County Board Unanimously Opposes We Energies Mercury Variance

MILWAUKEE COUNTY, WI -- The Milwaukee County Board voted unanimously Monday to oppose a variance request by WE Energies that would allow the utility to temporarily discharge more mercury and arsenic into Lake Michigan than current standards allow.

Wisconsin currently allows up to 1.3 parts per trillion of mercury to be discharged in to Lake Michigan. WE Energies has officially applied for a variance in order to release up to 4.1 parts per trillion into the lake.

Citing the time needed to make adjustments, WE Energies officials are requesting to push back their compliance date to 2023 - a delay of three years.

The 16-0 vote was for a resolution that urges the state Department of Natural Resources to deny We Energies the request.

"Milwaukee County calls on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to deny We Energies’ request for a Mercury Effluent Variance Permit exceeding 1.3 nanograms per liter, the limit previously established by the DNR as the limit to protect wildlife and human health," the resolution stated in part.

The DNR has final say on We Energies' variance request.

“I am proud to say that the Milwaukee County Board unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the DNR to deny We Energies a mercury variance in their water permit. There is no scientific, environmental, or moral reason to put more mercury into Lake Michigan. Mercury is highly toxic. It causes all kinds of intellectual and physical challenges in newborns,” District 8 Supervisor Steven Shea, who authored the resolution and represents Cudahy, St. Francis, South Milwaukee, and parts of Oak Creek, said. “We Energies should be moving towards 100 percent renewables, not burning more coal. This is 2019, not 1919.”

Local Residents, Officials Oppose Variance

Local officials and residents who oppose the variance request spoke out in February at the Oak Creek Community Center during a public information meeting hosted by the DNR related to the request.

State Senator Chris Larson said at the meeting: " While WE Energies and the partners involved in this power plant are moving in the right direction, delaying this process should be unacceptable. The longer they delay in moving to a renewable model, the longer neighbors have to put up with unsafe levels of mercury and the mounting problems of coal ash. Wisconsin can do better."

Racine Dominican Sister Janet Weyker, another neighbor of the plant also spoke in favor of environmental protections: "The DNR, along with the EPA, should be upholding and strengthening safe standards rather than weakening them. If the water permit is granted as it is written now, it would be telling us that the DNR cares more about the economic well-being of the dirty energy companies than about the health of people living around the Oak Creek plant and those who drink the water and eat the fish from Lake Michigan."