WE Energies

A major actor in the air quality of our state is our own power company, WE energies. We Energies headquarters is located in downtown Milwaukee, on 231 W Michigan street. Due to recent acquisitions, the company has since changed its name to WEC Energy Group and now has expanded into four states. We Energies began making electricity in 1896, to power rail service, as the Milwaukee Electric Railway and  Light Company. It later evolved into WE energies and has been a major Midwestern supplier of power. It has many acquisitions under its belt, the most notable is the purchase of Wisconsin Gas, which created a single utility company for the Milwaukee area.
They run 3 coal fired power plants in the Milwaukee metropolitan area which contribute 12 million metric tons of greenhouse gases. This information was compiled using the Facility Level Information on Greenhouse Gases Tool located at:  http://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/main.do

Valley Power Plant

We Energies is heavily involved in environmental management and policy decisions. According to opensecrets.org  The WEC has spent millions in lobbying efforts throughout the state. Some of the notable decisions they have been involved in are the utility replacement costs for the street car, the rate restructuring cases that discourages solar power, and consistent rate increases, all approved through the state public service commission. The commission is appointed by the Governor and it is supposed to regulate utilities on behalf of Wisconsin residents. It seems a bit of "regulatory capture" has happened, as the utility consistently is victorious with the PSC.

There is no doubt Milwaukeeans suffer from poor air quality. With air advisories and ozone days, attempts are being made to ameliorate these issues. Yet it seems there is no sense of partnership with WE energies. Coal fired plants exist in Oak Creek, Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, and Germantown. The Valley power plant is one of the last remaining power plants in the country without modern pollution controls. Fortunately, a citizens group for the area called "Cleaner Valley Coalition" has put pressure on the company, enough so that they are converting the power plant to natural gas. Don't assume this move is entirely altruistic though. WE energies ratepayers will be stuck with the bill. Stakeholders always act in self interest. The move to natural gas was probably necessary for the state to meet new EPA air quality standards.

Good environment is supposed to be good business( Evans,2012), but renewable energy threatens the business models of power companies, and they haven't exactly played nice, Policy implementation and development occurs in close alignment with industry (Evans, 2012) and they have used there influence to keep the status quo in regards to Milwaukee air quality. It seems they take a paternalistic viewpoint in regards to engaging the community as a fellow stakeholder.

If you are interested more in the involvement of WE Energies on local policy, a group called Citizen Utility Board is an activist group that represents residential and small business owners against the utility. The website is www.wiscub.org