In Superior, Wisconsin, the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC) is still stalled. This gas plant, first proposed in 2017, has been unable to push through local, state and federal permitting. If built, this plant would be constructed on the bank of the Nemadji River in Superior, directly adjacent to the St. Francis Cemetery, where there is an Indigenous burial ground. The plant would be powered by gas, a fossil fuel made up primarily of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas that exacerbates climate change by increasing carbon pollution and creates unhealthy local air quality. The financial burden of construction and operation would be borne by utility customers for decades to come. Utilities in Wisconsin are proposing to build out more gas plants, but advocates for public health and the climate are working hard to stop these new polluting facilities.
Review: What is Methane Gas?
Methane gas (often called "'natural' gas" by the fossil fuel industry) is a fossil fuel used to generate electricity. Methane is as much as 80 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, making its extraction, shipping and use a significant contributing factor to climate change. Utilities claim that gas is necessary to create grid reliability, but wind, solar and battery storage has demonstrated its reliability in many other countries and U.S. states. Replacing one fossil fuel with another will not curb carbon emissions and clean up our air at the pace we need, it will continue our reliance on fossil fuels.
Learn more about gas.
NTEC is co-proposed by three utilities: Dairyland Power Cooperative, Minnesota Power, and Basin Electric Power Cooperative. These utilities claim there’s a need for the gas plant, but a Sierra Club analysis has shown that the same demand could be met by a portfolio of clean energy and storage resources. A recent study from the Union of Concerned Scientists also questions the reliability of gas plants, especially during extreme weather events, which are becoming ever more common. Climate change is resulting in flooding, cold snaps, heat waves, wildfires resulting in poor air quality and more, and NTEC would only amplify these problems.
Tribal and local opposition
The gas plant is of concern to Tribes in the region, and both the Fond du Lac and Red Cliff Bands of Lake Superior Ojibwe have pushed back on this project throughout the permitting process. In 1918, almost 200 Fond du Lac graves were dug up from their initial resting place and moved to mass graves at St. Francis Cemetery because of an infrastructure project that never materialized. The Band has stated that they believe the current resting site at St. Francis Cemetery will be adversely affected by the construction and operation of NTEC. Red Cliff has also raised concerns about cultural sites, threatened species, medicines, climate change and wetland destruction.
Local leaders and community members have been raising their voices and outlining their concerns with the project. In particular, Superior Mayor Jim Paine and five city council members, Jenny Van Sickle, Nick Ledin, Garner Moffat, Ruth Ludwig and Lindsey Graskey have shared concerns about the impacts on climate change, environmental justice and the Fond du Lac burial grounds, local water and wetlands, air pollution and fuel oil use, economic concerns and how NTEC would strain the city’s utilities. In 2018, an explosion at the Husky Refinery in Superior caused significant damage, totaling roughly $550 million, injured workers and triggered the evacuation of thousands of residents due to the release of toxic chemicals. This incident has come up time and again, weighing heavily on a community who wants to prevent similar industrial accidents in the future.
There are also strong concerns over the health impacts on residents from a gas plant. Other communities, such as Beloit, WI, have experienced significant air quality problems from gas plants which cause increased levels of asthma and other respiratory ailments, cardiac disease, mental health problems, reproductive issues, and other health impacts.
Local leaders joined community members who have detailed their opposition to the plant, organized, and have seen a major win. This spring, the Superior Plan Commission and City Council denied the utilities’ request for permits for NTEC.
Dairyland receives funding for clean energy
The win at the Superior City Council was followed in early September by a major announcement of funding for clean energy - providing an alternative to NTEC that we’ve been fighting for. In the largest investment in rural electricity since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936, President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act invests $7.3 billion in carbon reduction that will help rural Wisconsin. 16 rural electric cooperatives, including Wisconsin’s Dairyland Power Coop, will receive funding. The New ERA program will fund investments in renewable energy, storage, transmission, and large-scale emissions reductions. This funding will allow these leading electric cooperatives—serving one-fifth of rural Americans—to accelerate the adoption of affordable and reliable clean energy, improving resilience and lowering costs for their members.
Dairyland Power Coop will receive almost $573 million to procure 1,080 megawatts (MWs) of clean energy. Dairyland customers’ electric rates are estimated to be 42 percent lower over 10 years than they would have been without the New ERA funding. The New ERA program will drive an estimated $2.1 billion in clean energy investments throughout the region and pollution will be reduced by an estimated 3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually– the equivalent of taking 729,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road every year– or 90 million tons over the lifespan of the projects.
Air permit withdrawn
Shortly after the New ERA award, Dairyland Power Coop announced its decision to withdraw the air permit previously granted for the construction of NTEC. The withdrawal was in part in response to Sierra Club’s challenge to their air permits which flagged very serious concerns. You can read our response to the decision here. This is an exciting development in the years long fight to protect communities, air, water and climate, and there’s more organizing to come!