In a story published today, entitled, EPA investigates 15 state power plants for possible clean-air violations, Wisconsin State Journal reporter Ron Seely writes that
The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating 15 state-owned power plants, including several on University of Wisconsin System campuses, to determine if they are in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.
The federal agency sent the state Department of Administration a letter Thursday requesting information about the plants. They include power plants on UW campuses at Eau Claire, La Crosse, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point, Menonomie, Superior and Whitewater….
At issue is whether millions of dollars worth of upgrades at some of the coal-burning plants increased the potential for the plants to emit more pollution. The Clean Air Act, passed in 1970, grandfathered existing power plants but the law also required that those plants obtain new permits and install more pollution controls to meet standards if they underwent major modifications that increased emissions….
In the letter, the EPA asked for “a list of all repair, replacement, modification, or operational changes” in the boilers at the plants since they first went into use. Also requested is data on emissions and annual coal consumption since January 1980.
The EPA investigation shows how hard it is to be certain that communities are achieving environmentally benign, green standards. A community might tout solar power, or recycling, but if nearby there’s a polluter, the result of all human activities might be a net loss for the environment — and a net, unreported loss, if few knew or thought about the polluter. Eliminating the pollution from a power plant might be the single biggest environmental accomplishment a community could make, but it would be the one step no one would take, as most residents would be ignorant of the problem.
There’s nothing wrong with advocating solar panels, or recycling. There is something wrong, for policy and the natural order, when a few efforts lull a community into complacency. For all the talk about science and reason, many community efforts still rest on self-interested politics and public relations, ignoring a comprehensive assessment of all environmental impact within an area.