by jboullion | Jan 21, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by in The Chippewa Herald:
Gov. Scott Walker scrapped plans Thursday to convert a power plant to run on natural fuels such as wood chips and paper pellets, a move that could save up to $100 million but drew stern criticism from at least one environmental group.
The decision affects the Charter Street Heating Plant on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Its coal-fired burners will be retired next year and were to be replaced with two boilers that run on natural gas and a third that would burn biomass, state officials said.
However, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said only the natural-gas burners will be installed.
“We have decided not to proceed with the biomass boiler in order to save the state taxpayers money,” he said in a statement. The savings would come from avoiding construction costs of about $100 million, he said. It was not clear whether the third planned boiler would be replaced or the two natural gas boilers would produce enough power on their own.
Jeff Plale, an administrator for the state Division of State Facilities, said Walker and Huebsch realized there were cheaper ways to meet the university’s heating needs while still being environmentally friendly.
“Natural gas is a clean source of energy, certainly cleaner than coal,” Plale said. “That plant is going to be a whole lot cleaner than it is today. Couple that with being able to save $100 million during a very difficult budget and I think the people of Wisconsin come out better.”
In 2008, then-Gov. Jim Doyle announced that the plant would switch from coal to biomass in part to settle a Sierra Club lawsuit claiming that the plant violated air-pollution laws. Thursday’s move does not risk reopening the lawsuit because the plant is still moving away from coal.
The decision to walk away from biomass shows a lack of long-term thinking, Sierra Club spokeswoman Jennifer Feyerherm said. She called it another in a string of Walker’s actions that kills jobs and wastes money while missing a chance to develop greener solutions.
“This was a way to keep money local, to keep the investment in Wisconsin,” she said. “While up front it may seem to cost more, it would have kept the money local, created a green infrastructure and created local jobs.”
She said the jobs would include growing and harvesting the biomass, converting it into a form that could burned and transporting it to the plant.
by jboullion | Jan 20, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in the La Crosse Tribune:
Cue the overture to “Gone with the Wind.”
Gov. Scott Walker already has thrown back $810 million in federal funding for high-speed rail — and the jobs and investment attached — to other states, including Illinois.
Now, he wants to make sure Wisconsin blows an opportunity to develop wind energy — development that our neighbors to the west have blown past Wisconsin on.
Denise Bode, CEO of American Wind Energy Association, says the governor’s new regulations for wind energy would imperil a dozen Wisconsin wind farms worth $1.8 billion and 950 full-time jobs.
So, we’re forced to ask once again: When does Wisconsin get some of the 250,000 new jobs that Walker has promised — and when does he intend to stop creating jobs in other states at our expense?
The governor is pushing a regulatory bill that would quadruple the distance that a wind turbine is set back from another property. Opponents say that may kill any current or future wind-turbine operation.
In Walker-speak, that’s known as a job-killer.
The proposed regulations are especially troubling because they could cause problems for an innovative partnership between Gundersen Lutheran and Organic Valley. The two organization plan to split the $11.5 million cost of their project near Organic Valley’s distribution center in Cashton. A spokesman said they hope to order turbines within two weeks and begin generating electricity by November.
Isn’t that the type of entrepreneurial innovation and dynamic partnership that Wisconsin needs to grow the economy — especially with green energy?
by jboullion | Jan 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a story on WXOW, La-Crosse, WI:
ONALASKA, Wisconsin (WXOW)– La Crosse County is teaming up with Gundersen Lutheran to make our local landfill a renewable energy source.
It maybe hard to believe that seventy thousand tons of garbage can be put to good use, but the Gas to Energy Project is turning solid waste biogas into heat and energy.
The way this process works is, as this garbage begins to decompose it creates methane gas. The La Crosse County Landfill collects the gas in underground pipelines and later, burns the substance.
With this new program, methane would no longer be wasted.
It instead will be sent via an underground pipeline to Gundersen Lutheran in Onalaska.
The project is estimated to cost around 3.3 million dollars.
It requires a two mile pipeline to be installed underground from the landfill to the Onalaska Gundersen Lutheran facility.
Gundersen Lutheran says construction of this project is expected to begin sometime this spring.
The project is expected to offset about 12 percent of Gundersen Lutheran’s total energy use.
It is a sustainability investment that will pay itself back within five years.
by jboullion | Jan 18, 2011 | Uncategorized
For immediate release:
January 18, 2011
More information
Michael Vickerman
Executive Director
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Walker’s Wind Siting Proposal Strips Local Control
Mandating by statute an extreme setback distance for commercial wind turbines, Governor Scott Walker’s wind siting proposal would strip local governments of their ability to negotiate lesser setback distances with wind developers, according to RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide renewable energy advocacy group.
Walker’s proposal would require a setback distance between a turbine and neighboring property line of 1,800 feet, which can be shortened only by an agreement between the project owner and owners of adjoining properties, entirely bypassing towns and counties.
Walker’s proposal would eliminate the ability of local governments to attract wind developments that would generate revenues in lieu of taxes to help buffer the expected cuts to local governments in the upcoming state budget.
A story in the Fond du Lac Reporter on January 12 quoted town and county officials as saying the wind project revenue helped save on property taxes by filling the gap between rising municipal expenses and declining state-paid shared revenue dollars.
“We’ve seen five towns in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties enter into joint development agreements specifying reasonable setback distances because town officials wanted to capture the economic benefits of hosting wind projects larger than 50 megawatts,” Vickerman said.
The statewide siting rule, approved by the Public Service Commission (PSC) and set to take effect March 1, preserved local government authority to specify less restrictive conditions.
“This unreasonable proposal is a steamroller driven by anti-wind special interests, like realtors, bent on denying local governments the ability to decide what’s in their best interests,” said Vickerman.
by jboullion | Jan 17, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in The Tomah Journal:
Perhaps it’s Gov. Scott Walker’s goal to have 99 percent of Wisconsin’s energy come from fossil fuels by 2020.
How else to explain his push to effectively ban wind turbines in Wisconsin?
A governor who said job creation is his top priority couldn’t wait two weeks into his new administration before putting the kibosh on the state’s wind energy business.
Walker’s proposal would mandate minimum setbacks of 1,800 feet between a wind turbine and the nearest property line. That compares with a setback distance of 1,250 feet from a neighboring residence approved by the Public Service Commission in a rule adopted last year.
How draconian are Walker’s proposed rules?
“There are very few locations in the entire Badger State that could overcome such extreme constraints,” said Michael Vickerman of Renew Wisconsin. “You can count the locations on the fingers of one hand.”
Walker’s proposal is wrong on multiple levels.
*Renewable energy. Like it or not, fossil fuels are a finite resource, but Walker has shown an almost mindless hostility toward alternative energy and alternative transportation. It doesn’t take a tree hugger to question that hostility. Wisconsin has no fossil fuel resources of its own, and every BTU generated by oil and coal represents dollars that leave the state.
*Jobs. It takes labor to manufacture, build and maintain wind turbines. The same governor who killed a big chunk of the passenger train industry in Wisconsin is poised to terminate the wind turbine industry.
*Private property rights. The same governor who can’t wait to allow developers to fill wetlands suddenly transforms into the great regulator when it comes to contracts between private property owners and wind turbine companies.
