U.S. District Court Judge John Shabaz ruled Nov. 7 that UW-Madison and the state of Wisconsin violated the federal Clean Air Act by failing to install modern pollution controls at the coal-burning Charter Street power plant during major renovation projects. We applaud this decision and urge the university to take swift action to clean up the Charter Street plant.
It is ironic that one of the nation's top universities in the field of scientific research has used dirty coal to satisfy its energy needs for decades.
The university argues that the Charter Street coal plant is vitally important because of its central location on campus and its connection to the complex network of pipes between university buildings. By insisting that the Charter Street plant stays indefinitely, the university stifles investments in alternative energy and appears satisfied with the status quo of dirty coal power.
The university must realize that other sources of energy are available. For instance, it should turn to the environmentally friendly 150 MW cogeneration plant on the west side of campus to power a larger share of its electric grid. On a smaller scale, Dane County is building its first wind farm.
The university should make every effort to both reduce energy consumption and generate energy from alternative sources. While it is economically convenient, continuing to use dirty coal to power the university will have severe consequences.
Even more discouraging than the fact that dirty coal powers a leading research university, the university has contributed excess pollution to the Madison community by operating the Charter Street plant inefficiently and irresponsibly.
According to Shabaz's ruling, the university violated the Clean Air Act by failing to obtain a new operating permit and install new pollution controls after major renovations between 1999 and 2004.
Unrelated to last Wednesday's action, the Sierra Club is suing the university with a claim that runoff from the open-air Charter Street plant has contributed to the contamination of Madison lakes. Instead of spending millions on litigation fees for protracted battles that it is bound to lose, the university should have taken proactive efforts to install new pollution controls to clean up the Charter Street plant or develop a long-term plant to replace the current plant.
Ideally we would like to see the Charter Street power plant closed indefinitely and replaced by an environmentally friendly alternative. We realize, however, that this scenario is not likely to occur anytime soon. Therefore, the university should clean up the Charter Street coal plant, take advantage of the energy resources at the cogeneration facility and develop in-depth, future plans to power its electric grid using alternative sources of energy.
