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The Downside of the Power Plant (originally prepared in
response to the Midwest Power proposal for New Berlin.)
What would this proposed Power Plant mean to
New Berlin and surrounding communities? Given the all the permutations
(changes in the proposal by Midwest Power) we know that this plant will
evaporate somewhere between 350 and 650 gallons of our ground water per
minute. However, the actual amount of water that it would steal from the
local aquifer depends on which story you believe and which plant Midwest
Power actually tries to build.
Furthermore, we can count on this plant delivering
at least 250 TONS of air pollution during the summer months. However,
since pollution credits can be purchased on the Chicago Board of
Trade, there is nothing to stop the owners from purchasing credits and dumping
considerably more poisons into our air.
This is 'somewhat' ironic given that we have
to buy special reformulated gas to control air pollution (because
Southeastern Wisconsin is a non attainment area for air quality.)
Furthermore, (we heard off the record,) the peak 'fallout'
zone for the pollution can be described by a 3 mile radius.
How much of New Berlin and surrounding communities
would be destroyed by an accidental explosion of the 210,000 pounds
of liquid propane that will be stored on site as a backup fuel is
anyone's guess. We've asked the question but no one has been able
(or perhaps willing) to the answer that question. My personal guess
is that anyone or any property located within a couple mile radius
would be at risk of death or destruction.
It is interesting to note that a public hearing
for the propane storage hasn't been held yet and we haven't been
informed when the city will hold the public hearing for the conditional
use permit for the propane storage. Who can say why? My personal
guess is that the city hall doesn't want to have to publicly disclose
a radius of destruction until such time as the PSC would issue an
approval for a plant. I suspect realize that if the extent of
potential destruction was known the citizens would go ballistic
and the outcry would be so great that this project would be cancelled.
To make a long story short, if this plant is
built, it will adversely impact the whole area. Please support Citizen
Power's efforts to protect our communities and to preserve our resources.
It is too soon to comment on the impact of El
Paso Power's proposal for Muskego because we don't have specifics
yet. But when they are available we will update this page with appropriate
information.
Pages on this site always subject
to construction, visit us often to check for updates.
THANKS
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