, and reliable renewable energy instead.

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Publications to Submit to: the Beloit Daily News and Janesville Gazette

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