by jboullion | Aug 31, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story by Heather Sawaski on WAOW-TV, Wausau:
PARK FALLS (WAOW) — Flambeau River Papers in Park Falls is going to get a little greener.
Company leaders say when the new biomass plant is complete, the mill will use all of its waste energy, making it the first mill in North America not to use any fossil fuels. That’s a far cry from where the future of the paper mill stood just over 4 years ago. That’s when CEO Butch Johnson bought it out of bankruptcy. That’s when the idea of a biomass refinery in the Northwoods started to take shape.
“We’re no smarter than the guys before us that went bankrupt,” Johnson explained. “What can we do differently with our operation so we can ensure our employees, our partners in our project that we’re going to keep going? So we looked at a green initiative from the get go.”
The $300 will convert biomass from bark and sawdust into diesel for domestic markets.
Johnson says between logging, construction, and operation, the plant will bring in hundreds of jobs.
“We buy currently about 140,000 cords of wood for this paper mill,” he said. “With the bio-refinery, we would be buying an additional 365,000 cords of wood.”
by jboullion | Aug 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Wausau Daily Herald:
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission released its first assessment today of a proposed biomass plant in Rothschild, declining to perform an environmental impact statement demanded by opponents of the project and environmental groups.
In the preliminary finding released through the PSC site this afternoon, the commission members found the project would not have a “significant impact” on the surrounding community. Under state statutes, no environmental impact statement is necessary with that finding.
The commission members did take issue with the high level of particulate matter and other emissions from the plant predicted by air quality models. But the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has authority over air quality issues.
by jboullion | Aug 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Marshfield News-Herald:
Wood County Energy Assistance Office will begin taking energy assistance applications at locations throughout Wood County starting Sept.
The Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program is available to qualifying households to help in maintaining utility and heating services.
To qualify a household income must be below 60% of the state median income.
Wood County will be accepting energy assistance applications at outreach sites only. Applicants will be seen on a first come first serve basis.
Registration is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and no appointments will be scheduled for the regular season applications during this time. The Outreach Sites for the months of September and October are as follows:
September 7 WR Courthouse Auditorium
September 9 Marshfield City Hall 4th Floor
September 14 WR Courthouse Auditorium
September 16 Marshfield City Hall 4th Floor
September 22 WR Courthouse Auditorium
September 23 Marshfield City Hall 4th Floor
October 6 WR Courthouse Auditorium
October 7 Marshfield City Hall 4th Floor
October 13 WR Courthouse Auditorium
October 14 Marshfield City Hall 4th Floor
October 19 WR Courthouse Auditorium
October 21 Marshfield City Hall 4th Floor
by jboullion | Aug 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by by Shawnda Schelinder in The Daily Press, Ashland:
Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College continues to respond to the rapidly growing interest in renewable energy and sustainability — both in operations and in programming. At both the campus and the college level, WITC is employing a variety of methods to improve sustainability and reduce costs. And the college continues to investigate and expand programming, while enhancing current programs.
Locally, sustainability improvements will be evident at the WITC-Ashland Campus, thanks to the Ashland County Land and Water Conservation Department and a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Rain gardens, as functional as they are pretty, were planted at the southern edge of the campus.
by jboullion | Aug 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Christine Won in the Racine Journal Times:
CALEDONIA – A report released Thursday by environmental groups points to We Energies coal ash landfills as the likely source of the groundwater contamination that has left several residents without drinking water for the past year.
Almost 40 coal ash dump sites in 21 states, including Wisconsin, are contaminating groundwater or surface water with toxic metals like arsenic, mercury or lead, according to a report by the Enviromental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club.
The Oak Creek power plant, which has one active and two closed coal ash landfills, was named as having private wells in the area contaminated by molybdenum and boron.
We Energies spokesman Barry McNulty called the report “incomplete” and “flawed,” drawn up in a time crunch to meet an agenda of getting it out before the U.S. Environmental Public Agency hearings on the coal ash rule begin nationwide Monday.
For the first time the EPA is proposing a coal ash regulation and considering two possible options at its hearings. One is to regulate as special wastes for disposal in landfills or surface impoundments and another to regulate as non-hazardous wastes.
We Energies has maintained that its coal ash sites cannot be the contaminant source because the natural groundwater in the bedrock aquifer, where most of the contaminated well water comes from, flows toward the northeast, toward the power plant.
Russell Boulding, a freelance environmental consultant who owns Boulding Soil-Water Consultant out of Bloomington, Ind., said he drew his conclusion in the report that the coal ash landfills are the most likely source for the groundwater contamination in the plant vicinity based on collected data patterns and high levels of molybdenum found within a concentrated area of the landfills. Boulding added the bedrock aquifer is a fractured system, where groundwater flow doesn’t always follow the general trend, especially if water is pumped.
A dozen private drinking water wells within 1,500 feet of the coal ash landfills were found to exceed the state groundwater standards for molybdenum and boron, 40 and 960 micrograms per liter, respectively, according to the report.
by jboullion | Aug 26, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Jen McCoy in the Portage Daily Register:
Because the Westfield School District continues to demonstrate a high level ecological stewardship, it became the first school to enroll into a state program dedicated to superior environmental performance among businesses.
“For a school district to say, ‘We’re going to start managing our full environmental footstep,’ that’s a big step,” said Mark McDermid, cooperative environmental assistance bureau director for the Department of Natural Resources.
Westfield applied for and was accepted into Wisconsin’s Green Tier program, run under the DNR, which encourages businesses to move beyond regulatory compliance and promote superior environmental performance. About 30 businesses are in the program.
“We got recognized for what we already achieved, and we’re going to prove what we can accomplish in the future,” said Scott Peterson, district transportation director.
In 2008, the district began producing biodiesel for district transportation needs from oil donated by local restaurants and businesses. The biodiesel reduced emissions by about 70 percent compared with petro-diesel and saved the district at least $100,000. To further reduce waste, the district turns glycerin, a byproduct of the biodiesel production process, into earth-friendly hand and laundry soaps sold in area stores, such as Pierce’s in Portage.
