Issue Summary

Grassroots groups concerned about elevated levels of industrial air pollution in the Beloit area are pushing back on plans to expand gas-fired power generation along the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

MEA currently represents four organizations opposed to Alliant Energy’s proposal to construct and operate additional gas-fired generating units at its Riverside Energy Center in Beloit.

The four organizations—Healthy Climate Wisconsin, Wisconsin EcoLatinos, Good Trouble Beloit, and League of Women Voters of Beloit—are speaking out about how the project would make air pollution in the region even worse and exacerbate the existing health issues that many Beloit residents already deal with.

Air Pollution and Human Health

A report published last year found that fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) pollution in the Beloit area is well over EPA safety standards. PM 2.5 negatively impacts almost every system and organ throughout the body, contributing to asthma, cancer, and other chronic diseases.  

Rock County residents already experience high rates of respiratory illness. In fact, Rock County ranks in the top five counties in Wisconsin for asthma-related emergency department visits. 

Regulatory Concerns

Alliant Energy’s expansion proposal requires approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC)and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Throughout the regulatory approval process, we urged the PSC and the DNR to deny Alliant’s application.

• The PSC unlawfully limited public participation in the process. 
  In January 2025, MEA submitted comments to the PSC on behalf of our clients. As we outlined in our comments, state regulators unlawfully limited public participation in the environmental review process and ignored the community’s concerns about air pollution and climate emissions. The PSC responded by preparing a supplemental environmental assessment before ultimately approving the expansion in April.
• DNR’s approach to regulating air pollution is outdated.
  In May 2025, MEA submitted comments to the DNR in which we described how DNR’s preliminary decision to issue a permit for the expansion project is based on an outdated approach to regulating PM2.5 emissions that doesn’t reflect the latest science. As a result, Wisconsin families are being unnecessarily exposed to harmful air pollution that is doing real damage to their health.
• Expert analysis shows emissions may cause or exacerbate exceedances of air quality standards.
  In order to evaluate our clients’ concerns about PM2.5, MEA retained Wingra Engineering to conduct an analysis of the Riverside Energy Center and the proposed expansion. The analysis, which we shared with the DNR, concluded that PM2.5 emissions from the current facility and the expansion may cause or exacerbate exceedances of federal NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) in Rock County in Wisconsin, and Winnebago County in Illinois.
• Better air quality monitoring is desperately needed.
  In addition to urging the DNR to update its air dispersion modeling guidelines, the community groups are also urging the DNR to install a regulatory air monitor for PM2.5 in Beloit. The analysis conducted by Wingra Engineering, as well as data collected by volunteers using inexpensive air monitoring devices, strongly suggest that ambient levels of PM2.5 currently exceed legal limits. There is no way to know for sure, however, because the closest regulatory monitors are located far away in Madison and Rockford.