MADISON, Wis. - A pair of bills dealing with air quality are circulating in the state Legislature, and a conservation group opposes both.

According to the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, the first of the two, LRB 4288/1, strikes down all state standards for determining what is and what isn't an air pollutant. The group has said the second bill, LRB 1181/1, would prohibit the Department of Natural Resources from including data from the air-monitoring site in Kohler-Andrae State Park near Sheboygan.

Jennifer Giegerich, the group's legislative director, said both bills will do great harm.

"These bills will make it harder for Wisconsin citizens to know that their air is being protected and that their public health is safe," she said. "These bills basically make it easier for the state to ignore air-pollution problems that we know about, and then make it harder to deal with future air-pollution problems."

The Republican authors of the bills have said both are needed to uncomplicate what they call the tangle of regulations regarding air quality in the state, and that passage of the bills would not present any danger to the public health. The League disagreed, saying the bills, if passed, would do irreparable harm.

The second of the two bills, which would prohibit use of air-quality data from the air sensor at Kohler-Andrae State Park, is particularly dangerous, according to Giegerich. She said Sheboygan County already has marginal air quality.

"The American Lung Association, in their latest report, gave them an F for their air quality," she said. "That means children whose lungs are forming are going to have damage long into their lifetime. People who have chronic respiratory and pulmonary problems are going to be at risk."

By hiding the evidence of air pollution, the league said, the bill would attempt to artificially show compliance with federal Clean Air Act standards and in so doing, allow even more pollution in the area.

The text of LRB 4288/1 is online here and the text of LRB 1181/1 is here.


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West Virginia environmental groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arguing the agency failed to consider residents' health when it gave the stamp of approval for the creation of four valley fills on a thousand-acre surface mine in Raleigh County.

Vernon Halton, executive director of the nonprofit Coal River Mountain Watch says the region experienced severe flooding in the 1990s and early 2000s, and says more valley fills, which involve dumping rocks, minerals and waste into nearby waterways, will put their lives at risk.

"It's going to permanently endanger the people whose homes are in the valleys below, he explained."

According to Environment America, valley fills permanently bury headwater streams and reduce water quality. More than 2,000 miles of headwater streams have been buried due to mountaintop removal.

Haltom added that communities continue to grapple with health challenges unparalleled outside of the coalfields.

"Higher rates of cancer, higher rates of heart disease, higher rates of birth defects, higher rates of other diseases, and most of them can be linked to the airborne dust that people are forced to breathe," he continued.

Research has shown breathing in toxic dust promotes the growth of lung cancer cells in people living in communities near mountaintop removal. Coal is mined in 22 of West Virginia's 55 counties, according to federal data.

A Knoxville environmental group is raising concerns over federal budget cuts and their effects on jobs at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The Trump Administration briefly laid off workers at the complex but called them back the next day.

Tanvi Kardile, coordinator for the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, warned the cuts, including layoffs at the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration, are troubling. She advocated shifting jobs from weapons production to environmental cleanup, citing ongoing efforts to address groundwater contamination, though she pointed out cost overruns and major concerns remain unaddressed.

"One of these cuts we feel should be the uranium processing facility, which is being constructed to replace, all these old, deteriorating buildings at Y-12," Kardile explained. "The budget for that keeps skyrocketing.
And this is one of the largest construction projects in Tennessee history."

Kardile emphasized the uranium processing facility is estimated to cost $10.3 billion and will not be complete in 2031. Initially, the project was expected to cost $6.5 billion and be finished by this year.

Kardile added her group is hesitant about Trump's statement expressing his intention to initiate nuclear arms reduction negotiations with China and Russia. The future of the U.S. nuclear weapons program remains uncertain as a result.

"Who knows if reduction talks will happen or how successful they'll be, especially with some other energy initiatives that he supports, such as discrediting climate change, promoting fossil fuels and drilling," Kardile outlined. "It doesn't seem like the administration will take many initiatives to protect the environment."

Kardile argued it is crucial for Tennesseans to push for greater accountability from the Department of Energy on the rising cost of Y-12 and collaborate with lawmakers to find the best path to allocate their tax dollars and protect public health.

Ohio is seeing a growing number of solar energy projects, including the first utility-scale installation in Dayton, which will help power a key water treatment facility.

Cities across the state are also working together to expand clean energy access. The five-megawatt solar array in Dayton will be built on a brownfield site, which is also a repurposing project for land that had been burned and has limited use because of contamination.

Robert McCracken, energy manager for the neighboring city of Cincinnati, said it is amazing to be able to produce energy to help with energy resiliency anywhere in Ohio.

"There is a lot of great work happening in the sustainable energy field throughout the state of Ohio," McCracken observed. "That's happening in large cities and small towns."

It is expected to provide 38% of the Miami Water Treatment Plant's electrical power needs and cut consumer energy bills by keeping water rates low. The City of Dayton serves as the principal water source for an estimated 1.5 million people in southwest Ohio.

McCracken pointed out local governments across Ohio recognize the importance of clean energy and are working collaboratively on solutions.

"It's become ever more important for all of those cities throughout Ohio ... to be working together to figure out how we all can advance the projects that we're working on that can benefit residents and businesses in each of our local communities," McCracken contended.

The project supports Dayton's climate emergency commitment to cutting carbon emissions at city facilities through renewable energy. McCracken emphasized Ohio cities remain dedicated to sustainable solutions, benefiting the environment and local communities.


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