The state Public Service Commission and the Department of Natural Resources will hold a public hearing on the Rothschild biomass power plant on November 30th. The time and place for the hearing hasn’t been set. Regulators had said earlier they’d like at least one public comment session in Rothschild, although it’s possible the hearing could be held in Madison.
Lawyers for WE Energies and other stake-holders met this week to set the timetable to review the project. They expect a decision by state regulators by the end of the year. The plant needs to be running by 2013 to qualify for federal clean-energy tax credits.
The proposed $255-million project would take woody biomass and other byproducts of paper-making and turn it into energy. The plant would be built on the site of the shuttered Domtar Paper Mill. Some neighbors are opposed to the project.
WSAU