by jboullion | May 3, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an Associated Press article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
More Wisconsin residents are looking for help with their heating and electricity bills.
The state Division of Energy Services reports that the number of low-income people seeking financial assistance is up 6% this year compared with last year.
The agency administers the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Spokeswoman Susan Brown said 9,000 households have sought basic assistance with their utility bills this year, and another 3,000 households sought crisis assistance.
Brown tells Wisconsin Public Radio the numbers could be up this year because of the struggling economy, but also because more people might be aware of the program.
by jboullion | May 2, 2011 | Uncategorized
A news release from Clean Wisconsin:
Letters signed by nearly 100 businesses delivered to Capitol
MADISON – Letters signed by nearly 100 businesses as well as faith, low-income and environmental advocates were delivered to members of the Joint Committee on Finance today, asking them not to eliminatethe funding approved last year for Focus on Energy, a statewide program that helps homeowners and businesses reduce energy use.
“Focus on Energy is a successful program that creates thousands of family-supporting jobs and cuts energy bills,” said Keith Reopelle, senior policy director at Clean Wisconsin. “Cutting this funding would increase
electricity bills as homeowners and businesses would lose the opportunity to reduce their energy bills by a combined $2 billion.”
Joint Finance Committee co-chair Robin Vos has stated his intention to eliminate the funding approved last year several times. That move is likely to happen as early as tomorrow through the committee’s consideration of the state budget, despite the fact that Focus on Energy funding is unrelated to the state budget.
“We urge you to protect the PSC’s investment increase for the program and allow our businesses to grow, add new jobs, and strengthen the local economy,” reads a letter addressed to members of the Joint Finance Committee. “With a proven track record of delivering cost-effective energy savings and driving local business, Focus on Energy should be allowed to grow.”
To date, Focus on Energy has created 24,000 jobs and saved homeowners $2.50 for every $1.00 invested in the program, according to an independent evaluation. When the PSC issued its approval for the increased funding in November of last year, it referenced an energy efficiency-potential study that showed 7,000 to 9,000 new jobs would be created with a similar increase of Focus on Energy funding.
“The Focus on Energy program contributes significant resources to help businesses and residents save energy, create jobs and stay competitive in the marketplace,” said Randy Johnson, president of US Lamp, Inc. “Reducing or eliminating Focus on Energy funding would take away our state’s competitive energy advantage and position us in the bottom, not the top, of states to consider for residence or locating a business. I would urge legislators to keep the Focus on Energy funding in place for the vitality of
Wisconsin.”
Newly appointed Public Service Commission Chairman Phil Montgomery issued a statement two weeks ago, on Earth Day (April 22), lauding the program and pointing out that it saved Wisconsin ratepayers $380 million on their energy bills in 2010 alone.
by jboullion | Apr 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a commentary on BizTimes.com by Tom Rave, Executive director, The Gateway To Milwaukee:
Dear Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee Members:
An aerotropolis is a newer urban development that typically attracts industries that are located around the airport and along transportation corridors, such as:
Time-sensitive manufacturing, e-commerce fulfillment, telecommunications and logistics.
Hotels, retail outlets, entertainment complexes and exhibition centers.
Offices for business people who travel frequently: by air or engage in global commerce.
An aerotropolis provides efficient accessibilities for people, and has an integrated infrastructure plan.
In Milwaukee’s case, an aerotropolis will prov1ide an efficient multimodal- air, boats, trains and motor vehicles – transportation hub centered around General Mitchell International Airport and The Port of Milwaukee that will efficiently serve southeastern Wisconsin plus extended territories in northern Illinois, central and eastern Wisconsin.
Earlier this week, a number of people involved with Milwaukee Gateway Aerotropolis Corporation, which is led by The Gateway To Milwaukee, attended the Airport Cities World Conference in Memphis, Tenn. Over 630 people from 40 countries across six continents attended this conference. It was easy to see that this is all about economic competition among metropolises and ultimately about having good jobs for an area to be economically successful.
Virtually every presentation of aerotropolis efforts around the world and in the U.S. included the important necessity of having a mass transit system to efficiently move people for a variety of reasons and especially for work. Without such a system, an aerotropolis would be much less effective and more challenged to attract businesses to locate there. It is the way people will live in the future as urban areas continue to grow.
by jboullion | Apr 28, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a story by John Funk on Cleveland.com:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Greater Cleveland took a giant step into what it hopes will be its manufacturing future this morning as longshoremen at the Port of Cleveland began unloading a European-made wind turbine.
Working hand-in-hand with the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, Lincoln Electric ordered the 2.5 megawatt (2½ million watts) from Kenersys, of Munster, Germany, last October. It arrived here through the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The energy task force has worked for six years to attract a turbine maker to Northeast Ohio to manufacture the giant machines for Ohio wind projects as well as others across the Great Lakes.
Kenersys is considering building a manufacturing facility in Northeast Ohio. The task force hopes to put even larger turbines in Lake Erie.
Lincoln manufactures precise, robotic welding equipment needed to weld turbine tower sections together.
The company plans to have the Kenersys turbine installed at its Euclid headquarters by late May. It will be the largest turbine in Ohio.
by jboullion | Apr 27, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a commentary by Steve Hiniker, executive director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget has more than enough pain to go around. Schools get hit with more than $800 million in cuts over the next two years. Recycling programs are not funded. Health care for seniors and the poor are slashed. Local road aids are cut. Some transit systems may not survive the proposed reductions. State revenue sharing is going down, putting more pressure at the local level to cover the costs of cuts to state aids – and without raising property taxes.
It’s called austerity.
Unless you happen to be a road builder.
Then this budget is called a bonanza.
While other programs are cut, highway expansion projects totaling more than $400 million get the green light. Highway expansion raids the general fund of more than $140 million, crushing any arguments that “highway users pay for the costs of roads.” In fact, the general fund and property taxes will pay about half of roadway costs in the future. So-called user fees are soon to be eclipsed by decidedly nonuser fees.
When you look at the increase in highway spending, it is also important to pay attention to where the money goes. Local road aids are cut, meaning that even though there is more money going for major highway expansion, there is less money for local units of government to fix those bone-jarring potholes that crop up every spring. Maintenance dollars for highways are down as well.
Walker has said that the highway expansion is needed for our economic recovery. The governor is putting a lot of faith – and capital – in having superhighways be the cornerstone of the state’s economic recovery. After all, he could have put the money in building better communities with better schools as a basis of economic development.
All of this seems bizarre when you consider that we are driving less than ever. We are in the fifth year of a steady decline in miles driven by each Wisconsin resident. The numbers of miles driven will likely decline even more as the cost of gas continues to climb above $4 a gallon. In fact, it is because we are driving less that the governor is proposing to raid the general fund for highways.
As people drive fewer miles with more fuel-efficient vehicles, they use less gas and the amount collected in gas taxes decreases. So in order to expand highways, non-transportation fund dollars need to be raised. This is why Walker is pushing transit aids out of the transportation fund and is raiding everything from general fund dollars to the environmental fund to pay for bigger roads.
But if people are driving less, why expand highways?
