Growing concern about pollution from coal-powered plants is behind some of the best stories of the past day or so. On page one today, the State Journal looked into allegations by the Sierra Club that the Department of Natural Resources is dragging its feet on investigating charges made over the summer that coal-fired heating plants on the University of Wisconsin campuses in Eau Claire, Stout, Stevens Point and La Crosse are in violation of the federal Clean Air Act and need millions of dollars worth of upgrades.
That all sounds very familiar, of course, because it was just two years ago that the Sierra Club won a case in federal court against the state and UW-Madison charging that they failed to upgrade pollution controls as required by federal law at the Charter Street coal plant. As a result, UW-Madison agreed to reduce coal consumption at the plant and eventually convert it to natural gas and biomass by 2013, a move expected to cost some $250 million.