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Dairyland Power Cooper-ative officials delivered a positive message to their members at their annual meeting in La Crosse, Wednesday, June 4, but not everyone was pleased.

Judy Wilmes, of the Vernon Electric Cooperative delegation, spoke out against a resolution to move ahead with the Genoa offsite landfill project. Three other Vernon Electric delegates joined her.

Delegates from 25 member cooperatives and 19 municipal utilities gather every year for the DPC annual meeting and this year the meeting was at the La Crosse Center. Among those delivering reports were Dairyland Power President and CEO Bill Berg, Director of External Affairs Brian Rude and Director of Environmental Affairs Don Huff.

In the afternoon, Dairyland officials presented 15 resolutions on a number of issues and asked if the delegates wanted to vote on the resolutions as a group. Resolution No. 14 gave the cooperative approval to move ahead with its "scrubber" project and develop a landfill to handle the waste.

When Wilmes got the chance to speak to the crowd of about 700 delegates, she said she could not vote for the resolution, because she did not have enough information to vote on the issue and urged others to vote against it. Wilmes said she asked both DPC officials for "specific information about coal post-combustion process," so she could compare it to what she had gotten from the two citizen groups in Vernon County opposed to the project.

One group opposed to the project is located near two potential landfill sites in the town of Harmony and is called "People for H.O.P.E." and the other is located near another potential site, near the existing Vernon County landfill in the town of Viroqua, and is known as the Asbury Ridge Community for Hope.

"This is what I got from Dairyland Power," said Wilmes as she held some sheets of paper up. "Two pages of vague statements."

Wilmes then held up a full three-ring binder of information provided by the citizen groups.

"On the other side (there is) this whole notebook of technical information on alternatives they gave me about alternative technologies they wanted us all to look at before we can commit to the program that Dairyland Power is leading us to with this presentation by our board today," Wilmes said.

Wilmes said because of the "inadequate information" she was provided with she didn't feel she was an "informed member of this annual meeting."

Wilmes said she has not had time to look at issues raised by those opposed to the project, including questions about coal gasification and alternative reuses to make a vote on the project.

"There are dozens of questions," said Wilmes. "And yet we are going to decide today. Do you know the answers to these questions? I don't. Despite my best efforts, Dairyland Power did not give me reasonable information."

Wilmes said she could not vote for the resolution and that the membership is speaking up about the issue.

"This is a member cooperative," said Wilmes. "I was neutral when I started this, really really neutral, but now I am worried that I am being used as window dressing and maybe we all are. I am asking this body to consider asking the board to ask the EPA for an extension to meet the emission requirements. Give us time to make sure we are selecting the right process, the right process for future add-ons and future legislation. I don't know the answer, I just don't think I am getting enough to make a decision."

The resolution to move ahead with the project passed overwhelmingly with a sea of red voting cards and four red cards voting against.

During an earlier part of the meeting, Dairyland officials gave the delegation reports on various projects from throughout the year. Among those were the successful completion of new coal-fired power plant in Weston that is partially owned by Dairyland, the completion of drawdown and repair at the Flambeau Hydroelectric plant near Ladysmith and the beginning of the installation of the scrubbers at Genoa plant No. 3.

Along with those scrubbers, the utility will have to site a new landfill somewhere near Genoa because of the large amount of waste that will have to be hauled by truck. DPC has estimated that the amount waste needed to be landfilled will be increased by as much as eight times the current amount.

Berg and Huff said they are encouraged by some of the reuse applications their staff has been researching, including an aggregate that is already being used in some applications in other parts of the country.

Dairyland employee Dave Lesky has been working on finding a reuse for the material and was at the meeting with a display of potential reuses. Lesky said the most promising applications are the aggregate and using the waste as agricultural lime.

Berg also announced at the meeting that Dairyland has signed an agreement to purchase power from DTE Energy Services Inc. which has announced the conversion of a Cassville coal plant to a wood-based biomass facility. The proposed plant is scheduled to come online June 1, 2010. Its 40 MW of biomass renewable generation will be enough to power 28,000 residential homes in the Dairyland system, said Berg.