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The proposed settlement carries a $500,000 penalty, which local environmental groups say isn't high enough. They also want the penalty to be dedicated to the La Crosse County Household Hazardous Materials collection program.
Melissa Scanlan, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates of Madison, filed comments on the settlement late last week with the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of local environmentalists Guy Wolf and Mark Kastel and seven area environmental groups.
Scanlan says Northern States Power Co., doing business as Xcel Energy, could have been fined as much as $230 million for the violations, which started in late 2000 after new air pollution standards took effect.
"I can only say that NSP negotiated a relatively inexpensive way to get off the hook for their past violations of the Clean Air Act," Scanlan said. "We expect the United States government to negotiate in the public interest, not in NSP's interest. Unless the consent decree is improved in the ways we outlined in our comments, the people of La Crosse will not be adequately compensated."
Brian Elwood, a spokesman for Xcel, said the company won't respond to public comments to the Department of Justice about the settlement.
Scanlan doesn't propose a higher figure that her clients would like Xcel to pay, but says the money should be used to benefit the people of La Crosse County.
In 2001, Xcel began installing new pollution control equipment to bring French Island into compliance with new Clean Air Act rules for large municipal solid waste combustors that went into effect in late 2000. La Crosse County agreed to pay $10.9 million for the work, and Xcel spent another $3.5 million.
Despite those improvements, French Island doesn't meet federal standards for carbon monoxide emissions, according to the settlement.
The Clean Air Act requires plants that use a fluidized bed boiler to emit less than 100 parts per million of carbon monoxide, but Xcel has asked the EPA for a variance allowing French Island to emit 200 ppm of carbon monoxide.
Elwood said French Island is emitting less than 200 ppm, but declined to give a specific figure because it can vary depending on the day's fuel mixture.
"French Island is a very unique plant," Elwood said. "It's a unique system and unique fuel. No other boiler in the country is using this technology and fuel combination."
French Island burns a mixture of refuse-derived fuel and wood waste. Elwood said the wood's moisture content can vary, affecting combustion. "Carbon monoxide is really an indicator of how efficient combustion is," he said.
Scanlan said carbon monoxide is a contaminant and an indicator of the presence of other pollutants like formaldehyde and benzene.
Elwood said Xcel had negotiated a 200 ppm standard for French Island in the 1990s, when the agency and Xcel thought the plant would be classified as a small combustor. But in 2000, Scanlan convinced the EPA that French Island belonged in the large combustor category, which had no special provisions for French Island.
In the consent decree, the government agrees not to go after Xcel for violating the 100 ppm standard while the EPA administrator considers Xcel's request for a 200 ppm standard.
"The U.S. government is giving Xcel a break on carbon monoxide levels after they've shown a history of violations," Scanlan said. "It's outrageous for Xcel to get a reward after that."
The environmental groups Scanlan represents are Clean Wisconsin, Down River Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network, Kickapoo Valley Stewardship Alliance, Northern Thunder, Sierra Club and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Greens.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
