DNR: UW plant violating clean air rules

DNR: UW plant violating clean air rules

	Published : Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:22 By : Agencies Print this Story

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Pollution from a University of Wisconsin-Madison power plant has spiked in recent years after plant managers illegally failed to install new pollution controls during a major construction project, the state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

The DNR notified state and university officials in a letter Wednesday they violated the Clean Air Act by failing to obtain a construction permit from the agency for a major overhaul to the coal-fired plant's boilers in 2004.

The move allowed the plant to dodge a requirement to install technology that would have reduced emissions by 60 percent or more, said DNR official Lloyd Eagan. Instead, emissions of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide have increased by hundreds of tons per year since then, she said.

The news came days after the DNR warned the same plant was violating the Clean Water Act by allowing coal runoff to seep into storm sewers that drain into one of the city's popular lakes.

The latest violations are considered very serious under federal guidelines and carry fines of up to $25,000 per day if they are not corrected, the DNR warned.

The DNR concluded that a $1.5 million overhaul in 2004 to three of the plant's boilers did not amount to routine maintenance and therefore would have required a permit and faced a requirement to install pollution controls. The project increased emissions of pollutants, the agency's review found.

The Sierra Club alleged similar Clean Air Act violations in a federal lawsuit filed May 3, saying the 2004 boiler project and several other upgrades dating back to 1998 should have required the university to obtain a permit.

Eagan said DNR is looking into whether other projects violated the permitting requirement and has asked state and university officials to turn over hundreds of records relating to the maintenance projects and the plant's fuel use.

After the documents are turned over, the DNR will hold an enforcement conference to discuss corrective action. Eagan said remedies might include installing new pollution controls, switching to a cleaner burning fuel such as natural gas or closing the plant altogether.

Environmentalists say the plant, operated by the university and supervised by the state Department of Administration, emits thousands of tons of pollutants that contribute to global warming, respiratory illness and mercury-polluted lakes.

'The Charter Street Plant has been using our air and our lake as a dumping ground for too long,' said Jennifer Feyerherm, a Sierra Club spokeswoman. 'Hopefully DNR's revelations that the plant is indeed breaking the law will be another nail in the coffin for filthy coal power, and a harbinger for a cleaner energy future to come.'

University spokesman Dennis Chaptman had no comment on the DNR's notice of violations. But a state lawyer representing the university asked a judge last week to dismiss the Sierra Club's lawsuit, denying the projects violated the Clean Air Act.

The projects did not increase pollution and 'constituted routine maintenance, repair, and replacement, and therefore were exempt from the ... permitting requirements,' Assistant Attorney General Thomas Dawson wrote. Any increase in emissions could be attributed to campus growth, he added.

The plant, located blocks from Camp Randall Stadium, provides heating and cooling for many campus buildings.

Last week, the state Building Commission approved spending $600,000 to study whether the 50-year-old plant and another aging state power plant should be replaced with cleaner energy sources.

That approval came days after the DNR said the plant was allowing dust from its coal pile to spill into a nearby neighborhood. When it rains, the dust runs into storm sewers that drain into Monona Bay, a popular fishing and recreation spot. The university has promised to better manage the coal pile to stop the runoff.

UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley has rejected calls to close the plant, saying the university was exploring ways to make the coal burn cleaner. He has said it would be unwise to convert the plant to natural gas because the university's other main power plant runs on that fuel.