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WisBiz Green This Is a page linked to WisBusiness.com coverage of green business in Wisconsin and beyond.

06/05/2026

Alliant Energy is one of 11 companies set to receive $425 million in federal funding for coal plants that President Donald Trump announced yesterday.

The funding comes from the Defense Production Act, which grants the president certain powers over domestic industries in the interest of national defense, according to a congressional overview. The DPA funding is supporting 13 existing coal plants across 10 states, including Wisconsin.

The utility plans to update its coal-fired Columbia Energy Center in the town of Pacific, an effort meant to “maintain dependable baseload service and enhance the efficiency and environmental performance of the existing units,” per the project description.

In a separate statement, a spokesperson for Alliant Energy said the coal plant will continue producing power during the modernization project.

“Our application and the potential $19 million grant award, provides us with an opportunity to cost-effectively modernize Columbia – an existing cornerstone in the American energy infrastructure,” the spokesperson wrote in an email, adding “if our application [is] funded, it helps us sustain the work of nearly 100 high-skill union workers at the plant, represented by IBEW Local 965.”

Alliant Energy’s project includes $19 million in Department of Energy funding for its Reliable, Economical, and Local Advancement in Modernized Coal, or RECLAIM-C project, according to details from the agency. Another $29.5 million of non-DOE funding is involved for a total of $48.5 million.

Meanwhile, Trump yesterday also announced $75 million in DPA funding for a new coal export terminal in Oakland, California, along with $200 million in Department of Energy grants to build two new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia.

Trump described the funding as “historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal.”

See details on all funded projects.

06/05/2026

A new report led by UW-Madison Prof. Morgan Edwards shows “real vulnerability” in the global push to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs yesterday announced the third edition of the State of Carbon Dioxide Removal report. It notes national pledges from multiple countries are falling short of what’s needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius this century, by more than 5 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2050.

Still, the report documents an “increasingly mature” CO2 reduction ecosystem, with diverse policy efforts across various countries and investment capital flowing to late-stage startups in this area. While long-term company targets being announced are “less ambitious” than what was captured in earlier reports, authors note businesses may be focusing more on building capacity than signaling their plans.

Meanwhile, workforce development in this space is moving past engineering and other technical positions to include other services. This may show more innovators in carbon removal are “focusing on meeting reasonable growth benchmarks” with tested approaches, while also improving new approaches through research, according to the report.

But authors point to major challenges standing in the way of scaling up carbon removal efforts, noting funding depends heavily on “institutional continuity” keeping up support.

“While more countries are funding (CO2 removal) demonstration projects, policy reversals, particularly in major markets like the United States, underscore that funding uncertainty remains a key barrier,” they wrote.

In a statement on the report, Edwards notes activity around CO2 removal is “highly concentrated” in just a few countries and technical approaches. Research in this space is dominated by several regions including eastern Asia, making up 33% of the work, Europe with 22% and North America with 14%.

Meanwhile, novel CO2 removal deployment is most concentrated in the U.S. with 16% and Germany with 14%, while “conventional” CO2 removal is most dominant in Mexico with 59%, followed by China with 8.8% and India with 4.1%.

“Growing investment in CDR will depend on expectations of future demand, but those expectations are fragile … local changes in policy or market signals in risk slowing progress globally,” Edwards wrote.

See the full report.

See the release.

06/05/2026

This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Adam Warthesen, vice president of government and industry affairs and sustainability at Organic Valley.

The discussion explores a recent lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Organic Dairy Exemption — which includes the La Farge-based co-op — challenging elements of the federal milk marketing program. This system prices milk from U.S. farms, applying set regulations to milk handlers that buy and sell milk as well, such as Organic Valley.

Warthesen says the co-op in western Wisconsin is unique due to only handling organic dairy products. He argues the national pricing system first created in the 1930s “doesn’t fit the organic marketplace in any way shape or form” in its current state.

“It actually creates a problem, in that it extracts resources that should otherwise live in the organic dairy ecosystem,” he said.

The co-op has been raising concerns about the law for more than a decade, first petitioning for a change in 2015 with no success, Warthesen explained. The only way to change the federal milk system is a national hearing process with a related vote by farmers, or an act of Congress, he said.

During a national hearing held by the USDA in 2023, the co-op said “organic receives no benefit from the orders, our pricing is completely detached from how the orders function,” among other concerns. Warthesen said the federal agency didn’t accept any of the proposals aimed at addressing these concerns, instead moving forward with more narrow formula changes that came into effect in 2025.

But those changes resulted in greater costs for organic businesses in the coalition, prompting the new lawsuit announced last month.

“It increased our costs to the pooling, which is how the dollars get moved around, by 60%,” he said. “So we’re not talking a couple hundred thousand dollars here or there, we’re talking about millions upon millions of dollars annually, that a company like ours is putting into this pool that is then redistributed back to conventional dairy farmers.”

The coalition is challenging the federal system through multiple legal avenues, including one seeking $60 million to offset some of the costs of being required to participate in the program.

“The legal action is one that we didn’t want to have to take, but the [USDA] has been unresponsive,” Warthesen said. “And this isn’t organic versus conventional, this is organic saying this is government intervention into the organic marketplace that does not make sense.”

Listen to the podcast here and see the full list of WisBusiness podcasts.

06/05/2026

Gov. Tony Evers and AG Josh Kaul hailed a settlement in a lawsuit over PFAS contamination that will require Tyco to pay out $10 million as well as foot the bill for existing cleanup.

According to the state Department of Justice, the $10 million is on top of the approximately $100 million Tyco has already spent to address contamination in the Marinette area. The settlement is one of the largest resulting from a DNR referral in state history, according to Evers’ office.

“We’ve worked to lead the fight against PFAS from Day One of my administration, and today’s a key step toward making sure polluters are held accountable, take responsibility for their actions, and ensure Wisconsinites don’t have to foot the bill for cleaning up the messes that others made,” Evers said in a statement.

The Dem guv said “our work cannot stop,” noting communities across the state are grappling with the contamination.

The settlement is related to a lawsuit Kaul filed in 2022. The complaint alleged Johnson Controls and Tyco had violated the state’s Spills Law by failing to notify the Department of Natural Resources about and remediate PFAS contamination at the Fire Technology Center in Marinette. The contamination stemmed from PFAS-containing firefighting foam used in training and testing at the center.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “forever chemicals” are found in industrial and everyday products such as firefighting foam and non-stick cookware. They don’t break down easily and are linked to several diseases and cancers in humans.

The $10 million will go into the state’s existing PFAS Trust Fund to help clean up contamination.

Other provisions of the settlement require Tyco to:

Provide clean water in the Marinette area, including deep drinking water wells in agreed-upon areas for the next 20 years;
Monitor and report ground and surface water quality in the agreed-upon area;
Establish specific goals to remediate soil, groundwater and surface water contamination and report on the efforts to DNR; and
Remediate PFAS and restore the environment “to the extent practicable.”
Tyco did not immediately return a request for comment on the settlement.

Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, co-authored the law that allocated $132 million to the PFAS Trust Fund while providing new protections for “innocent landowners” who have the pollution on their property.

He said municipalities like Marinette and Peshtigo “have waited far too long for this day to come.”

“I’m proud to have authored the creation of the PFAS Trust Fund in the 2023-25 State Budget, which requires the state to reinvest any funds from PFAS legal settlements into this Fund to help victims remove these pollutants from our land and water,” Wimberger said. “Now, every single dollar from the Tyco settlement will go into the PFAS Trust Fund and be used to support affected victims and communities.”

The settlement was filed yesterday with a Brown County judge and will go into effect upon approval by the Marinette County Circuit Court.

A separate lawsuit Kaul filed in 2022 over PFAS contamination against several manufacturers, including Tyco, remains ongoing. That suit alleged “wrongful, deceptive, and tortious conduct” led to PFAS contamination in the state.

“Reliable access to safe and clean water is critical for strong communities and people’s health and peace of mind,” Kaul said of yesterday’s announcement. “This resolution is a major step on the path toward a more secure future for folks in the Marinette area.”

06/04/2026

Gov. Evers, DNR Announce First PFAS Settlement with Tyco to Clean Up Water, PFAS Contamination for Wisconsinites in Marinette County

Settlement to hold PFAS polluter accountable marks one of the largest settlements stemming from an enforcement referral by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in state history
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today, together with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), announced a historic settlement agreement reached, marking one of the first efforts to hold polluters accountable for PFAS contamination caused in Marinette, Wisconsin. Under Gov. Evers, who’s spent much of his time in office leading the state’s fight against so-called “forever chemicals” like PFAS, the Evers Administration has aggressively pursued PFAS polluters for contaminating Wisconsinites’ water and natural resources across the state, including filing several lawsuits aiming to prevent taxpayers from footing the bill to clean up widespread contamination and to hold polluters financially responsible for the costs instead. During the governor’s first term in office, the Evers Administration referred Tyco Fire Products LP (Tyco) for charges for failing to report, investigate, and remediate PFAS discharge at and around the Tyco Fire Technology Center in Marinette, alleging the company violated the state’s hazardous substance Spills Law.

Under the settlement agreement announced today, a monumental first step in holding PFAS polluters accountable, Tyco must provide clean drinking water for Marinette-area residents, must address PFAS discharges in the area, and must pay an additional $10 million beyond existing cleanup costs that will be deposited into the PFAS Trust Fund to help clean up future PFAS contamination, making one of the largest settlements stemming from a DNR referral in state history. Additionally, the agreement requires Tyco to continue providing for replacement wells, conducting monitoring and reporting for PFAS contamination, and implementing additional measures toward long-term remediation of the area.

Importantly, the announcement today is the result of one lawsuit with still more to come. For example, the lawsuit settlement announced today does not impact a massive, separate lawsuit that was also filed during Gov. Evers’ first term in 2022 against Tyco, Chemguard, 3M, DuPont, and several other defendants for allegedly wrongfully, knowingly, and deceptively contaminating natural resources with PFAS across Wisconsin, which remains active and ongoing.

“Today is a historic and important milestone in our fight to make sure every Wisconsinite has access to clean and safe drinking water, whether they live in Marinette or Stella or on French Island or anywhere in between. Every Wisconsinite should be able to trust the water coming from their tap. We’ve worked to lead the fight against PFAS from Day One of my administration, and today’s a key step toward making sure polluters are held accountable, take responsibility for their actions, and ensure Wisconsinites don’t have to foot the bill for cleaning up the messes that others made,” said Gov. Evers. “While today is an important victory, we know our work cannot stop. For the folks in Marinette, this day has been a long time coming, but we know that for so many families and communities across our state, dealing with PFAS pollution is still a daily reality. Here in Wisconsin, we must keep working to tackle PFAS head-on, and that includes continuing to hold PFAS polluters accountable for the damage they’ve caused and are causing across our state. That’s work we’re going to continue doing as long as I’m governor.”

The settlement announced today comes in a year marked by historic progress toward Wisconsin’s fight against PFAS contamination statewide. Gov. Evers earlier this year signed into law the state’s first-ever comprehensive PFAS clean-up bill, which will provide over $125 million to help address PFAS contamination and ensure Wisconsinites in communities across the state will have access to clean water.

Gov. Evers spent years working across the aisle with Republican lawmakers to negotiate and usher two bipartisan bills, Assembly Bill 130, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 200, and Assembly Bill 131, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 201, which, together, facilitate the release of the $125 million in stalled PFAS investments that had sat unspent in Madison since the signing of the 2023-25 Biennial Budget in July 2023. With the addition of the settlement funds announced today, the Evers Administration remains committed to supporting communities in PFAS mitigation and ensuring clean, safe drinking water for all.
“The DNR will keep fighting to ensure that Tyco takes the necessary steps to restore the environment to the extent practicable,” said DNR Secretary Karen Hyun. “We will continue to listen to and collaborate with the community that has been affected by the environmental and human health impacts of PFAS for many years.”

Under the settlement, which was negotiated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Tyco must:

Invest $10 million into the state of Wisconsin’s PFAS Trust Fund to help clean up future PFAS contamination;
Provide clean water for affected Wisconsinites in the Marinette area, including deep drinking water wells for every existing plot within an agreed-upon area for the next 20 years;
Continue monitoring and reporting on ground and surface water quality within an agreed-upon area;
Establish cleanup goals for PFAS and submit reports to DNR—which retains control over approving, conditionally approving, or disapproving Tyco’s submittals—that establish goals for PFAS remediation in soil, groundwater, and surface water, including submitting documentation to DNR that shows it will restore the environment to the extent practicable as required under the Spills Law; and
Remediate PFAS and restore the environment to the extent practicable, including continuing to remediate PFAS in the soil, groundwater, and surface water, and using the Groundwater Extraction and Treatment System.
The settlement is being filed today with a Brown County judge handling the case on behalf of the Marinette County Circuit Court. The agreement will go into effect once approved by the court.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON PFAS

PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, synthetic chemicals known to be toxic, mobile, and persistent in the environment, meaning they do not break down naturally. PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals used for decades in numerous products, including non-stick cookware, fast food wrappers, stain-resistant sprays, and certain types of firefighting foam. PFAS chemicals resist degradation in the environment and accumulate in the body. These contaminants are linked to serious adverse health effects in humans and animals. Epidemiologic studies have shown that potential adverse human health effects from exposure to some PFAS include increased serum cholesterol, immune dysregulation, pregnancy-induced hypertension, liver damage, and kidney and testicular cancers. Exposure to certain types of PFAS is also associated with low birthweight in humans, suppressed immune system response, dyslipidemia, impaired kidney function, and delayed onset of menstruation.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV. EVERS AND THE EVERS ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORTS TO FIGHT PFAS CONTAMINATION STATEWIDE

Gov. Evers declared 2019 the Year of Clean Drinking Water, and for the past seven years, has prioritized efforts to address PFAS contamination, proposing numerous comprehensive plans to protect Wisconsinites from PFAS in drinking, ground, and surface water. The Evers Administration enacted the first statewide standards for PFAS in surface and drinking water and has proposed groundwater standards multiple times despite Republican obstruction, with the most recent effort ongoing and on track to be completed in 2026. Gov. Evers also secured a historic $125 million investment of state funding in the 2023-25 Biennial Budget to assist homeowners and communities in addressing PFAS contamination, but Republicans in the Legislature blocked the DNR from accessing this funding for over two years.

Following multiple attempts to call on the Legislature to release this funding without delay, last session, Gov. Evers vetoed Senate Bill 312, a Republican bill claiming to release the PFAS Trust Fund and address contamination but in fact did not release one dollar from the PFAS Trust Fund and also included harmful “poison pill” provisions that would have removed authority the DNR currently possesses to hold PFAS polluters accountable and require those polluters to clean up their own spills, despite the governor communicating to bill authors that the bill would be vetoed unless they removed this “poison pill” provision.

Months later, in his 2025-27 Executive Budget, Gov. Evers once again recommended a comprehensive plan to address PFAS contamination across surface, drinking, and groundwater. Among other provisions, the governor’s proposal recommended allowing the full balance of the PFAS Trust Fund to be utilized by the DNR, with special attention made to protect innocent landowners, as well as the adoption of major policies in the CLEAR Act, including exempting DNR rulemaking relating to setting enforceable PFAS standards from the REINS Act. Unfortunately, Republican lawmakers removed all of the governor’s proposals to address PFAS contamination from the final budget.

Despite these obstructions, the Evers Administration has continuously sought bipartisan compromise to release funding from the PFAS Trust Fund as well as protect truly innocent landowners, and after years of advocacy, in April, Gov. Evers signed Assembly Bill 130, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 200, and Assembly Bill 131, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 201.

Together, these bills deliver on Gov. Evers’ promise to continue addressing PFAS contamination and ensure safe, clean water for all by securing protections for innocent landowners, investing $80 million of the $125 million in the PFAS Trust Fund to support local communities, investing $35 million of the $125 million in the PFAS Trust Fund for an expanded Well Compensation Grant Program, providing funding for emergency bottled water for private well owners in situations in which PFAS contamination in drinking water is discovered, and creating new opportunities for the DNR to support communities in PFAS mitigation, among other important provisions.

In March, Gov. Evers also approved new changes to bring the state’s current drinking water standards in line with federal limits for PFAS, reducing the state’s threshold for PFOA and PFAS contamination in drinking water from 70 parts per trillion (ppt) to a new enforceable standard of 4.0 ppt—an effort that will significantly improve drinking water quality for Wisconsinites. However, the Trump Administration has recently tried to roll back some of these standards, making statewide action to protect Wisconsinites from PFAS even more significant.


An online version of this release is available here.
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