Environmental reporter Chris Hubbuch's favorite stories of 2021
- CHRIS HUBBUCH
- Updated
Stories are a bit like children when it comes to picking favorites. But then who has room in their wallet for pictures of 278 kids? So here are five that kind of stand out in my mind. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I did writing them.
(5) updates to this series since Updated
The proposed 2,400-acre Koshkonong solar farm highlights the tensions as Wisconsin utilities seek to replace coal-fired power with clean energy.
One of the best perks of my job is getting paid to learn and talk with interesting people. Case in point: these UW-Platteville geographers.
My attempt to explain a complicated problem in the face of rampant misinformation after winter storm Uri.
Hat tip to my father in law for spotting this fantastic snow castle!
Turns out these wily critters are in just about every neighborhood -- even Downtown Madison.
As featured on
The idea is to fill in gaps along major travel corridors, eliminate “range anxiety” and generally make it easier for people to travel throughout the country in electric vehicles.
The utility trade group argues that the DNR’s proposed standards, based on recommendations from the Department of Health Services, do not account for the costs and benefits in the way the EPA’s would.
Animal Wellness Action says it is “alarmed” by online chatter from people saying they plan to “take matters into their own hands” after a judge suspended the statutory hunting season for gray wolves.
Dairyland CEO Brent Ridge said the plant will help meet the demands of the utility, which provides generation for about 500,000 customers of municipal and cooperative utilities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
A state appeals court declined to reinstate a permit for Meteor Timber to fill 16.25 acres of hardwood swamp for the $75 million project, upholding lower court rulings.
The $450 million project would affect approximately 135 acres of wetlands, removing trees from about 34 acres, and cross some 185 waterways, including the Bad River.
Wildlife groups are now offering $15,000 for tips leading to convictions for illegal wolf hunting.
GOP bills making their way through the Legislature could help the state build out its electric vehicle charging network and create a new framework for industry regulation.
The $3 million project should keep the lights on with technology that could someday make the electrical system more resilient and able to make better use of intermittent wind and solar energy.
Midwest Lamp Recycling operated an unlicensed hazardous waste facility, disposed of hazardous waste at an unlicensed landfill, and mishandled mercury-laden waste, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Replicated at scale, the reaction could be used to generate electricity without releasing pollutants or heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide, providing a viable alternative to fossil fuels and helping achieve a carbon-neutral economy.
Red Barn is the first wind farm permitted under wind siting rules the PSC drafted in 2010 in an effort to make the process easier for developers.
We Energies is phasing out coal at the Elm Road plant, but in the mean time the Oak Creek facility needs a $90 million treatment system to remove toxic metals from water dumped into Lake Michigan.
In July the Supreme Court affirmed the DNR’s authority to cap the number of animals on a farm. Now the agency plans to allow one of the state's largest dairies to nearly double in size.
The DNR has proposed new permit conditions that would allow Kinnard Farms to nearly double its 8,000-cow herd, though the agency says it has no indication that the Kewaunee County farm has any plans to do so.
A draft environmental review released last month has drawn criticism from individuals, tribal governments and environmental advocates who have delivered more than 1,300 signatures opposing the pipeline.
The proposed rule requires treatment that reduces PFAS concentrations “to the maximum degree achievable.”
Judge William Conley’s ruling throws the fate of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line into question just months after utilities began construction on the $492 million project.
The Sierra Club says fixed charges -- the minimum monthly fee every customer pays to have an account -- included in rates authorized in November, are illegal and discriminatory.
Wisconsin's three transmission utilities would be able to block competitors from bidding on projects within their territories, which opponents say would boost their profits at ratepayers’ expense.
Meteor Timber is asking the high court to grant a permit for the $75 million project, overturning findings of two lower courts and an administrative law judge.
The DNR received more than 15,000 public comments last spring split almost evenly between those with favorable and unfavorable views of wolves but agreeing it's “important to maintain a wolf population.”
In a secret ballot, the board voted 4-3 Wednesday to appoint Greg Kazmierski to serve as chair for 2022.
Two Public Service Commissioners disagreed Thursday on whether the state’s largest utility acted legally when it blocked an Iowa solar company from leasing solar panels to the city of Milwaukee.
With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, Wisconsin regulators are signaling interest in scrutinizing plans to decommission a former nuclear power plant, but questions remain about how much authority the state has.
Continued construction of the power line in the face of the challenges “amounts to little more than an orchestrated train wreck," a federal judge said.
Environmentalists and policy experts say new investments in fossil fuels are not in line with steps to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Since its creation in 1989, the Knowles-Nelson stewardship fund has been used to preserve more than 800,000 acres throughout the state, including places like the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and Cherokee Marsh.
Under the bill, businesses could use external “peer review” panels to stall and modify proposed rules and block state of Wisconsin scientists from even recommending health-based groundwater standards.
Judge Jeffrey White said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in the Midwest and portions of the West without protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Though popular with Midwestern farmers and long hailed as an environmentally friendly alternative to imported oil, ethanol made from corn isn’t actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds.
The Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday that it is reviewing more than 10,000 written comments on its draft environmental impact statement on plans to bypass the Bad River Reservation with a new pipeline.
Meteor Timber had asked the high court to reinstate a permit for the $75 million project, overturning findings of two lower courts and an administrative law judge.
County Executive Joe Parisi announced Thursday that he would introduce a resolution authorizing the county to hire outside attorneys to pursue class-action litigation against manufacturers of fluorinated compounds known as PFAS.
Testing of groundwater under the base has revealed fluorinated compounds known as PFAS at levels thousands of times above proposed state standards, but the federally-guided process requires years of study, planning and approval.
