The head of Alliant Energy in Madison, going to the state Public Service Commission now to build a new coal-fired electric plant in Cassville, said the nation’s most abundant fuel remains key despite increased calls for more regulation of global warming emissions.
“I don’t know what else to do,” Bill Harvey told a luncheon group. “We really don’t have an alternative … other than to build coal plants.”
Harvey said his Iowa-Wisconsin utility is committed to making coal “as clean as we can” and joined another top utility executive in calling for a joint Wisconsin effort to make coal gas-ification an affordable reality.
He also said Alliant would put its muscle and checkbook behind more renewable energy sources, such as wind, but added that in the short term those would only “dent” the energy requirements.
Harvey made the comments at the initial WisBusiness.com-Madison Magazine business lunch at the Madison Club. The next luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday, May 16, and the guest speaker is Dave Wittwer, president and CEO of TDS Telecom. Other speakers in the series will be announced soon.
