Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Green Wisconsin takes another step back

Wisconsin is open for business, unless that business has something to do with being Earth-friendly, that is.  A new legislative proposal, Assembly Bill 146, would prevent the expiration of ""energy credits" that encourage Wisconsin utilities to develop their own renewable energy.  Instead of focusing efforts on increasing production of renewable energy in Wisconsin, the Senate okayed last week importing electricity from a Canadian dam and counting it toward meeting our state green energy goals. 

Sen. Gaylord Nelson
This, coupled with continued hostility from Republicans towards wind turbines has, as Sen Mark Miller (D-Monona) says, "driven the development of wind energy out of this state..." In response to the state's lack of commitment to green energies, WE Energies has already canceled solar energy programs and there is concern that this bill could make a Madison-area wind farm currently under construction "the last renewable energy project in Wisconsin for years to come." (Thomas Conent of the Journal Sentinel).  Large-scale wind-farms have already been dropped earlier this year and here in the proud home state of environmental visionaries Sen. Gaylord Nelson and Aldo Leopold, land preservation, water pollution standards, and recycling programs have been seriously diminished or destroyed by Walker and his minions.

And, incredibly, it just keeps getting worse--which isn't good for our state, and certainly isn't good for our planet.

Photo of Gaylord Nelson from wilderness.net

No comments:

Post a Comment