Bluff Collapses At Oak Creek Power Station

[Viking12]

OAK CREEK, Wis. -- Oak Creek emergency crews are responding to an area south of the Oak Creek power plant where a bluff has slid into Lake Michigan.

The bluff, located just south of the We Energies Oak Creek power plant, has collapsed to the lake.

A family member of a worker on the site reported that several trailers were swept up in the collapse.

We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey said that all employees who reported to work this morning have been accounted for, and that there are no injuries in the incident.

Manthey said that all contractors and subcontractors on site have also been accounted for.

The area has been a construction zone as contractors have been installing air quality equipment near the bluff.

Several shipping containers were carried into the lake in the landslide. Manthey said the containers were housing construction tools and equipment being used in the construction of the air quality systems.

UW-Milwaukee geologist Tom Hooyer said the Lake Michigan bluffs are largely comprised of glacial sediment.

"The bluffs along Lake Michigan are in constant recession," he said. "They recess a foot per year on average."

Read more: http://www.wisn.com/news/29638245/detail.html#ixzz1cO2T8NdX

http://www.wisn.com/news/29638245/detail.html

[TheWraith]

1. Oak Creek Power Plant: 400 acres, 1135 MW capacity coal-burning plant.

Four primary turbines, all coal-fed dating from between 1959 and 1967, plus a small gas-fired turbine for startup power.

They're also building two more 615 MW coal burners on the same facility.