Oak Creek, Wisconsin

Overview

Oak Creek, Wisconsin is home to the Oak Creek Power Plant, a large coal-fired facility operated by We Energies (WEC Energy Group). For years, residents living near the plant reported coal dust settling on their homes, cars, yards, and the nearby beaches. These complaints intensified in the mid- to late-2010s, especially after We Energies relocated and expanded coal storage piles closer to residential neighborhoods. In some cases, the coal staging piles were positioned as close as 1,800 feet from houses, increasing the likelihood that wind-blown dust would reach homes. Residents described black residues coating air conditioners, outdoor furniture, swimming pools, and windowsills. Community concern was not limited to nuisance impacts. Many residents feared long-term health impacts such as respiratory illnesses after noticing symptoms like coughing, asthma flare-ups, and persistent irritation.

Community Concerns and Independent Testing

Residents organized and documented their experiences. Community members raised funds to deploy their own air monitoring equipment, including low-cost PurpleAir sensors, to supplement state and industry monitoring. This grassroots monitoring effort reflected a growing distrust of company-controlled data and a desire for independent verification. In 2018, the Environmental Accountability Group (EAG), a local organization founded by Oak Creek resident Bill Pringle, commissioned independent laboratory analysis of black dust samples collected from homes and vehicles. This analysis was done by Aspen Consulting, Inc., who used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to conclude that the morphology and elemental composition of the particles were consistent with coal dust. These findings directly contradicted earlier company statements suggesting that coal was not the source of the contamination. Pringle, who said his family became ill after years of exposure near the plant, argued that independent testing was necessary because residents could not rely on company assurances alone. "There is no safe level of coal dust exposure," Pringle stated during a press conference following the release of the Aspen Consulting, Inc. test results.

Bill Pringle, President of the Environmental Accountability Group (EAG): "I used to live in Caledonia just south of the plant. Myself, my wife, and my children became very ill and after only eight years we had to move. We Energies did testing twice and said there wasn't a problem, but when we hired someone to do independent testing, we found coal and fly ash in our house. I started EAG because it was clear that We Energies can't be trusted with protecting our health."

Greg Millard, Resident: "This isn't the first time this has happened. This is the first time they got caught. Coal dust blowing from the piles at these plants has been a problem for decades, and We Energies knows it. We want something done about it. We Energies won't talk to us. The mayor won't talk to us. We need help."

Activism and Demands for Better Monitoring

Environmental and public health groups amplified residents' concerns. In 2018, the Sierra Club's Clean Power Coalition called on We Energies to improve air monitoring around the Oak Creek plant, arguing existing air monitoring wad insufficient to capture localized air quality impacts. Advocates emphasized that monitors placed far from homes or high above ground level failed to reflect the pollution people were actually breathing. This push for better monitoring echoed strategies used by activists in Richmond and Oakland, California where community air monitoring helped demonstrate air pollution and exposure that challenged official narratives.

Regulatory Responses and Permit Limits

Coal dust concerns in Oak Creek intersected with multiple regulatory systems, including air management and water quality. When We Energies sought renewal of its Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit in 2019, under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, residents submitted comments highlighting coal dust runoff into surface waters during rain events. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) acknowledged that runoff from coal piles is regulated under both individual and general stormwater permits, but emphasized that many coal dust concerns raised by residents fell outside the scope of We Energies' specific permit and were instead referred to other DNR programs. This regulatory fragmentation frustrated residents. While coal dust visibly affected homes and waterways, no single permit or agency fully addressed the combined impacts of airborne dust, stormwater runoff, and community health. This gap mirrors challenges faced by communities elsewhere, including Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point, where coal dust falls between regulatory categories and local efforts spanned air and water quality and public health.

The Wind Fence

In response to sustained pressure from residents, advocates, and local officials that included the fire department, We Energies proposed constructing a wind fence, a barrier that lowers wind speeds over the coal piles, to reduce coal dust emissions. In 2019, the Oak Creek Plan Commission unanimously approved the wind fence. The project was estimated to cost approximately $10 million. City officials framed the fence as a safety and public health measure.

Oak Creek Assistant Fire Chief Mike Kressuk stated that the fire department had "significant concern" about coal dust and believed the structure would address those risks without creating new safety issues. We Energies also said that it had taken additional steps, including planting roughly 200 trees and building earthen berms to further reduce dust. Construction was scheduled to take place between March and August of 2019. During this period, residents cautiously welcomed the investment but remained skeptical about whether the fence alone would solve the problem, especially given the history of broken promises.

Ongoing Problems and Fence Failure

Community skepticism proved warranted. In early 2020, residents renewed their coal dust complaints after a portion of the wind fence collapsed during high winds. The incident raised concerns about the durability of the structure and its effectiveness under the very conditions it was meant to address. Residents also had continued to report seeing dust that had settled on their property after the wind fence had been installed. While We Energies maintained that its air monitoring equipment met federal standards and that monthly testing by other methods had not confirmed coal contamination, residents pointed out that We Energies' data was released infrequently and lacked transparency.

Relevance, Phaseout of Coal, and Lessons Learned

In 2020, WE Energy announced plans to shut down the Oak Creek power plant's coal units by 2024 as part of a broader transition away from coal-fired power generation. For many residents, this announcement validated years of work organizing and documenting the impacts to their community. However, the long timeline underscored a key lesson, mitigation measures like wind fences can reduce some impacts, but they do not eliminate harm while coal operations continue.

What happened in Oak Creek offers several lessons for other communities subject to coal dust pollution:

• community air monitoring and independent testing were critical in confirming what residents already knew from lived experience,
• large-scale mitigation infrastructure like a wind fence helped but was not foolproof, especially under extreme weather conditions, and
• regulatory systems addressed coal dust in piecemeal ways, making sustained community pressure essential.

For impacted residents elsewhere, including in Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point, Norfolk, what happened in Oak Creek shows both the possibilities and limits of infrastructure solutions to coal dust pollution. Wind fences, berms, tree planting, and sealants may reduce, but not eliminate, dust, and they still require oversight, transparency, and enforcement. Most importantly, the events in Oak Creek demonstrate that community organizing combined with credible environmental data can force powerful institutions to respond—even if the path is long and uneven.

Documents

• Examination of Black Particulate Residues from an Automobile Located at 4338 East Studio Lane, Oak Creek, WI, Aspen Consulting, Inc., March 8, 2018