Shahla Werner, Sierra Club – John Muir Chapter222 South Hamilton St, #11, Madison, WI 53703

(608) 256-0565http://wisconsin.sierraclub.orgshahla.werner@sierraclub.org

A Report from the State Capitol: Wisconsin’s Environment

Fall 2010 Elections = Bad News for Conservation

• Supreme Court makes disastrous Citizens United decision in 2010, defining corporations as people, money as speech, allowing unlimited spending

• Mid-term elections brought Ron Johnson to the US Senate, heartbreaking loss of Sen. Russ Feingold

• Governor Walker, and anti-conservation majorities take the WI State Assembly and Senate

• Many freshmen “tea party” / ALEC legislators with no prior political experience. Vote strongly along partisan lines, ask very few questions during legislative hearings

What Ever happened to Climate Change Action?

• Federal climate bill fails in 2010, leaving states and EPA to tackle problem

• Good AND bad news: 2010 elections not about environment

• Utilities, and politicians stop serious discussions of solutions as alarming trends continue, including melting glaciers, rising temperatures, flooding, unprecedented fires, and drought

Wisconsin: Early Warning Signs: Late 2010- Early 2011

Gov. Walker campaigns on returning federal high speed rail funding; Doyle halts construction; Despite bipartisan public outrage, Walker cancels project that would reduce transportation emissions, create thousands of jobs, and connect cities

Gov. Walker appoints former Racine developer and State Senator Cathy Stepp as DNR Secretary.

Gov. Walker introduces Special Session on “Jobs” that attacks workers’ rights, guts isolated wetland protections, kills wind jobs, and gives him unprecedented control over administrative rules

Attacks on Clean Water• Wetlands Deregulation Bill (

2011 Act 118, April 2012): Allows for mitigation (aka habitat destruction) too early, creates general permits, limits DNR’s permit review time and oversight, deletes ASNRI (areas of special natural resource interest) wetlands

• Bergstrom Wetlands Bill (2011 Act 6, Feb. 2011): Creates special exception to isolated wetlands law for Brown Co. developer

• Boondoggle Bridge (2011 Act 30, July 2011): Allows Wisconsin to spend $300 million on bridge across Wild & Scenic St. Croix River

A Bad Budget & Transit Attacks

State Budget (2011 Act 32, June 2011): Eliminates Regional Transit Authorities, Repeals increased Energy Efficiency funding, Office of Energy Independence, Green to Gold, Cuts Transit 10%, Recycling 40%, Stewardship 30%

Senate Joint Resolution 23: Restricts gas tax revenues to roads only, prohibits transit, clean transportation funding. Wisconsin’s constitution will be amended if this bill passes again next Legislative Session and it is approved by voters in a statewide referendum.

Attacks on Clean EnergyStatewide Wind Siting Rules Suspended: Although the legislature repealed wind standards, 4 major projects were canceled: Invenergy’s150 MW Ledge; Mid West Energy’s 98 MW Stony Brook; Alliant’s 100 MW Green Lake & Acciona’s 50 MW Chilton Projects

Outsourcing Clean Energy Jobs (2011 Act 34, July 2011): Allows large, out-of-state hydroelectric power (mostly from Manitoba) to count towards our renewable energy portfolio standards

Attacks on Resources & Public ProcessGTAC Mining Bill (DEFEATED): Gutted safeguards for open pit taconite mine near Lake Superior. Would have rushed permits, allowed waste in historical areas, sensitive water and land habitats, eliminated public input, and shortchanged community payments.

Polluters over People (2011 Act 167, April 2012): Reduces public input, rushes, and limits review of shoreland permits – partial defeat!

Governor Makes the Rules (2011 Act 21, May 2011): Governor Walker can delay or block agency rules needed to implement laws, requires cost/benefit analysis, justification for making rules stronger than surrounding states

Attacks on Clean Air

• Dirty Air Bill (2011 Act 121, March 2012): Prohibits DNR from setting carbon monoxide air pollution standards

• Factory Farm Fumes Bill (2011 Act 122, March 2012): Prohibits WI from setting standards for hazardous air pollutants (like hydrogen sulfide) for CAFOs

Attacks on Science-Based Natural Resource Management

• Wolf hunting bill (2011 Act 169): Allows hunting during breeding season statewide, trapping, use of dogs – Lawsuit underway

Deer hunting bill (2011 Act 50): Gets rid of Earn A Buck, critical to reducing deer browsing needed for forest regeneration & reducing chronic wasting disease spread

• Water Disinfection Prevention Bill (2011 Act 19): Prohibits DNR from requiring water disinfection in local communities, needed to protect drinking water from bacteria, virus contamination.

• Watch for more attacks on science in 2013!

2011- 2012 Legislative Session: Hyper-Partisan & Horrible for

Conservation• 49 members of the State Assembly Score a 0% on

Sierra Club’s environmental scorecard; only 25 / 99 score 100%

• 16 members of the State Senate Score a 0% on Sierra Club’s environmental scorecard, only 2, Fred Risser and Lena Taylor, score 100%

• For details, see Sierra Club’s 2011-12 Legislative Scorecard

Good News: We Live to Fight Another Day!

We defeated mining bill, scaled back Polluters over People to stop lakebed dredging, rubber stamping high capacity wells

We defeated bills that would have killed wind energy, allowed utilities to buy outdated renewable credits

We preserved collective bargaining for transit workers, kept transit in the Transportation Fund in the budget

Bills to repeal Wisconsin’s smart growth law and weaken phosphorus lawn fertilizer ban failed.

Good News: We fought back in Elections!

Jessica King (Oshkosh) and Jennifer Shilling (La Crosse) elected to State Senate; Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke recalled

Dave Hansen, Bob Wirch, and Jim Holperin survive recall attempts; Dale Schultz stands up for constituents

John Lehman defeats Van Wangaard in Racine

We scared the bejesus out of both parties with populist protests at the State Capitol!

2013: Metallic Sulfide Mining Moratorium Under Attack

Counter ideas used to justify mining in sensitive areas (we use the metals in products, jobs, better to mine here than areas with low standards)

Remind legislators of reasons for current law, protects water from acid mine drainage. Flexible waste disposal rules, groundwater rules, and trust fund levels needed to meet specific project needs. Issuing a final permit prior to master hearing would be like giving out a law degree before someone passes the bar exam.

Ensure Wisconsin is Open for 21st Century Business: Recycling, Transit, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Tourism

2013: The Next State Budget

Keep Transit in Transportation Fund, restore and increase transit funding, reduce runaway highway spending

Protect Stewardship and Recycling

Protect Agency budgets; preserve enforcement ability

2013: Clean Water Policy & Enforcement Needed

Push DNR to implement Nutrient Management Rules to control Phosphorus, Nitrogen pollution (NR 151, NR 217)

Push DNR to enforce laws on books, enact stronger waste spreading restrictions

Enhance groundwater protection; don’t gut high capacity well permit process; allow DNR to assess water impacts, more springs protection

2013: Clean Energy Policies Needed

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS): Requires utilities to get 10% of electricity from renewable sources by 2015. Most utilities have already met goals; We need to at least double the RPS to ensure continued clean energy jobs! We also need to stop clean energy attacks

Energy Efficiency: We need to restore Focus on Energy funding; include goals to save 2% of electricity per year

Incentives for small-scale distributed renewables: Power Purchase Agreements (Choice); Net Metering, Community Renewables

Offshore Wind Policies: Bottomlands leasing, MOU

Wisconsin Lags Behind Other States with Renewable Energy Standards

• 30 states have a renewable energy standard.

• MN and IL have enacted a 25% RES by 2025.

• Iowa gets over 20% of its electricity from wind.

• The following states, ranked by RPS percentage and date, have a mandatory RPS percentage (Iowa and Texas have a MW goal):

Maine: 40% by 2017 Oregon: 25% by 2025 Montana: 15% by 2015Hawaii: 40% by 2030 Vermont: 25% by 2025 Massachusetts: 15% by 2020California: 33% by 2020 West Virginia: 25% by 2025 Washington: 15% by 2020 Connecticut: 27% by 2020 New Jersey: 22.5% by 2021 Missouri: 15% by 2021New York: 25% by 2013Delaware: 20% by 2019 Arizona: 15% by 2025 Illinois: 25% by 2025 Colorado: 20% by 2020 North Carolina: 12.5% by 2021 Minnesota: 25% by 2025 New Mexico: 20% by 2020 Michigan: 10% by 2015New Hampshire: 25% by 2025 Maryland: 20% by 2022 Wisconsin: 10% by 2015Nevada: 25% by 2025 Pennsylvania: 18% by 2020Ohio: 25% by 2025 Rhode Island: 16% by 2020

Sources: Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Renewable Portfolio Standards, December 14, 2009; North American Windpower, April 15, 2009. Windfall for Green Energy In Iowa.

Wisconsin is Lagging Behind Our Neighbors in Wind Energy

What do we Need to Do to Win?Education: Film screenings, outings, rallies, brochures, petitions, websites, press releases, letters to the editor, expert speakers. We need to dispel clean energy myths, propel facts about real public health impacts of coal and potential for renewables to revitalize rural Wisconsin.

Collaboration: clean energy businesses (WEBA), mayors, tribes, labor (BlueGreen / Apollo Alliance), students, farmers, low-income advocates, faith and other stakeholders: The 99%

Lobbying: Meet with legislators and Public Service Commission (PSC) agency staff to expand Wisconsin’s clean energy goals and incentives, vote for clean energy champions 11/06, submit clean energy questions to candidates

Elections: Vote November 6! Volunteer for and donate to environmental candidates!

Questions?

Shahla Werner, DirectorSierra Club – John Muir Chapter

222 South Hamilton St, #1, Madison, WI 53703

(608) 256-0565

http://wisconsin.sierraclub.org

shahla.werner@sierraclub.org