Need to get busy on clean air

An editorial  —  8/23/2008 7:09 am

It wasn't good news for people in Madison and Dane County when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reported that our air quality is bad.

It's small consolation that Dane County wasn't alone. The EPA's review also flunked Brown, Columbia, Racine, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.

All six counties have unacceptable levels of fine particulate matter in the air, and that harms people with breathing problems and can lead to complications for otherwise-healthy folk. Additionally, our bad air drifts into neighboring areas that otherwise wouldn't have air quality issues.

Most of those fine particles in the air come from coal-fired power plants. That's why otherwise-mostly rural Columbia County is on the list. Conversely, the poor quality in the urban counties is exacerbated by the increased diesel-powered truck traffic and the lack of mass transportation to take some of the load off streets and highways.

The EPA's report validates Gov. Jim Doyle's recent edict to bar coal from state-owned power plants in Madison. That includes the plant that heats the Capitol and state office buildings downtown and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's plant on Charter Street.

Madison Gas and Electric has also pledged to stop burning coal at its Blount Street power facility by the year 2011.

So remedial action is already in the works and none of it too soon.

We also need to get the ball rolling on a Regional Transit Authority that could begin work on enhancing mass transit options.

Madison and Dane County are beautiful and exciting places to live. But, none of that matters if we can't safely breathe the air.

An editorial  —  8/23/2008 7:09 am