Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air (WPCA) is a coalition of over 250 businesses, community organizations, schools and government agencies committed to improving air quality through voluntary action.
Leaders in Wisconsin founded WPCA in 1996 when six counties in southeastern Wisconsin were recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as having one of the most severe ground-level ozone problems in the U.S.
Today, WPCA continues to educate Wisconsin businesses and residents on air quality issues and works to effect behavior to improve air quality and reduce harmful air emissions as required by Wisconsin's state implementation plan under the federal Clean Air Act.
Vision Statement
WPCA will enhance the quality of life in southeastern Wisconsin through the successful achievement of cleaner and healthier air. This aim will be achieved through comprehensive, voluntary, community-based efforts.
We are committed to:
- Making the air cleaner for everyone to breathe-especially for the elderly, young children, and people with respiratory illnesses.
- Improving air quality in southeastern Wisconsin to meet federal health standards and to reducing future costs of doing business in the region.
- Increasing public awareness about the importance of clean air and encouraging individuals to take actions that will help improve air quality.
- Reducing traffic congestion and, as a result, increasing business productivity.
- Substituting voluntary actions in place of additional air pollution regulations.
Program Objectives
The Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air have established the following objectives:
- Community leadership will be visibly supportive and personally engaged.
- There will be a true and equal partnership between government, businesses, and citizens.
- There will be sufficient resources to get the job done.
- The economic and health benefits of clean air will be quantified and communicated clearly.
- Voluntary emission reductions will be substituted for specific mandatory control measures to meet a portion of the requirements of the Clean Air Act.
- There will be significant broad-based public support and an understanding of the various roles of all stakeholders in achieving clean air.
- There will be a widely held belief that control of our own destiny through voluntary efforts is limitless in terms of what can be achieved.
- There will be a close and collaborative relationship with the media to enable effective communications.
- The youth of today will be involved to protect the air of today as well as tomorrow.
- Travel alternatives will be strongly supported and widely used.
- There will be learning resources to enable industry sharing of technical ideas.
- These voluntary efforts will challenge other regions to improve air quality.
- There is a vision and there are clear goals and annual recognition of success; focus and efforts will be renewed annually.
Steering Committee
Our partnership of over 260 public and private organizations is guided by a steering committee made up of the following members:
- American Lung Association of Wisconsin
- City of Milwaukee Health Department
- Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies
- General Mitchell International Airport
- In-Sink-Erator DIV Emerson Electric
- Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.
- Milwaukee County Transit System
- Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce
- Quad/Graphics, Inc.
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- WE Energies
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
- Wisconsin Department of Transportation
- Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
- Wisconsin Clean Cities - SE Area, Inc.