Clean Wisconsin and Sierra Club have filed a petition for review with the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a lawsuit challenging approval of the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, a large methane gas plant proposed in Superior. The PSC greenlit the project in 2020 without adequately considering whether it would meet state environmental standards.
The plant would release almost 3 million tons of greenhouse gases and 200 tons of other dangerous pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds every year in a neighborhood already burdened by industrial emissions. Dairyland Power Cooperative and two other utilities want to build the plant on a high bluff next to the Nemadji River, raising serious concerns about stormwater runoff and wetland impacts in an area already susceptible to dangerous flooding.
“The Legislature set clear legal parameters that govern whether and where power plants can be built. Wisconsin law protects our natural resources, yet all too often, utility plans are approved without proof that these standards are met,” says Clean Wisconsin attorney Brett Korte. “We believe the Supreme Court should take our case and affirm that environmental protections in the law are not optional and the evidence of environmental impacts needs to be critically evaluated when the PSC makes its decisions.”
The Nemadji Trail Energy Center, which would cost upwards of $700 million, has been mired in controversy. The project faces pushback from neighboring communities and local lawmakers who point to the environmental and health harms it will bring.
