Wisconsin’s electric generation is dominated by coal. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 62% of the state’s 2013 net electricity came from burning the fossil fuel.
On a more local scale, more than 70% of the Madison area’s electricity comes from two coal plants owned and operated by Madison Gas and Electric.
This holiday season, a partnership of local environmental health and activist groups are coming together to voice their Christmas wish: no more coal.
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Environmental Health Network, RePower Madison and the Sierra Club – Four Lakes Group, are hosting a forum on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m., called “No Coal for Christmas.”
The event will feature talks by Dr. Maureen McCue, an adjunct clinical professor in Public Health, Global Health and Human Rights at the University of Iowa; Peter Taglia, geologist and owner of Energy and Environmental Consulting LLC; and Mitch Brey, RePower Madison’s campaign organizer. Together they will explore Wisconsin’s reliance on coal, the health impacts of burning it, and what customers can do about it.
Alex Bryant, executive director of PSR Wisconsin, hopes the event will provide a forum for people to get information about coal and human health. She and her colleagues also want to make people aware of MGE’s Energy 2030 Framework.
“We want to bring attention to the fact that MGE’s Energy 2030 Framework has no discussion on coal,” says Bryant. “While there are a lot of great aspects in the plan, we feel it’s not quite strong enough and that there are unanswered questions about coal we’d like them to address.”
Many of those unanswered questions are linked to the health hazards posed by the use of coal, a list McCue says is quite long.
“U.S. coal soot and smog annual pollution has been linked to over 550,000 asthma attacks, 38,000 heart attacks and 22,000 avoidable deaths,” McCue says via email.
In Wisconsin alone, more than 123,000 children and 400,000 adults have asthma.
“Retiring one dirty coal-burning plant will prevent over 29 premature deaths, 47 heart attacks, 491 asthma attacks and 22 asthma emergency room visits,” says McCue. “Wisconsinites could save many millions [of dollars] per year in health care costs by simply reducing electricity generated from coal.”
While limiting coal use would benefit public health, Mitch Brey and RePower Madison discovered — in MGE’s public filings — that they plan to use coal for the next several decades.
“Based on MGE’s projections, the Columbia and Elm Road coal plants will run until 2038 and 2050 and account for 70% of our electricity generation,” says Brey.
For Brey, Madison should be exploring alternate energy sources, not relying on coal.
“The city of Madison can explore other options to acquire its energy and ways to reduce energy usage,” says Brey. “Many cities and states are doing much more than we are. Madison should be a national leader.”
Before that can happen, Brey says MGE has to admit one thing. “MGE’s first step is to admit that they have a coal problem. Then, a plan can be developed to address it,” says Brey.
After Wednesday’s forum, Bryant, McCue, Taglia and Brey plan to send MGE information on how their customers feel about coal. Hopefully then they’ll have an opportunity to join MGE at the table to continue the conversation about Wisconsin’s energy future.
“We want to make sure that the people making these decisions know there is a wide constituent base that is concerned about coal,” says Bryant. “It’s no longer a political issue; it’s about sustaining our health.”