Last-minute changes weaken state’s clean energy goals

Disregarding the pleas from RENEW and others for a veto, Doyle signed Senate Bill 273, as reported by Lisa Kaiser in the Shepherd Expess, Milwaukee:

Were the state’s renewable energy goals weakened during the final days of the legislative session?

The answer depends on how you view a new bill, signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle last week, which expands the definition of “renewable energy source” without increasing the amount of renewable energy that must be used by the state’s utilities.

“We went backwards, not forwards,” said state Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison), a champion of clean energy. “If you don’t increase the percentage of renewable energy that must be used, and you include the new technologies, you decrease the amount of wind and solar to be used.”

A Last-Minute Amendment without Public Debate

The bill had been proposed last year with little fanfare. A public hearing was held last September to add some new technologies to the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS)—the state’s definition of what is a renewable energy source.

That designation is very important to a “clean energy” company, because it allows the company to sell its electricity to a utility and help that utility reach the 10% goal. Without that designation, the electricity isn’t as desirable to utilities that need to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels such as coal.

Last fall, the new technologies didn’t seem to raise too many alarms—for example, it included solar light pipes manufactured by Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc.

Besides, the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), which would have raised the state’s renewable energy goals from 10% to 25% by 2025, was attracting far more attention than this rather innocuous bill.

But just hours before the vote on April 15, a controversial amendment was added to the bill by Sen. Majority Leader Russ Decker, Milwaukee Sen. Jeff Plale and Green Bay Sen. David Hansen to include even more technologies. Among them is “synthetic gas created by the plasma gasification of waste,” a cutting-edge technology that takes just about any kind of waste, heats it so intensely it turns into a gas, then uses that gas to create electricity that can be sold to utilities and put on the power grid.

Without public debate, the state Senate approved the amended bill 25-8 and the Assembly followed suit a week later on a voice vote with no record of who voted “aye” or “nay.”

Doyle signed it last week without revision, although he did note that it was “a difficult one to sign” since CEJA—with its higher standards—died in the state Legislature.

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Energy efficiency facts

Energy efficiency is defined as using less energy to provide the same level of energy service. Some examples of energy efficiency are better insulation of buildings, using energy saving light bulbs, buying cars with better gas mileage. Energy efficiency is achieved primarily by means of a more efficient technology or processes rather than by radical changes in individual behavior.Energy Star is

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UW doctor: No evidence that wind turbines cause health problems

From a presentation to the Public Service Commission Wind Siting Council by Jevon D. McFadden, MD, MPH:

General Conclusions
􀂄Evidence does not support the conclusion that wind turbines cause or are associated with adverse health outcomes
􀂄Gaps remain in our knowledge of the impact that wind energy may have on human health
􀂅Potential positive and potential negative impacts
􀂄Passionate analyses, whether by proponents or opponents of wind energy development, may be subject to significant bias, which compromises credibility

Recommendations
􀂄Encourage concerned individuals to report symptoms or illness to a healthcare provider
􀂄Encourage health officials to continue to assess new evidence as it becomes available
􀂄Recommend involving affected individuals in siting process

Shadow Flicker
􀂄Wind turbine rotor frequencies
+Average 0.6–1.0 Hz
+Max 3 Hz (at 60 rpm)
+National Research Council: “Harmless to humans”
􀂄Photosensitivity epilepsy
+1/4,000 individuals
+Sunlight, TV are common precipitants
􀂄Flickeringlight most likely to trigger seizures
+5–30 Hz

Noise & Health —Conclusions
􀂄Chronic exposure to high levels of sound
+Hearing loss
+Altered physiological processes
􀂄Long-term health effects of chronic exposure to low level sound not well characterized
􀂄Noise sensitivity is important determinate of responses to noise
􀂄Response to moderate levels of sound affected by cognitive appraisal of sound source

Dr. McFadden lists the following affiliations at the beginning of his presentation:

􀂅Centers for Disease Control and Prevention —Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer
􀂅United States Public Health Service —Lieutenant Commander
􀂅Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health, Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health
􀂅University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Population Health Sciences —Adjunct Assistant Professor

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Racine Montessori adding solar panels

From an article by in the Racine Journal Times:

RACINE - Workers spent Wednesday installing new solar panels at the Racine Montessori School, the latest move by the school to go green.

The school's solar panel project has been in the works for about two years and is finally being completed this week with the installation of 84 panels on the roof of the school's gymnasium, said Rita Lewis, administrator at the Racine Montessori School, 2317 Howe St.

The panels are being installed by Madison-based H&H Solar Energy Services. When installation is complete, the panels should generate about 40 percent of the energy the school needs. To show students when the panels are working, ceiling fans directly tied to the panels will be installed in the school's hallways. The fans' blades will rotate on sunny days when the panels are absorbing sunlight to convert to energy, Lewis said.

To mark the panels' installation, the school's elementary students had a "Solar Celebration" Wednesday where they spent time outside singing sun-themed songs like "You Are My Sunshine" and cooking s'mores in homemade aluminum foil solar ovens, Lewis said.

The solar panels and installation, which cost about $134,000 altogether, were paid for through two large grants from We Energies and two large donations from local families. Clifton and Gladys Peterson and Charles and Kathryn Heide each donated about $22,000 for the project. Gladys Peterson formerly taught at the school and the Heide family had grandchildren attend, Lewis said.

"They are the two families who really made it happen for us," she said.

The solar panels are the latest green effort under way at the school, which this week was awarded a school Green Award from the Sierra Club of southeastern Wisconsin, according to Lewis.

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Doyle signs disputed waste-to-energy bill

Disregarding the pleas from RENEW and others for a veto, Doyle signed Senate Bill 273, as reported by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday signed into law a bill that wind power developers and environmental groups had asked him to veto.

The bill, known as the Renewable Resource Credits bill, would allow energy generation produced from waste such as garbage to be classified as renewable and qualify that electricity for the state's renewable power mandate.

The bill was drafted to grant renewable status to the Apollo light pipe, a a small glass skylight dome that, when mounted in a roof, reflects daylight inside to help cut energy use. The light pipe is a technology developed by Orion Energy Systems Inc. of Manitowoc, a maker of high-efficiency lighting systems.

Environmental and renewable energy groups had called on Doyle to veto the bill after it was amended to allow garbage-to-energy projects to be classified as renewable as well.

Doyle said he was torn on whether to sign the bill but said that, ultimately, Orion is the kind of business the state wants to see grow and succeed.

"I certainly didn't want to be in the position I was in. To me the (state) Senate's refusal to go ahead with the Clean Energy Jobs Act put everybody in a very difficult spot on this bill," he said.

Doyle conceded that there would be some effect on the wind industry from the new law but said it would be so slight as to be negligible.

A waste-to-energy process known as plasma gasification is being envisioned by Alliance Federated Energy, which announced a plan in February to build a waste-to-energy plant in Milwaukee that would create up to 250 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs.

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Transit authority rolls on K-R-M commuter rail planning

From an article by Sean Ryan in The Daily Reporter:

Planners of the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail Monday gave up on waiting for state approval for transit taxes and chose to apply for federal planning money.

The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority will not get federal construction money for the estimated $232.7 million project without a state law letting local governments raise taxes to pay for transit. But the authority is eligible for planning money and, after delaying the application since January, chose to push ahead without the state law.

Lee Holloway, a member of the Southeastern RTA, said the approach will lead to pointless planning for the rail project.

“Why should we be moving forward if we don’t know what is going to take place?” said Holloway, who is chairman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.

The RTA by June 21 will apply for Federal Transit Authority approval to begin engineering the KRM project.

A change in FTA policy means the agency now will consider an application for engineering money. But the project will not get federal construction grants until the state Legislature approves new taxes, such as a sales tax, for buses in the region, said Ken Yunker, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

The Legislature closed its session in April without Assembly or Senate votes on an RTA bill. The Legislature is unlikely to reconvene to discuss an RTA bill until early 2011, after state elections in November, said state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha.

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We Energies to begin Glacier Hills wind farm construction

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Crews will begin site preparation next week for the largest wind farm in Wisconsin, after state regulators finalized plans for the Glacier Hills Wind Park northeast of Madison.

We Energies of Milwaukee said it will erect 90 turbines at the wind farm, two more than it installed on its first large wind farm, near Fond du Lac, in 2008.

The cost of the Glacier Hills project came in at $367 million, utility spokesman Brian Manthey said. By comparison, the 88-turbine Blue Sky Green Field wind farm that opened two years ago cost $295 million.

The tab for We Energies' customers isn't yet known, but the company will seek to collect construction costs from ratepayers beginning in 2012, Manthey said.

Friday's announcement came after the state Public Service Commission approved the sale of two Columbia County homes to We Energies. Both homes would have had at least nine turbines within one-half mile, and the commission directed We Energies to negotiate with the two property owners.

We Energies also had to reconfigure its turbine layout after the commission established bigger setbacks from the turbines for neighboring property owners than the utility had proposed.

Those larger setbacks addressed concerns about noise and shadow flicker - a phenomenon created by wind turbines' rotating blades. The Coalition of Wisconsin Environmental Stewardship had raised concerns about the impact of turbines on property values and homeowners' qualify of life.

The project is expected to be completed by late 2011 and generate 162 megawatts of power, or enough over a year's time to supply 45,000 typical homes.

Both projects are needed to help diversify the utility's energy mix and add more renewable power to comply with the state mandate requiring 10% of Wisconsin's electricity to come from wind turbines, landfill gas projects and other types of renewable power by 2015, up from 5% this year.

Vestas Wind Systems is supplying turbines to We Energies for the Glacier Hills project, after supplying 88 turbines for the Fond du Lac County project.

Three Wisconsin firms have been hired to handle the project's construction: The Boldt Co. of Appleton; Michels Corp. of Brownsville; and Edgerton Contractors of Oak Creek.

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Solar collector facts

Solar collectors transform solar radiation into heat and then transfer that heat to a medium (water, solar fluid, or air). The term is applied to solar hot water panels, but may also be used to denote more complex installations such as solar parabolic, solar trough and solar towers.Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water. In low geographical latitudes (below 40 degrees) from 60 to 70%

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PSC sets hearings on wind siting rules

From a news release issued by the Public Service Commission:

MADISON – The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) is seeking public comment on the proposed wind siting rules, issued today by the PSC. The proposed rules will ultimately result in uniform wind siting standards for local units of government in Wisconsin and ensure consistent local procedures for regulation of wind energy systems. . . .

2009 Wisconsin Act 40 (Act 40) requires the PSC to promulgate a variety of rules that specify the conditions a city, village, town, or county (political subdivision) may impose on the installation or use of a wind energy system. If a political subdivision chooses to regulate such systems, its ordinances may not be more restrictive than the PSC’s rules. The PSC will also consider the restrictions specified in these rules when determining whether to grant a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a wind energy system over 100 megawatts.

The PSC established docket 1-AC-231 to conduct the rulemaking under Act 40. Act 40 requires the PSC to conduct this rulemaking with the advice of the Wind Siting Council. The Wind Siting Council is an advisory body created by Act 40. The Wind Siting Council members have begun to provide input to Commission staff concerning these rules during a series of meetings in early 2010. The PSC will seek comments from the Wind Siting Council on the proposed draft rules issued by the Commission.

Any person may submit written comments on these proposed rules. Comments on the proposed rules will be accepted until July 7, 2010, at noon (July 6, 2010, at noon, if filed by fax). The comments are considered when staff is drafting the rules.

The PSC will hold hearings to take testimony from the public regarding the proposed rules in the Amnicon Falls Hearing Room at the Public Service Commission Building, 610 North Whitney Way, Madison, Wisconsin, on June 30, 2010. Act 40 requires that hearings regarding these rules also be held in Monroe County and a county other than Dane or Monroe, where developers have proposed wind energy systems. The PSC will also hold public hearings on these proposed rules at City Hall, Legislative Chambers, 160 West Macy Street in Fond du Lac on June 28, 2010, and Holiday Inn, 1017 East McCoy Boulevard in Tomah on June 29, 2010.

More information on the Wind Siting Council and the wind siting rulemaking pursuant to Act 40 can be found by visiting the Commission’s website and clicking on the Electronic Regulatory Filing System (ERF) at http://psc.wi.gov. Type case numbers 1-AC-231 in the boxes provided on the ERF system. To comment on the proposed rules, click on the Public Comments button on the PSC’s homepage and scroll down to select Wind Siting Rulemaking.

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Streetcars would improve quality of life in Milwaukee

From a post by Jeff Sherman, president of OnMilwaukee.com, on Milwaukee Biz Blog:

One of the many things I truly love about Milwaukee is its commitment to its past and its steady, although sometimes too slow and sure, movement through its innovative present and onward to its future.

Streetcars, no doubt, are a testament to a city’s past but also to its success. Look at any modern, successful city and nearly all have integrated transportation systems that involve roads, sidewalks, highways, rail, streetcars, bikes, busses and more.

Milwaukee’s lagged way behind in the past 30 years, but now it’s poised to move forward in the transportation game. I know some cry about the costs. Honestly, its infrastructure that we need. I live downtown and rarely use the Marquette Interchange, but I pay for it and see its need. Sidewalks, roads and highways – they don’t “make money” but they do provide quality-of-life that we must have in greater Milwaukee.

I also realize that we can battle back and forth on ridership. Projections, though, show that Milwaukee’s 3.6-mile modern streetcar line is estimated to generate daily ridership of 3,800 passengers, a level that exceeds the ridership of all 11 MCTS Freeway Flyer routes and 12 of the 29 MCTS regular routes.

All numbers aside, it’s time once and for all to put petty politics behind and improve transportation in Milwaukee.

Transportation isn't a Republican or Democratic issue; it's a simple, quality-of-life matter.

So, here are my 8 reasons why you should look forward to the new streetcar system in downtown Milwaukee . . .

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Since Waukesha County doesn't want it, put high-speed rail stop in Tosa

From a post by Milwaukee Alerman Robert Bauman on the Milwaukee Biz Blog:

Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki has floated the idea of establishing a high-speed rail station in western Milwaukee County in the vicinity of the Milwaukee County Research Park. This is an excellent idea that deserves serious consideration by the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

In addition to the research park, this station would serve dense commercial development along Mayfair Road and the Milwaukee County Medical Complex. Employment in this area is second only to downtown Milwaukee. Moreover, this station would serve relatively dense suburban residential communities as well as west side Milwaukee neighborhoods.

A station on the high-speed rail line in the vicinity of Watertown Plank Road and Mayfair Road would be easily accessible via major arterial roads and within one mile of I-94 and Highway 45 interchanges and within one mile of busy Mayfair Mall. This station location would also be accessible to existing Milwaukee County Transit routes and could serve as an intermodal terminal for enhanced local transit service.

In short, this station location would generate significantly higher ridership than a stop in Brookfield.

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MATC's big solar farm will double as training center

Nick Matthes and Ed Stoll of Pieper Electric (who will be installing the PV), flank Rich Hinkelman of Solar Systems Inc (who build the racking for the system). All are MREA supporters and Energy Fair exhibitors!

From a post on Tom Content's blog on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel site:

Leaders at Milwaukee Area Technical College kicked off the construction of the largest solar project in the state with a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday afternoon north of Capitol Drive.

The solar project -- dubbed the Photovoltaic Educational Farm -- will be developed on a former landfill along the Milwaukee River, underneath the television tower for MPTV, Milwaukee Public Television.

The project will feature nearly 2,600 solar panels from four different manufacturers, in eight different configurations. It's scheduled to be completed in August.

The aim of the project is to showcase a variety of renewable energy technologies, as well as provide training in solar field to students at MATC as well as Milwaukee's three engineering schools, said Brad Bateman of Johnson Controls.

"This will be a testing and training platform unlike any other in the country," he said.

The project is projected to generate enough power to make the TV transmitter for MPTV the first of any public television station in the country to be powered with renewable energy. MPTV projects energy savings of at least $70,000 in its first year of operation.

The project will employ 150 people, said Sargent.

Johnson Controls Inc. is the technical college's partner and general contractor on the project, which includes 14 other firms -- 13 of them from Wisconsin.

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Milwaukee Public Library installs green roof

From an article by Don Behm of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The roof of Milwaukee's Central Library sprang to life, and went to work, in Friday's steady rain.

Thousands of sedum, a ground-covering plant, and clumps of chive and ornamental grasses - all perennials - were planted Friday in a six-inch layer of small gravel and soil spread across 30,000 square feet - nearly seven-tenths of an acre - to create a green roof atop the historic building, said Taj Schoening, business operations manager for the Milwaukee Public Library.

Its job is to mimic nature. The living roof will collect and store thousands of gallons of rainwater during a downpour, rather than allowing the clean water to drain immediately to a street sewer, Schoening said.

Each gallon of fresh water kept out of the pipes decreases the risk of sewer overflows, according to Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

Combined sanitary and storm sewers on Wisconsin Ave. in front of the library quickly fill with rain in a deluge and begin spilling into the district's deep tunnels. Pipes draining street sewers into the tunnels are closed as the underground caverns fill, causing street sewers to overflow to local rivers and Lake Michigan.

Green roofs can become saturated after hours of heavy rainfall, and additional rain would slowly begin to drain to a street sewer. But that delay in draining to a sewer buys time for the district's system of tunnels and sewage plants to treat earlier flows.

An added benefit for taxpayers is the durability of the library's green roof, Schoening said.

"This will double the life expectancy of our flat roof," she said. "We won't have to do this again for 40 years."

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Impressions of the Wind Siting Council’s Tour of Wind Development in Fond du Lac County

The Wind Siting Advisory Committee, created to advise the Public Service Commission on statewide wind siting standards, toured Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center and Forward Wind Center on May 4, 2010, to gain first hand knowledge of turbine impacts.

Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin's executive director, prepared the following commentary on his impressions of the tour:

Impressions of the Wind Siting Council’s Tour of Wind Development in Fond du Lac County

Stop 1 – Home of Larry Wunsch, council member, pilot, and wind project opponent

A member of the Wind Siting Council and a critic of windpower, Larry lives on a 60-acre parcel located on the northern edge of the Forward project along Hwy F. On his 60 acres you’ll find a six-year-old 2,200 square-foot house, a hangar, a airplane, an airstrip, and 50 acres of rentable ag land, all zoned agricultural. The property is for sale; the asking price is $600,000. You can take a digital tour of his property by visiting http://www.fdlairstrip.com. Observe that not a single turbine shows up in any of the images on his web site. As you will appreciate later on in this document, editing out the wind turbines was not an easy feat to pull off.

Fourteen of the 15 council members were present at Larry Wunsch’s house. Also gathering there were PSC staff, a film crew from WI Public Television, Bill Rakocy’s partners at Emerging Energies (Tim Osterberg and Jay Mundinger) a smattering of local wind critics (Gerry Meyer and Curt Kindschuh), two WINDCOWS representatives from Manitowoc County (Dave and Lynn Korinek), Lynda Barry from Rock County, furiously taking notes, and a few others whom I didn’t recognize.

I came a few minutes late, and missed some of Larry’s opening remarks. From what I gleaned from others, Larry mentioned that he poured much if not all of his personal savings into acquiring this property some 11 years ago. Between the appearance of his property and the tidbits of information he provided yesterday, I would characterize Larry’s parcel as investment property on which he built his dream house, which is set back about 100 yards from the road. The property tax levy on his 60-acre parcel is quite modest -- $5,400 per year. At some point in the future, his plan was to subdivide the ag land into residential properties.

The wind was blowing from the west-southwest. My educated guess is that the winds were clocking in about 10 – 14 miles/hour.

The closest turbine to Larry’s house is located practically due west at a distance of 1,100 feet. I honestly could not hear the wind turbine from where I stood, about 50 feet east of the house. I was surprised by this, because I had stopped at the Blue Sky Green Field operations center on the way to Larry’s house, and there I could clearly hear the Vestas V-82 turbine that is 1,100 feet away from the building entrance.

There was no shadow flicker to experience, due to the generally cloudy conditions at Forward as well as the time of day. There was no missing the visual impact of the Forward project looking south from where we gathered, which was in front of Larry’s hangar. There were easily 50 turbines viewable from that vantage point. Moreover, off in the eastern horizon, the Cedar Ridge turbines were plainly visible, although their visual impact was slight compared to the panorama of Forward turbines from east to west. Since he owned the property before the wind turbines were constructed, the change in his south-facing viewshed must have been dramatic, to say the least.

No one had any difficulty hearing Larry or any other speaker during the tour stop. Maybe others were able to perceive sound coming from the turbines, but I certainly wasn’t. We were able to make out a plethora of other sounds while we were there, including a very loud plane flying overhead, occasional bird chatter, random mooing of cows and, at one point, a helicopter buzzing over the turbines. The bucolic sounds of the countryside were in no way disturbed or distorted by whooshing noise. . . .

Stop 2 – Blue Sky Green Field Operations Center

On the way to the operations center, the clouds broke up and the sun shone through. We assembled at the operations center, where We Energies’ Andy Hesselbach delivered a brief presentation on WE’s generation profile and the construction of the Blue Sky Green Field in 2007-2008, and its performance since. The turbines were achieving availability ratings of 99% or better. According to Andy, wind farm production was tracking close to preconstruction estimates, and that April had been a good month for wind. (An aside: it was a hell of a good month for solar too. . . .)

The overall impression conveyed by the We Energies-Vestas team is that Blue Sky Green Field is a well-managed project and that We Energies is a responsible project owner, effectively balancing the objective of maximizing facility output with the obligation to be a good neighbor to area residents.

After the presentations were concluded, the group walked to the turbine closest to the operations center. As we approached the turbine we spotted two red-tailed hawks wheeling above the turbine, looking not the least bit alarmed. The wind started to pick up then.

The turbine door was opened and a few Council members and PSC staff stepped inside. Others gathered about 200 feet from the turbine to talk. Even though everyone was quite conscious of the whooshing blades (and an audible chirping sound with each revolution), we were able to converse with each other without having to raise our voices or cup our ears. Not far away, one of the Council members, a wind opponent, was listening to messages on his mobile. No one, including the opponents, seemed troubled by our proximity to the turbine. Given how quick they are to misrepresent the contents of the Vestas safety manual, they seemed not at all worried about what harm might befall them being only 200 feet from a spinning industrial monster. The two WINDCOWS representatives were tagging along and they didn’t seem the least bit fazed either.

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A Cruel Month for Clean Energy

A commentary
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin
May 4, 2010

Renewable energy businesses and activists entered the month of April with high hopes of seeing the State Legislature pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), a comprehensive bill designed to propel Wisconsin toward energy independence, along the way creating thousands of new jobs and strengthening the sustainable energy marketplace. This comprehensive bill would have raised the renewable energy content of electricity sold in Wisconsin, while stepping up ratepayer support for smaller-scale renewable energy installations throughout the state.

Unfortunately, on April 22, the State Senate adjourned for the year without taking action on the Clean Energy Jobs Act bill, effectively killing the measure and leaving hundreds of businesses and individuals who campaigned for the bill empty-handed.

If life imitates poetry, then the line that opens T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land—“April is the cruelest month”—aptly encapsulates the evolution of a campaign that overcame many obstacles in the final weeks only to be undermined by the unwillingness of Senate leaders to schedule a vote on the bill. The sense of anticipation that began the month was swept away by a combination of personal feuds, extreme partisanship, and increasingly polarized public attitudes toward climate change. That the bill’s demise coincided with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day was seen by supporters as an especially cruel twist of fate.

It certainly didn’t help matters that the some of the state’s most politically entrenched constituencies banded together to fight CEJA at every stage of the process. Among the hard-core opponents were Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the Paper Council and the Farm Bureau. Their vociferous opposition scuttled bipartisanship, eliminating the possibility that a Republican legislator would vote for the bill.

Working hand-in-glove with vitriolic right-wing radio talk show hosts, the opposition supplied their grassroots faithful with a smorgasbord of exaggerated claims, hyperbole, outright fantasy, and pseudoscience. Though the analysis purporting to document the opposition’s assertions set a new low in academic rigor, it succeeded in its aim, which was to plant the seeds of fear among certain legislators about the ultimate cost of this legislation before the bill was even introduced.

Working just as vigorously for the Clean Energy Jobs Act, a broad spectrum of interests answered the requests for help. Whether they were one-person solar installation businesses or Fortune 500 corporations like Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, CEJA supporters wrote letters, made phone calls, and corralled their legislators at the Capitol on several days during March and April.

In dozens of face-to-face meetings with their representatives, CEJA supporters made the case for this bill by bringing out their own experiences as business owners, farmers, educators, builders, and skilled tradesmen. They presented a local and highly personal angle to the clean energy policy debate that many legislators had not appreciated before. Their passion and energy were instrumental in giving this bill a fighting chance for passage at the end of the session. Unfortunately, the campaign could not overcome the pique of the Senate Democrats.

One legislator who kept pushing this ambitious bill up the legislative hill until the very last day was Assembly representative Spencer Black, who was one of the four principal authors of the measure. CEJA supporters are indebted to Rep. Black for his vigorous leadership and his determined efforts to round up support among his compatriots for passing this bill.

Two rays of sunlight did manage to pierce through the heavy clouds at the close of April, prompted by the dedication of the two largest wind turbines owned by Wisconsin schools. In each case, the school erected a 100-kilowatt Northwind turbine manufactured by Vermont-based Northern Power Systems. One serves Wausau East High School while the other feeds power to the Madison Area Technical College’s Fort Atkinson branch. The turbines will offset a significant fraction of the electricity consumed at each school.

Located well within the city limits of Wausau and Fort Atkinson, these 155-foot-tall wind generators eloquently testify to the breadth and depth of public support for renewable energy across Wisconsin. Next January, the Legislature will witness the return of clean energy supporters with similar legislation for strengthening Wisconsin’s renewable energy marketplace. In the meantime, we will be working hard to achieve a very different outcome.

END

Michael Vickerman is the executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a sustainable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison. For more information on Wisconsin renewable energy policy, visit RENEW’s web site at: www.renewwisconsin.org.

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Failure to pass a clean energy bill doesn’t deter energy efficiency supporters

From a story by Chuck Quirmbach on Wisconsin Public Radio:

Energy efficiency advocates are trying to keep the energy savings momentum going in Wisconsin, despite the legislature's failure to pass a major clean energy bill.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) would have counted some energy efficiency moves toward a mandate to make more use of renewable energy. But leaders of the state Senate killed the measure. Five years ago, lawmakers did pass a bill that transferred oversight of the rate-payer funded Focus On Energy program to the Public Service Commission. The PSC's Jolene Shield says her agency is continuing a planning process to revise goals and priorities for energy efficiency. Shield says phase two of the process means digging into the details.

Shield says PSC commissioners will be deciding how much energy savings should come from households and how much from businesses, and try to judge the impact energy prices will have. Then the PSC will look at whether to go to the legislature's Joint Finance Committee for additional money to spur access to efficient technology.

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Doyle announces clean energy consortium with Milwaukee universities

From a news release issued by Governor Jim Doyle:

CHICAGO – Governor Jim Doyle announced today the creation of the Clean Energy Generation, Transmission and Storage Systems (CEGTS) Consortium that combines the expertise of state industry and government partners with the research and development capabilities of the public and private academic institutions of Wisconsin. Governor Doyle made the announcement at the BIO 2010 International Convention – the world’s largest biotech conference – in Chicago.

“It is crucial that Wisconsin develop and maintain a leadership role in these emerging energy technologies to provide the needed expertise to its companies,” Governor Doyle said. “Enhanced R&D capacity, combined with the development of industry supply chains, will serve as an important tool to attract and retain high value-added business. The consortium also will play a vital role in educating a world-class workforce essential for this industrial sector to thrive and grow.”

The consortium will build upon the strong network of energy research expertise between Madison and Milwaukee academic institutions and industry. Wisconsin has a rich history of being a center of excellence for energy, power, controls, and information technology. The Center for Renewable Energy Systems (CRES) in Madison and the Southeastern Wisconsin Energy Technology Research (SWETR) consortium in Milwaukee will join together as a focused single statewide Power and Energy organization. . . .

The consortium will have access to the Center for Renewable Energy Systems (CRES), developed at UW-Madison to conduct sponsored research that focuses on the integration of new clean and renewable energy technologies into highly efficient systems. CRES will be one of the first tenants in the new Wisconsin Energy Institute, a $50 million building project initiated by Governor Doyle to house the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The university will begin construction of the Institute facilities in June 2010. . . .

Consortium activities will be conducted at the UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee campuses, as well as Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), by researchers from a variety of disciplines.

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Journal Sentinel columnist misguided, wrong

A letter to the editor in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Jeff Anthony, Director of Business Development of the American Wind Energy Association and a member of the board of directors of RENEW Wisconsin:

John Torinus' column celebrating the demise of Wisconsin's Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation couldn't be more misguided and wrong (April 25, Page 3D).

Torinus conveniently ignores the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin study concluding that average utility bills would be lower under the bill compared to the status quo. Further, a comprehensive economic assessment of the proposed legislation concluded it would create at least 15,000 jobs in Wisconsin by 2025.

Most puzzling is that Torinus criticizes the bill by citing the European experience, which has incorporated the very same kind of renewable energy targets already in place in Wisconsin and that the bill would have strengthened.

And contrary to still more puzzling claims from Torinus, behind the development of the bill was an impressively diverse range of businesses and stakeholders, all working in concert over a lengthy period to come up with a pragmatic piece of legislation that would simultaneously create jobs and foster a cleaner environment.

Torinus apparently has failed to take a look at the list of businesses and other organizations that formed such pro-bill coalitions as "Clean, Responsible Energy for Wisconsin's Economy." Conspicuously absent from the collaborative effort, in fact, was Torinus' own company.

Jeff Anthony
Director of Business Development
American Wind Energy Association
Milwaukee

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