From Abby Novinska-Lois

Madison

To the Editor:

It’s a Wednesday, and I anxiously listen to fuzzy hold music on the phone with my health insurance, waiting for the automated inbox to connect me to a representative who might deny my doctor’s CAT scan request. More bills arrived last week and I am exhausted. A headache pounds at my temples, reminding me I need rest, but I ignore it in another nauseating attempt to make ends meet.

It’s hard to rest when policymakers enable corporations to put wealth above all else. And it’s not just health insurance companies. Wisconsin’s utilities are guilty of knowingly harming us for shareholder profits. While I may never know the exact cause of my condition, researchers are increasingly linking autoimmune disorders to air pollution and climate change — both stem from our outdated reliance on fossil fuels.

Our utilities are burning our planet and poisoning children. But they sincerely hope you forget all about that when they sponsor your local baseball team with shareholder money gleaned from your high utility bills.

That’s why I am deeply troubled by Alliant Energy and MG&E’s recent announcements regarding the Columbia Energy Center and the Edgewater Generating Station. They have now walked back their promises to retire these coal plants not once, but twice, with new plans to transition them to methane gas.

Utilities make most of their profits through returns on investments, which incentivize them to build expensive power plants. They claim gas is a clean ‘bridge fuel’, but make no mistake, transitioning from coal to gas is a false solution that puts corporate wealth over public health.

We have already crossed the technology bridge we need. Renewable energy is cheaper than ever before and will prevent thousands of asthma attacks and billions in healthcare costs while saving lives.

We deserve clean air and a future where our health is not jeopardized by outdated energy practices.