by jboullion | Apr 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story on WQOW-TV, Eau Claire:
CUMBERLAND, WI. (Press Release) – 3M Cumberland was formally welcomed into the Department of Natural Resources’ Green Tier program today, during Earth Week, at a celebration event at their facility in Cumberland, Wisconsin. DNR officials congratulated 3M for its commitment to environmental protection during the celebration, which included staff and management from the facility, local officials and 3M Corporate officials.
“The Department of Natural Resources is proud to add 3M Cumberland to the growing ranks of Green Tier companies,” Department of Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank said. “They have proven that they are leaders in their community by managing operations to protect our shared natural resources for future generations.”
Frank said it is fitting the company is welcomed into Green Tier during Earth Week when so much is being done to enhance the natural resources of the state.
3M has a long-standing corporate commitment to three pillars of sustainability, also known as the triple bottom line: environmental protection, social responsibility and economic progress. 3M uses this philosophy to reduce their environmental footprint while continuing to grow their business. To do this, 3M pioneered the concept of pollution prevention with the creation of the Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program in 1975. The 3P program is based on the reality that pollution prevention is more environmentally effective, technically sound and economical than conventional pollution control equipment. 3P seeks to eliminate pollution at the source through product reformulation, process modification, equipment redesign and the recycling and reuse of waste materials. By 2009, 34 years later, 3P ideas and initiatives from employees have prevented 2.9 billion pounds of pollutants and saved 3M nearly $1.2 billion.
by jboullion | Apr 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Amy Ryan in the Wausau Daily Herald:
WESTON — After presentations for and against a proposed biomass energy plant to be built across from Rothschild Elementary School, the D.C. Everest Area School Board decided Tuesday to not yet take a position on the project.
Residents fighting the biomass plant were hopeful the board would join the effort to stop its construction.
“I think we have too much material. I would not make a recommendation at this time,” said board member Rita Kasten.
We Energies plans to build a $250 million power plant that burns low-quality and unusable wood and paper waste, powering the Domtar paper mill in Rothschild and providing electricity to homes in portions of Wisconsin. We Energies hopes it will be operating by fall 2013.
Residents at the meeting said they were concerned about the effect the plant might have on the health of the children at the nearby elementary school. Those concerns were shared by board members and district administrators.
“USA TODAY … studied 127,000 schools, and only 23,000 have worse air than Rothschild,” said board member Larry Schaefer. “We’re starting with some pretty poor air already. That’s a concern I have with this plant.”
Rob Hughes, the parent of a 7-month-old, lives near the proposed site of the energy plant and said he is concerned about children playing on the playground near an energy plant.
“In the long term, these particulates cause development of lung disease in children,” he said. “It’s hard to learn if you’re puffing on an inhaler, if you’re light-headed and struggling to breathe.”
Representatives from We Energies and Domtar said the new plant would emit less pollution than the current biomass generators used at Domtar.
“There are very rigorous standards placed by regulatory agencies to protect our welfare,” said Terry Charles, environmental health and safety manager for Domtar. “That includes asthmatics and elderly.”
The plant would cut dependence on fossil fuels, reduce acid rain and be nearly carbon-neutral, the environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin and the U.S. Forest Service have said.
by jboullion | Apr 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
Shortly following the end of the legislative session, RENEW Wisconsin wrote to Governor Jim Doyle asking him to veto Senate Bill 273, which would allow “plasma gasification” of municipal wastes to generate electricity. RENEW sought the veto because the bill would allow the electricity to be called renewable and count toward the renewable energy requirements placed on Wisconsin utilities.
Now several other organizations, including RENEW, fleshed out the orginal veto request with a second letter:
We, the undersigned businesses and organizations, urge you to veto SB 273, which would undermine Wisconsin’s current renewable energy standards under Act 141. Signing this bill will result in less renewable solar, wind and biomass energy for Wisconsin at a time when our economy and our environment desperately need more, not less, of these technologies to decrease our dependence on dirty fossil fuels.
New development companies across the country are attempting to define gasification facilities as “green” renewable energy. Yet this technology, a glorified form of incineration that is burdened with many of the same cost and environmental drawbacks, has never been successfully deployed anywhere in this country. Developers are seeking tax incentives, grants and renewable energy credits at the expense of recycling and true renewable energy programs.
Please end your tenure as Governor by vetoing the bill that will undermine Wisconsin’s efforts to become a leader on genuine renewable energy. The benefits of doing so will be recognized for years to come.
The letter came from the Sierra Club – John Muir Chapter * Waukesha Environmental Action League * Midwest Environmental Advocates * Advocates for Renewable Energy * Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters * Clean Wisconsin * Wisconsin Environment * Citizens Utility Board * RENEW WI * Physicians for Social Responsibility * Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
Click here for a description of SB 273, as amended.
by jboullion | Apr 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Wayne Nelson on BusinessNorth.com:
The Marshfield Clinic is incorporated sustainability principles in the construction of a $42 million new hospital campus under construction in Rice Lake.
BWBR Architects in St. Paul and its design partners have designed the project to conserve natural resources, reduce operating energy costs, and provide a quality indoor environment, said Edward Wolf, chief executive at Lakeview Medical Center in Rice Lake. . . .
The project’s energy-saving features include efficient lighting, air conditioning and plumbing systems. Lakeview’s board of directors committed to maximum energy use 15 percent below the state’s current building code limit. To meet that goal, the building ventilation design will recover heat from air exhausted out of the building that will heat incoming air, said mechanical engineer Linda Weingarten of Minneapolis-based Dunham & Associates, the project consulting engineering firm.
Heat given off by chillers that cool the building will be used to heat hot water, lowering electric usage during summer, she said.
“This isn’t new technology, but it’s the first time we’ve used it in a hospital project,” she said. The design is expensive, and wouldn’t be cost-effective if retrofitted in an existing building, she said.
High efficiency condensing boilers also will help lower fuel consumption year round.
Increased roof insulation values and high performance windows also will help reduce energy costs.
by jboullion | Apr 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story on WXOW-TV:
LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW) Dairyland Power serves a half a million households in their system.
Currently, more than 90 percent of their energy is produced from coal.
However, officials say Dairyland wants to have 25 percent of their power be produced by sustainable renewables, like wind and solar, by 2025.
Dairyland isn’t the only one looking at making a transition away from coal.
Today, Secretary of State Building Commission David Helbach spoke at UW-L about how Wisconsin is trying to covert its state institutions from coal consumers.
There are 16 heating state plants that heat and cool institutions using some amount of coal.
These heating plants can be found at variety of places from government buildings to college campuses, including UW-La Crosse.
Secretary of State Building Commission David Helbach says, “Coal has about twice the pollutants as natural gas so just by changing the fuel you reduce your emissions by half.”
The state wants to transition the biggest users of coal first, which are not university’s like UW-L.
That means the university will be put on the back burner.
Helbach, “We’d like to do some of the other plants first so this plant may not be until the first round, maybe on the second or third round”
Since Dairlyand’s transition can’t happen over night either, it is taking steps to make coal burning more environmentally friendly, like recycling by it byproducts and installing a scrubber system and bag house to make air safer.
by jboullion | Apr 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a Community Conversation column by Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, in the Sheboygan Press:
Wisconsin is in the midst of a serious debate about the environmental impact of biomass power, and whether increasing their use of clean, renewable biomass for electricity could potentially lead to unintended negative consequences, specifically with respect to forest health and greenhouse gas emissions. The truth, however, is that increasing our use of biomass power will improve forest health in Wisconsin and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
Biomass power is carbon neutral electricity generated from renewable organic waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills, openly burned or left as fodder for forest fires.
On average, America’s biomass power industry removes 68.8 million tons of forest waste annually, improving forest health and dramatically reducing the threat of forest fires. This forest waste includes dead debris and brush left to rot on the forest floor. Clearing this debris is a part of regular forest maintenance and is frequently done by state forest services in the form of open burns.
By using this waste to generate electricity, the biomass power industry is preventing the need for open burns and significantly reducing the risk and spread of forest fires. Waste byproducts from other industries and organic waste from the forest floor continue to be the only economically viable fuel sources for biomass power.
Fuel providers to the biomass power industry do not harvest wood solely for the purpose of generating electricity — forests are simply far too valuable.
by jboullion | Apr 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
The turbine will serve the Green Leaf Inn in Walworth County.
by jboullion | Apr 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story on WXOW News 19, La Crosse:
Matching funds boost total to $106,374
MADISON – Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman today announced a Wisconsin Industry Partnership training grant of $53,105 to help meet the skilled workforce needs of an expanding food resource and agribusiness sector in western Wisconsin.
DWD’s regional partner, the Western Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, and 20 employers in the Food Resource and Agribusiness Network (FRAN) will provide $53,269 in matching funds for a project total of $106,374.
“These resources demonstrate how by working together, we can meet the needs of employers and prepare workers for jobs of tomorrow, resulting in a stronger Wisconsin economy,” DWD Secretary Roberta Gassman said. “One of the region’s main economic strengths is its agriculture and food processing industry. It is one reason why Wisconsin is a leading state in organic farming. The grant will help the food and agribusiness sector grow and create more jobs.”
One FRAN employer includes Organic Valley of La Farge, the largest organic farm cooperative in the country. For over two decades, the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service has held its annual convention in La Crosse. Sales of organic products total nearly $133 million annually in Wisconsin.
Another FRAN partner is Kwik Trip, which is doubling the size of its bakery, a $30 million project expected to add more than 100 jobs. Last year, the western Wisconsin region’s food resource and agribusiness sector had 3,374 jobs, and it is projected to add jobs in coming years.
by jboullion | Apr 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin:
MADISON – The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) is seeking public comments for a biomass-fired power plant project proposed by Wisconsin Electric Power Company (WEPCO) in Rothschild.
In March 2010, WEPCO filed an application with the PSC for permission to build a 50-megawatt, woody biomass-fired, cogeneration power plant on the Domtar Corporation paper mill property. This newly proposed unit would require about 500,000 tons of biomass fuel per year. It is expected that the fuel would largely be sourced from within a 75-mile or possibly a 100-mile radius of the plant.
Comments on the proposed project will be accepted until June 1, 2010. The comments are considered when staff is analyzing the proposal. Hearings to take testimony from the public regarding the project are expected to be held later this year. . . .
To comment on the proposed project, visit the PSC’s website at http://psc.wi.gov, click on the Public Comments button and choose We Energies (WEPCO) Rothschild Biomass Cogen Project. For documents associated with the case, visit the PSC’s website at http://psc.wi.gov.
by jboullion | Apr 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in The Journal Times (Racine):
Let us count the ways in which this Legislature has failed in its duty. We do not speak of any particular issue or any particular position which the Legislature took, because the truth is that it took few.
There were some good results from this session, such as the law which formalized a transportation authority to make progress on KRM commuter rail. But there is much that didn’t move — bills on regional transit, election reforms, and energy and jobs. We do not advocate for every clause of every one of those bills. We decry the lack of action. It is true that one function of a legislature is to let bad ideas expire quietly, but the overarching issues of transit and jobs and energy must not fail. They must be dealt with in some manner.
The Democratic leadership bears a large portion of the blame, for many major bills did not come to the floor until the closing days of the session, leaving members little time to digest, discuss and amend. But Republicans must also be held responsible for an amazing rigidity and intransigence that produced few constructive suggestions or compromises.
Mordecai Lee, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political science professor, labeled the Legislature’s inaction an example of what is wrong with modern lawmaking. That presumes the goal is to make laws or decisions.
