| |||||||||||||||||
DNR: Power Plant Dust Polluting Lake By RYAN J. FOLEY 05.15.07, 7:07 PM ET A power plant operated by University of Wisconsin-Madison is allowing coal dust into the environment, polluting one of the city's prized lakes, state regulators say. The Department of Natural Resources has warned the plant is violating the Clean Water Act by allowing dust from its coal pile to spill into a nearby neighborhood. When it rains, the coal dust runs into storm sewers that drain into Monona Bay, a popular fishing and recreation spot. The DNR warned the university last week to stop the violations or face forfeitures of up to $10,000 per day. "This material doesn't belong in our Madison lakes," said DNR official Tim Coughlin, who wrote the May 8 warning to the university after personally witnessing runoff of coal residue. "It's a pollutant." The letter came just days after the Sierra Club sued the university for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act by failing to install modern pollution controls when making upgrades to the plant, which was built in the 1950s. Environmentalists want the university to shut down the Charter Street plant, one of the biggest local sources of pollution, and switch to a cleaner-burning fuel. They seized on the DNR warning. "The real problem is that there is way too much coal being pumped through Charter Street," said Brent Denzin, an attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. Denzin said he uncovered the problem after noticing black residue on nearby sidewalks after every storm. He said his group notified the DNR, which warned the university to improve the management of its coal pile after inspecting the plant in August. Despite the warning, DNR employees in February saw coal dust in snow and ice on nearby sidewalks and streets. They warned the coal dust could end up in Monona Bay when the snow melted but the university took five days to begin a cleanup, Coughlin wrote. Coal dust was again observed in the area twice in the next two weeks. The DNR believes the plant is violating three state laws that govern water discharges under the federal Clean Water Act, Coughlin wrote. He said he's optimistic the university will resolve the issue at an upcoming enforcement conference. UW-Madison official John Harrod said the university is already taking actions to make sure the coal dust is contained. "We want to be good neighbors," he said. "We know that can be a challenge at times with that facility." But Sierra Club lawyer Bruce Nilles said the revelation "further underscores that the plant is long overdue for retirement." "The university somehow thinks they are exempt from complying with the law and doing their fair share to make Madison a great city," he said. Monona Bay is part of Lake Monona, which along with Lake Mendota makes downtown an isthmus and gives Madison a marketing slogan: "Lake. City. Lake." Coughlin said the pollution is not a public health emergency and will not kill fish immediately but the long-term impact is unclear. The pollution is worrisome because many fishermen, particularly Hmong, fish Monona Bay daily to feed their families, said Maria Powell, a university scientist who has studied the issue. Tests on the coal-tainted water revealed high levels of arsenic and other carcinogens, but Powell said the health risks aren't known. Already, the DNR warns pregnant women and children to limit their consumption of fish from the lakes because of mercury pollution. "It's pretty outrageous that in the middle of a campus with all this expertise that there's open coal sitting there with no controls on it," Powell said. "Those substances go right into the bay and end up in the fish and people eat it. It's a public health concern." Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed More On This Topic
E-Mail Newsletters: Sign Up Now To Stay Informed On A Range Of Topics
Today On Forbes.com
Entrenched No MoreFamily-controlled companies were a genteel way to do business. Bruising takeover battles at Dow Jones and Cablevision may signal an end to that.
News Headlines | More From Forbes.com | Special Reports Subscriptions >
|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RSS
del.icio.us
Digg It!
My Yahoo!
Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots
