Construction unions show support for Oak Creek plant conversion

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Construction union officials touted the effects a natural gas conversion project in Oak Creek will have on local labor. It’s part of a $1.2 billion project to convert a We Energies plant from coal to natural gas, which faces pushback from groups advocating for more renewables on the grid.

The Public Service Commission on Tuesday held two public hearings regarding a new liquified natural gas facility over a former coal yard and building a 1,100-megawatt combustion engine at the Oak Creek Power Plant south of Milwaukee. WEC Energy Group sought approval to build a new facility with a 30-mile pipeline needed to transmit natural gas.

The LNG project has an early estimated construction cost of $456.3 million and will be used to generate power at peak demand times, WEC Energy Group officials said. The company first introduced the project in April 2024.

If approved, WEC Energy Group expects construction to start in June 2025. The company expects the project to be complete in late winter of 2027 or early 2028.

While construction unions rallied around the jobs the project will bring, environmental groups said they were worried about emissions the plant will produce.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and some is emitted into the atmosphere during production, processing, storage and use, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Over 20 years, chemical compounds have up to 87 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, UNECE added.

Construction unions show support for gas plant project; environmental and social groups in opposition

Both the Milwaukee Building Construction & Trades Council, affiliated with 18 Milwaukee-area unions, and Power Wisconsin Forward, supported by clean energy and climate policy advocates, were both scheduled to speak at the Oak Creek Community Center ahead of the PSC’s public hearings.

If approved, the project will take around five years and will see between 2,500 and 4,000 construction workers on the job, said Dan Bukiewicz, the president of MBCTC and mayor of Oak Creek. It will register millions of man hours per year, he added.

Bukiewicz said the transition to natural gas was part of the evolution of energy. He also highlighted trades jobs the Oak Creek plant project would produce.

“These are family supporting careers going forward, and (workers) can be your friends, neighbors and relatives who support schools and businesses in the city,” Bukiewicz said. “This is a positive,” he added.

Other construction groups who support the LNG project include the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers 494, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 and the Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council.

Meanwhile, a legislator from Milwaukee County said the state needed renewables instead.

“The premise of why (We Energies) is saying this is needed is for data centers in southeast Wisconsin,” said State Sen. Chris Larson, a Democrat from Milwaukee. “If you haven’t seen, they’ve already hit pause on the phases after phase one. We Energies rushed through and said they need to adjust coal burning plant quickly … for something that’s not even guaranteed,” he added.

In March, Microsoft paused construction on parts of its $3.3 billion data center in Mount Pleasant. Data centers are large buildings that house computer equipment which host networks for devices linked to the internet. Company officials said construction was ahead of schedule and expect the facility to go online in 2026.

In Port Washington, officials transferred around 1900 acres of land for a future data center with Cloverleaf Infrastructure. When that project is complete, it is expected to use up to 1 gigawatt, or 1,000 MW, of power. Data centers can use up to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial building, the U.S. Department of Energy reported.

Members of both union and environmental groups went to testify before the commission. There will be no formal action taken at the public hearings, the PSC agenda showed.

Midwest in need of more power generation

Upon completion, the LNG project in Oak Creek is expected to have a 30-year life, the WEC Energy Group plan showed. The earliest decommissioning would happen in 2058.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the electrical grid operator for most of the central U.S., said there will likely be a power deficit of 2.7 gigawatts across the region next summer. At the rate power capacity is being added, there could be a 14,000-megawatt deficit by 2030 across the Midwest, a MISO survey showed.

WEC Energy Group plans to add renewables to generate around 4,300 megawatts in a $9.1 million investment across Wisconsin, said Scott Lauber, president and CEO of WEC Energy Group, in an investor call in February. It’s part of a $28 billion capital plan, the largest in company history.

The PSC is reviewing two other We Energies project applications — construction of the Paris RICE project, which expects to generate 128 megawatts in the town of Paris in Kenosha County; and construction of the Good Oak Solar Farm (98.4 megawatt alternating current) and Gristmill Solar Farm (69mw) in Columbia County.