The Pleasant Prairie Power Plant Redevelopment

The Pleasant Prairie Power Plant was a coal-fired power station that operated from 1976 to 2018 in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, owned by We Energies.

Located at 8000 95th St in Pleasant Prairie, the plant was capable of producing 1,190 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 900,000 homes. However, the plant also emitted millions of tons of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants, contributing to climate change and health problems.

Michael Sears photo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In 2018, We Energies decided to shut down the facility and switch to cleaner sources of energy, such as natural gas and renewable energy. The closure was part of a larger trend of coal plant retirements across the country, driven by environmental regulations, market forces, and public demand. 

What initially sparked my interest in the area was the now-abandoned railroad tracks that served the plant.

View of the site and side tracks on our Abandoned Railroads map.

“We are looking for a clean, reliable energy future for our customers,” said Cathy Schulze, a spokeswoman for the company at the time of the closure announcement.

Since then, the plant has been undergoing a process of decommissioning and demolition, which is expected to be completed by October 2022. The site has been cleared of most of the structures, equipment, and debris, leaving behind a vast area of vacant land along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Kenosha News Photo

What will become of this former industrial site? The answer is a vision of conservation and development that will benefit the environment, the economy, and the community.

The Village of Pleasant Prairie, in partnership with We Energies and other stakeholders, has approved a Master Conceptual Plan to redevelop a portion of the former power plant site into a 198-acre industrial park known as LogistiCenter. The park will feature three modern industrial buildings that will offer space for warehousing, distribution, manufacturing, and other uses. The park will also include stormwater management facilities, landscaping, and a 2-acre park that will tell the story of the power plant’s history and impact.

Dermody Properties will be the new developer. “Dermody Properties appreciates the opportunity to redevelop the former We Energies power plant,” said Tim Walsh, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Dermody Properties in a press-release. “We recognize the historical significance the property has and are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the economic growth and sustainability of the Pleasant Prairie community.” The press-release emphasizes how the property is located between two rail lines "at the intersection of the Union Pacific Railroad, which connects the United States from the Midwest to the Gulf, and to the West Coast, along with the newly formed Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern Railroad, which connects Mexico to Canada."

The industrial park will create new jobs, tax revenue, and business opportunities for the Village and the region. The press release states that the industrial park will also adhere to high standards of environmental sustainability, such as energy efficiency, water conservation, and green building practices, and hopefully that is true, although auditing will need to occur to substantiate these claims once the park is online. The park will be served by rail and road access, reducing the need for truck traffic and emissions.

It is unfortunate that the master plan for the site does not offer any items for preservation as open space and natural habitat. The site could provide a buffer zone between the industrial park and the lake, protecting the water quality and wildlife. Pleasant Prairie and other locations with existing brownfields that could be redeveloped need to offer opportunities for passive recreation, such as hiking, biking, and birdwatching.

Nonetheless, the transformation of the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant site is just one example of how a former coal plant can be repurposed for the benefit of the environment and the community. Any coal plant that is taken offline represents a net-positive to the local and global environment, however, it would be even more of a benefit to create a preserve from this property and allow nature to reclaim, and rebuild, this as a solution to our current economic and societal predicament.

Thanks as always for reading!

Location: Pleasant Prairie, WI, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Underwater Water Slide: Fly Over at Durinrell TikiBad

Image
Have you ever wished to experience being transferred from one pool of liquid to another via a pipe? Had you visited the Dutch water park known as Durinrell , also known as Tikibad before 2010, you would have had the chance. Half water slide, half war crime, this was a unique water slide that was filled to the brim with water, leaving riders completely submerged throughout the journey. Image:  XtremeRidesNL Known as the Fly Over was an underwater water slide, which is exactly how it sounds, and transported riders from one pool to another using the water as propulsion. Built in 1994, riders dove underwater to access the slide, using gravity to transport them upwards via the Communicating Vessels Principle . Riders would be completely underwater for about 15-20 seconds. This is how I imagine those 15-20 seconds felt like while riding the slide. The slide was built to drain water in five seconds or less in case a rider got stuck in the slide or had a medical emergency, but the threat tha
Read more

Railroad Vocabulary: A List of Words and Phrases Used in the Industry - Updated February 2024

Image
As somebody who enjoyed watching trains, but was not an employee of the railroad industry ( at least growing up ), when I would interact with railfans and historians, there was often a lot of technical jargon that applied only to the railroad industry thrown back and forth that made it difficult for a newcomer to understand what they were talking about. For example, what is a dinky? It's actually a passenger train. This non-inclusive language seems to keep the loop closed to members of the community, and to uncouple (no pun intended) that technical jargon and help make it easier for people to communicate with people in the industry, I am creating a list of railroad vocabulary that I'm hoping will make the industry more transparent.  BNSF 2361 . Image: Matt Flores While I ultimately believe that such technical jargon has no place outside of perhaps technical communications between employees, I know quite well that I alone am not going to stop people from communicating in a non-i
Read more

Choum Tunnel: The Monument to European Stupidity in Africa

Image
Scars of European colonization are located all across Africa, although some are more obscure and strange than others. With that in mind we come to the Choum Tunnel , built in Mauritania when it was controlled by the French. At first glance, it seems like an ordinary railway tunnel, however, one look at the local geography and you'll find yourself asking what its builders were possibly thinking with creating the project. Choum Tunnel in Mauritania. Unknown photographer. The Mauritania Railway was being built in the early 1960s, and was planned to connect Nouadhibou to Zouérat to exploit the iron ore reserves at Zouérat. That route still exists today in largely its original state, with the exception of the tunnel. Image: Ammar Hassan via Atlas Obscura The easiest route required running a short section of track through the then-Spanish controlled Western Sahara , but rather than pay Spain for the land and other concessions, the French engineers instead chose to tunnel under a hill sp
Read more