Latest news with #CleanWisconsin
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers unveil urgent plan to protect state from financial fallout: 'There's no scenario where we simply just don't pay'
Wisconsin lawmakers are working to garner public support for legislation that would significantly reduce the state's carbon footprint. As WQOW reported, several state lawmakers gathered in late April in Eau Claire to discuss the Climate Accountability Act, a bill that targets Wisconsin's harmful carbon pollution. The proposed bill doesn't feature concrete ideas. It would, however, require the legislature to create a plan that reduces emissions statewide by 52% by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The lawmakers stressed that the state must act now, and this bill must receive bipartisan support or pay the price when it comes to the effects of a changing, warming climate. "There's no scenario where we simply just don't pay," state Rep. Christian Phelps, a co-sponsor of the bill, said. "We either pay by destroying the planet or we pay by investing in renewable energy and by divesting from carbon emissions. I would rather do the latter." The bill also includes language guaranteeing that any carbon-reduction plan would also improve economic and racial equality. Wisconsin, the 20th most populous state, ranked 19th among all states for carbon emissions in 2022, at roughly 100 million tons. That puts it on par with levels from countries like Venezuela and the Czech Republic. Conservation nonprofit Clean Wisconsin says that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is possible with aggressive action from governmental and business leaders — and that would provide the state with several benefits outside of a cleaner, healthier planet. It said that investing in renewable energy sources to reach that goal would create nearly 70,000 new jobs and add $16 billion to the state's economy, boosting Wisconsin's gross state product by about 3%. It would also create a healthier population, potentially resulting in billions of dollars saved in avoided health care costs. Do you think America could ever go zero-waste? Never Not anytime soon Maybe in some states Definitely Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Administration backs major initiative powering rural communities across the country: 'It just makes sense for us to use it'
Since President Trump took office, many federal grant programs have been threatened, resulting in staff layoffs, reduced services, and much uncertainty. But some positive news is that a $595 million rural renewable energy plan is moving forward under the current administration. Wisconsin Public Radio reported that the Trump administration affirmed the Biden-era grant under the Empowering Rural America program. The grant recipient is the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power Cooperative, a rural electric cooperative pursuing renewable energy projects through the Department of Agriculture. With funding intact, Dairyland will work on clean energy projects in Wisconsin and neighboring states. It will do this through transmission line upgrades to secure a more reliable grid to meet growing demands and use all available resources. The news that Dairyland secured its grant is encouraging given the frozen and uncertain Inflation Reduction Act funding. Amy Barrilleaux from the renewable energy group Clean Wisconsin said that farmers in the state have also been able to access Rural Energy for America program funding. Meanwhile, some homeowners and nonprofits have been able to get funds for their rooftop solar projects. Although some grants through this program focus on dirty energy sources such as coal and oil, there is ample space for wind and solar solutions. The Trump administration aims for energy independence, so non-oil-producing states such as Wisconsin can benefit from grants that promote rural sustainability. Diversifying resources is a significant part of the Empowering Rural America program, which aligns with Trump's plan to focus on American-produced energy and natural resources. "We know that the energy we produce right here in Wisconsin is affordable and it's available, and it just makes sense for us to use it," Barrilleaux said. With the approved Dairyland grant as a precedent and source of hope, perhaps additional renewable energy projects and transmission infrastructure can hold on to the funding they were once promised for a cleaner, more sustainable planet. Should the government continue to give tax incentives for energy-efficient home upgrades? Absolutely No Depends on the upgrade I don't know Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. "Great to see this example of the Administration taking a common sense approach to energy, and why [economic development] organizations must stay focused on understanding what tools they have in their cleantech-led economic development toolbox," Aaron Brickman from RMI, a nonprofit focused on energy transition and industrial decarbonization, wrote on LinkedIn. "This rural energy project is good for [Wisconsin] and good for American energy abundance." "A reminder that regardless of political winds, renewable energy continues to prove its value for communities and the economy," wrote Jessica Niekrasz from BioFerm on LinkedIn. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
On this Earth Day, stand up for our environment by saying ‘yes'
A Wisconsin solar farm. | Photo courtesy Clean Wisconsin Fifty-five years ago, 20 million Americans came together on the first Earth Day to say 'no' to pollution: no more oil spills off the Santa Barbara coast, no more toxic rivers catching fire like the Cuyahoga, no more pesticides like DDT that harm our health. Fed up with unchecked pollution, environmental leaders of the 1970s organized, educated, and advocated, ultimately ushering in landmark federal regulations, such as the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, that fought contaminants in our air, water and land. The environmental movement has excelled at standing up and saying 'no,' with huge results. We can credit the rejection of pollution with helping to restore ecosystems and save countless lives. Today, while some things remain the same — and we're still justified in fighting polluters to protect environmental and human health — some factors have changed, warranting new approaches. Climate change is no longer some far-off problem. It's here, and it's wreaking havoc. Last year was the warmest year on record; in fact, the hottest 10 years on record were all of the last 10 years. Floods, extreme storms, and disappearing winters are hurting Wisconsin's communities and economy. And we need to do something about it. On this Earth Day, as we watch our federal government turn its back on the science of climate change, we have an opportunity to keep moving forward in Wisconsin by saying 'yes' to wind and solar projects lining up for approval in our state. While the president may be pushing expensive, 'beautiful' coal and opening up protected lands for oil and gas drilling, we know that homegrown wind and solar are not only the cheapest ways to produce energy in Wisconsin, but they also bring enormous economic benefits to communities that host these projects. Farmers who sign leases to host solar panels or wind turbines receive high, stable income for 30 or more years. Communities hosting projects receive annual utility aid payments to the tune of $5,000 per megawatt. Local leaders can then direct this boost to municipal budgets where the community needs it most, like repairing roads and lowering taxes. But let's face it, in Wisconsin, large wind and solar projects remain controversial. Our state is rock bottom in the Midwest when it comes to the amount of wind energy we produce. Solar produces 100 times more energy per acre than ethanol, yet we devote more than a million acres of land to ethanol production and just a fraction of that to solar farms. The reality is that to protect the places we love and that sustain us, we need to build new, better infrastructure, because what we have now is harming us. We desperately need an alternative. We need more Wisconsinites to speak up in support of these solutions. The environmental movement cut its teeth by saying 'no' to the problem of pollution. The time has come to build on this legacy and say 'yes' to solutions: 'yes' to clean energy, 'yes' to thriving Wisconsin communities, and 'yes' to a brighter future.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wisconsin air pollution is not Illinois' fault. Hold companies accountable.
In a recent column, Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, makes some puzzling arguments about the economic impacts of ozone regulation, but he never once mentions the health harms of ozone itself. He argues that industries in southeastern Wisconsin should not take responsibility for helping clean up air pollution because much of our air pollution comes from other states. That's not how the law works, and for good reason. The law requires anyone who 'causes or contributes' to air pollution to reduce their own emissions. If Wisconsin factories and power plants are contributing to high ozone levels in Wisconsin, they need do more than blame other states. Kooyenga then points to the local economic boom: 'Milwaukee and the area have been on a roll over the past several years. Billions of dollars in capital investment, highlighted by Microsoft's $3 billion-plus data center project in Racine County, have all signs pointing in a positive direction for economic development, job creation and all that goes with it.' Opinion: Clean Air Act must be amended to end EPA mandates. We pay for Chicago pollution. But then, he says that all this is at risk because of unfair air pollution regulations, rules that have been on the books for the same several years that have seen so much economic growth. Microsoft and other industries know those rules and how they impact their businesses and have still chosen to locate in southeastern Wisconsin. They are not, as Kooyenga would have us believe, helpless victims of unreasonable 'mandates' coming out of Washington. They wouldn't be coming here if they didn't think they could prosper here. Industrial pollution controls cost a small fraction of the profits those companies will earn. Clean Wisconsin won a 2018 lawsuit against the EPA after the agency wrongly listed several eastern Wisconsin counties as meeting federal ozone standards. Clean Wisconsin has also intervened in a recent federal lawsuit against the Good Neighbor Rule, a plan to reduce air pollution from power plants and industrial plants that often blows across state lines. Oral argument in that case begins April 25 in DC Circuit Court. Instead of calling for an amendment to weaken the Clean Air Act, Kooyenga should be calling for strengthening the EPA's Good Neighbor Rule, which he admits isn't stringent enough to reduce interstate transport of ozone-causing chemicals in the air. And instead of trying get Wisconsin off the hook for controlling its share of pollution, he should direct his energy toward making sure other states are held accountable for theirs. Last year, the Supreme Court stayed the Good Neighbor rule so it's not in effect while a lawsuit challenging it plays out in circuit court. That's what we should all be complaining about. Opinion: On Wisconsin's glacial lakes, wake-enhanced boating damaging and dangerous Ozone levels in the southeastern counties are indeed elevated, and that's bad for the health of people living there. High ozone levels cause respiratory and other illnesses, especially in children and the elderly, and everyone who contributes to poor air quality should take responsibility for improving it. Blaming others and weakening air quality protections will only harm more Wisconsinites. Polluted air won't be a draw to our state for anyone — not even businesses. Katie Nekola is general counsel for Clean Wisconsin. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin air pollution rules don't stop economic growth | Opinion
