MADISON (NBC 26) — Wisconsin State Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-District 2) is asking Department of Administration Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld to consider extending the May 30 deadline on where the C. Reiss Coal Company should be relocated to.
"Pulling grant funding will be detrimental to an environmental remediation and major quality of life improvements for residents of Green Bay and the greater Brown County area," Wimberger said in a letter to Blumenfeld. "Moving the coal piles from their current location in downtown Green Bay to the redesigned Pulliam site will also open one of the city’s most impoverished areas to economic revitalization, including new mixed-used developments, housing projects, and further employment opportunities."
Last week, the state set a May 30 deadline for Brown County, the city of Green Bay, and the C. Reiss Coal Company to come to an agreement on a new location to relocate the company away from the Fox River along Mason Street downtown.
If all sides can't agree on a new location by the deadline, Brown County will lose a $15 million state grant that would help expand the Port site at the mouth of the river and redevelop the land where the piles currently sit for mixed-use purposes.
"Relocating the coal from its current location will support environmental efforts by shifting a hazard away from an area populated with nearly 1,700 residents to an area of the city zoned strictly for commercial activity, thereby reducing the threat of harmful contaminants making contact with nearby citizens," Wimberger said in the letter.
If a deal isn't reached by the May 30 deadline, the $15 million grant would be returned to Washington, not Madison, as the state grant is funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The county would still have money from other grants, but not enough to complete the full Port project.
On Thursday, county and city leaders expressed optimism that a deal between all parties will get done ahead of the deadline.
"Revoking the grant will seriously jeopardize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bolster Northeast Wisconsin’s role in our state’s supply chain and the global economy following the Covid pandemic," Wimberger said in the letter. "We cannot afford to let this moment for such a massive development pass us by."
