Nathan Dombeck 

Janesville

To the Editor:

Coming in first place sounds great, doesn’t it? Beloit has earned a dubious gold medal for 2023: the city with the most polluted regional air.

This is not the fault of Beloit citizens. The blame for this can be placed squarely at the feet of ungreedy and uncaring utility companies and a Public Service Commission (PSC) that is bizarrely willing to look the other way when community health and natural resources are concerned.

Alliant Energy runs the foul, coal-powered, pollutant belching Edgewater plant. They promised to close it by 2022 — but we all know how utilities keep their promises.

Oops, it’s still open; and now is planned to be converted to a natural gas-powered facility. The PSC is planning to allow this to happen.

Natural gas is methane, and it’s anything but natural. It’s a super-pollutant, prone to escape into the atmosphere even during normal operations, and is estimated to have up to 30x the heat trapping ability of everyone’s favorite villain, CO2.

This is a backwards decision, especially when clean energy generation is cheaper and easier than ever, as prices for solar panels and batteries fall precipitously. We have the resources and the will to do better, but not the deep pockets of the fossil fuel industry, so if you can: speak out, use your voice, and protest against this attack on the citizens of Rock County and wider Wisconsin.