The citizen's group opposed to We Energy Corp.'s plans to build three new coal-fired plants in Oak Creek has added six new groups to its ranks, including two from Door County, with concerns about how the new plants would damage air quality and tourism in the popular vacation spot.

Responsible Energy For Southeastern Wisconsin Tomorrow (RESET) announced Friday that Door Council Environmental Council, Inc. and Door Property Owners, Inc. have joined the coalition that is fighting the expansion plan. In addition, four Racine-area business and religious groups - Merchants Moving and Storage; Caledonia Properties, LLC; the Racine Dominican Sisters and the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi - also have become members of the group.

The addition of the new members comes during the same week the citizen's group launched an aggressive media campaign to counter a We Energies' advertising campaign that has been going on for about a month.

"The RESET coalition is receiving support and interest from prospective new members almost daily," said Marc Looze, clean air campaign director for Clean Wisconsin, which is a founding member of RESET. "More and more people realize the state will suffer if the coal plan is approved."

Jerry Viste, executive director of the Door County Environmental Council, said his group is very concerned about the new power plants because it would increase the area's ozone problem, something he says is directly linked to air pollution in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. He said Door County already has as many as eight ozone alert days a year.

"Door County has become a major location for ozone even though we do not have any power plants or anything that would cause that air pollution," said Viste, whose group has been in existence for 33 years. "It is obvious this pollution is coming from the south, from Chicago, Milwaukee, Racine, ect., and we want to try and decrease anything that could hurt our tourism business."

The Public Service Commission's (PSC) is currently conducting a review of the utility's plan to build the three new coal-fired power plants in Oak Creek. It recently released a draft environmental impact statement on the plan, which said that even with the best emission reduction equipment, it would worsen air quality in Southeastern Wisconsin. The state agency is planning public meetings in Oak Creek and Caledonia May 19 and May 20. The PSC is expected to make a final determination in November.

The three new plants in Oak Creek are part of the utility's Power the Future proposal, a $7 billion plan that proposes investments in additional power generation, improvements to existing power plants and distribution system upgrades.

Thad Nation, a spokesperson for We Energies, said air quality would improve under the company's expansion plans. He pointed to the recent announcement by the federal Environmental Protection Agency that We Energies had agreed to spend $600 million installing emissions-reducing equipment at five coal-fired power plants in Wisconsin and Michigan, including its existing Oak Creek plant.

"That is going to bring about a 65 percent reduction in emissions system wide and 50 percent in Oak Creek," Nation said. "I would think residents in Door County and other areas would support that."

Nation said neither of the Door County groups had spoken to We Energies about its expansion plans. He said the company had met with many community and business groups throughout Southeastern Wisconsin to explain its proposal.

"We've gone to great lengths to explain to anyone that would listen what Power the Future would mean to Southeastern Wisconsin in terms of new jobs and cleaner air," he said.

But the four Racine business and religious groups said the expansion in Oak Creek would hinder economic development and hurt air quality.

"More pollution will severely hinder the economic future of this area," said Jan Serr, director of Caledonia Properties, LLC., which owns about 20 acres of industrial land in the Caledonia area. "I understand there is a need for more power, but the increase in pollution, decrease in property values, increase cost to taxpayers and all of the other negative impacts more coal will bring prove the coal is not the best option for Southeastern Wisconsin."

Added Carol Wester, president of Racine Dominican Sisters, “We know coal-fired plants aren’t the only culprit, especially with the area has already been ranked with some of the dirtiest air in the state. But it's illogical and unhealthy to put a coal-burning plant in our area when cleaner, safer alternatives are available. We're already breathing unhealthy air, and we're ready to do what we can to help stop the addition of more coal in Southeastern Wisconsin.”

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