Environmental groups announced their victory Thursday as a lawsuit decision against WE Energies favored stopping a controversial power plant cooling system from being used near Lake Michigan.
The lawsuit, filed by Clean Wisconsin and the Sierra Club, challenged the outdated method for cooling the new Elm Road power plant in Oak Creek near Milwaukee. The plant would have been very harmful to Lake Michigan's ecosystem, according to staff attorney for Clean Wisconsin Katie Nekola.
This is a major victory for Lake Michigan because the ruling today means that the lake will be much more protected than WE Energies would have done if they could have had this ""open-cycle cooling system,"" Nekola said.
The Elm Road plant open-cycle cooling system pulls cold water from Lake Michigan cool the equipment and then discharges hot water back into the lake.
""The problem with this kind of cooling is that it destroys a lot of fish,"" Nekola said. ""It discharges water back into the lake that is at least 15 degrees warmer exposing fish to thermal shock from the increased water temperature.""
The victory for Clean Wisconsin invalidated WE Energies water discharge permit, forcing the new plant to find an alternate form of cooling technology.
