The University of Wisconsin at Madison will reduce its use of coal in a heating plant by 15 percent in response to a U.S. District Court ruling that the university was violating the Clean Air Act.

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club. The environmental organization contended that the university had not installed pollution controls during recent construction work on the 48-year-old plant.

According to The Capital Times, a newspaper in Madison, the reduction is equal to about 30,000 tons of coal, enough to fill 225 rail cars. Replacing that coal with renewable energy will cost the university $1-million to $3-million a year.

In a statement on the university’s Web site, Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities, said the agreement had “helped solve what has been a difficult problem and has set us on a course to achieve our goals of energy reliability and continued environmental stewardship.” —Scott Carlson