Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker joined Wisconsin business groups in sounding an alarm about a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plan to implement stricter air emissions standards that could impact Foxconn Technology Group’s massive complex in Racine County.
The business groups say the tighter emission regulations would halt manufacturing-related expansions and new factories in southeast Wisconsin. Walker, through a spokeswoman, told the Milwaukee Business Journal he’s concerned that a planned federal tightening of business air-pollution emissions will place “an undue burden on Wisconsin businesses.”
“Wisconsin should not be punished for an issue that we cannot control,” Walker said.
Walker gave no specific information on any action he might take. He noted the state already cut emissions of the two main ozone-forming compounds — nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds — by 50 percent between 2002 and 2014.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has compiled a report showing that non-Wisconsin polluters are responsible for about 90 percent of emissions measured by pollution monitors in eastern Wisconsin, said Art Harrington, a Milwaukee environmental law attorney who serves on the DNR’s Air Management Study Group. The monitors are located near Lake Michigan, which serves as a corridor for air pollution from Illinois and Indiana.
Protests from Wisconsin state officials and business groups will not be enough to change the EPA’s plans, said Harrington, of Godfrey and Kahn SC. For one thing, even if the EPA installs new monitors, it takes five to 10 years before the agency deems the monitors’ collections reliable, he said.
The EPA action would impact Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Washington and Kenosha counties as well as parts of Kenosha, Door, Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties.
As recently as 2012, southeast Wisconsin counties achieved compliance with the then-EPA standard of 75 parts per billion but in 2015 the agency announced plans to implement a new compliance level at 70 parts per billion.
The EPA opened a 30-day comment period Jan. 5 for the general public, including businesses, to provide input on the planned designations, an EPA spokeswoman said. Also, the state and Native American tribes can provide input through late March, she said.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce convened a private meeting Thursday of economic development officials concerned about the stricter regulations that some business groups say will hamper efforts to recruit and expand businesses here.
The EPA intends to finalize the nonattainment designations by April 30, the spokeswoman said.
Although President Donald Trump has promised to remove or reduce environmental regulations on business, Harrington said the politics on this issue probably won’t deliver the result sought by the MMAC and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
The EPA says the tighter standards will improve air quality and ultimately the public’s health. Wisconsin environmental groups applauded EPA’s plan.
“Look at the political pressure on the EPA for the Clean Power Plan (on power plants) — that was a heavy lift,” Harrington said. “It’s an even heavier lift if EPA were to revise this because of the health-based findings.”
The new EPA standards apply only to the companies that emit large amounts of volatile organic compounds — 100 tons or more per year, Harrington said. The only cases where a company would need to comply with the new standards are when they plan an expansion or a new plant, which could include a company like Foxconn.
A DNR spokesman did not respond by Milwaukee Business Journal deadline to an inquiry about whether Foxconn or related companies have applied for an air pollution permit for its liquid crystal display (LCD) plant in Mount Pleasant.