by jboullion | Jul 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Citizens Utility Board (CUB):
MADISON – The Citizens Utility Board filed a lawsuit on Friday, July 2 against the Public Service Commission for its decision to allow Wisconsin Power & Light to give discounts to industrial customers that will likely be subsidized by residential customers and others.
Wisconsin Power and Light, a utility subsidiary of Alliant Energy, applied with the PSC on November 13, 2009 for permission to offer an “economic development rate” that would provide certain large industrial customers with discounts on electricity service. The PSC issued an order approving this rate on June 4, 2010.
CUB has long been opposed to rates with discounts, because they usually force other customers to pay for the discount. The laws that regulate utility service in Wisconsin prohibit utilities from charging rates that provide discounts to one customer that are subsidized by other customers. CUB noted many of these concerns in correspondence to the PSC dated February 17 and March 16, 2010, and in its lawsuit filed last Friday.
Although PSC Chairperson Eric Callisto and Commissioner Mark Meyer approved the discounted rates, Commissioner Lauren Azar voted against them, noting that subsidies for certain industrial customers may cause higher rates for residential and commercial customers. Ms. Azar also issued a dissenting opinion on June 25, 2010, in which she called the rate “essentially a giveaway to businesses.”
“CUB filed this lawsuit to protect residential customers from subsidizing large, politically powerful companies,” said CUB executive director Charlie Higley. “The job of the PSC is to set electric rates that are fair, just, and reasonable, and the economic development rate approved by the PSC violates these legal principles.”
by jboullion | Jul 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Governor Jim Doyle on the success of the ten communities in Energy Independent (EI) Pilot — Brown County; Chequamegon Bay (including the cities of Ashland, Bayfield and Washburn, the towns of Bayfield and La Pointe, the counties of Ashland and Bayfield, the Red Cliff tribe and the Bay Area Regional Transit authority); Columbus; Evansville; Fairfield; Marshfield; Oconomowoc; Osceola, including the school district; Platteville and Lancaster; Spring Green, including the school district:
MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle today announced ten Energy Independent (EI) Pilot Communities are well on their way toward achieving “25 x 25” – getting 25 percent of their electricity and 25 percent of their transportation fuels from renewable sources by 2025.
“Through the EI Pilot program communities have found ways to reduce their overall 2025 fossil fuel-based energy consumption by 30 percent,” said Governor Doyle. “This is significant considering we spend $16 billion on fossil fuel energy every year in Wisconsin, and all those dollars go outside of our state. We are finding ways to reduce our dependence
and generate jobs in Wisconsin.”
Two independent reports released by the Office of Energy Independence revealed how the ten EI Pilot Communities were able to accomplish 98 percent of their collective 25 x 25 goal.
The communities reduced their overall 2025 fossil fuel-based energy consumption by 30 percent and reduced their 2025 carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent.
The information gathered by the EI Pilot Communities will assist Wisconsin local units of government including the 140 EI Communities to decide which strategies will work best with their unique assets and capitalize on the diversity of their resources.
The reports were conducted by two non-partisan research and policy organizations: the Local Government Institute and the Energy Center of Wisconsin.
by jboullion | Jul 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Jessica Larsen in The Tomah Journal:
About 40 residents attended a public hearing in Tomah on Tuesday to present their opinions about wind turbine siting to the Public Service Commission.
The PSC held afternoon and evening meetings at the Tomah Holiday Inn. The Tomah hearing was one of several held around Wisconsin.
The general consensus was support for wind turbines as long as there were educated regulations for where and how to build them. Seventeen residents voiced their opinion, and other attendees wrote theirs out in the hour-long meeting.
The information received from each hearing and other submitted testimonies will be reviewed by the commission and incorporated into the Wind Siting Rule this summer. The commission will then send the final Wind Siting Rule to the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate. The rule will be assigned to a committee in each house, and the committees have 30 days to review it and may hold public hearings. After legislative review, the final Wind Siting Rule takes effect.
Vernon County resident Natalie McIntire said she supports the emergence of wind power.
“Wind development will bring benefits to residents like me,” she said. “But if Wisconsin adopts unreasonable rules, it will drive benefits to other states.”
Speakers discussed the bad side effects such as the noise, flicker, health of those near the turbines and loss of scenery.
“I really wish, hope and pray that you would not put these in our country,” said Gurido VonAulock.
by jboullion | Jun 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
The PSC will hold a hearing in Tomah on June 29.
From an article by Colleen Kottke in the Fond du Lac Reporter:
They came from near and far, packing Legislative Chambers at the City County Government Center in Fond du Lac Monday to voice their opinions about proposed wind farm siting rules to be crafted by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.
The proposed rules would ultimately result in uniform wind farm siting standards for local units of government, replacing a patchwork of different rules and moratoriums that have been imposed by counties and towns around the state in relation to small wind power projects.
The public hearings, scheduled around the state this week, were launched by the state Legislature after it passed a uniform siting law in October.
Using citizen input, the PSC will draft legislation touching on controversial issues such as maximum sound levels and setback requirements. Once passed, municipalities considering ordinances for wind farms would not be allowed to make their local ordinance more restrictive than the state model. . . .
“Right now the proposed rules are just a draft; that’s why the public comments are very important. There are a lot of interested parties and we want to make sure this is a balanced process,” said Deborah Erwin, renewable energy policy analyst for the PSC.
Energy slacker
Barnaby Dinges, owner of a public relations firm and member of the American Wind Energy Association, warned that more restrictive rules for siting wind farms would further harm the state’s quest to build its alternative energy portfolio.
“Wisconsin is already an energy slacker. We’re the only Midwest state that doesn’t currently have a major wind energy project under construction,” Dinges said. “New restrictions will make the state even less desirable for development of wind projects.”
He pointed out that the Wisconsin PSC already has a rigorous wind farm approval process in place for wind farms over 100 mega watts.
by jboullion | Jun 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Rick Olivo in the La Crosse Tribune:
BARKSDALE, Wis. – One of the fundamental tenants of Christianity is the duty of Christians to care for those less well off than themselves.
Indeed, the New Testament plainly states that when one gives food to those who hunger, drink to those who thirst, they do more than aid a fellow human being.
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me,” reads Chapter 25 of the Book of Matthew.
It is an injunction that a number of bay area residents have taken to heart through the Northern Garden of Life, an effort to provide high quality fruits and vegetables, locally and sustainably grown, available at moderate cost to the general public, with profits and a substantial selection of the crop going to the BRICK ministries. The funds go to assist the BRICK’s programs for the needy and the vegetables and fruit are made available for distribution to families and individuals in need of food.
The Northern Garden of Life is located on a five-acre tract of land on Cherryville Road in the Town of Barksdale. Surrounded by woods, the farm is in its second year of operation and would be the envy of any home gardener. Surrounded by a deer and bear-proof fence, the field is exquisitely maintained by a corps of volunteers who give of their time to grow crops that include tomatoes, potatoes, corn, onions, garlic, squash, watermelons, beans, cucumbers, grapes, carrots, cantaloupes, herbs, cabbage, cauliflower, and a host of other garden delights. Water is supplied to the garden through slow-drip irrigation tubes placed next to the plants and fed from a 5,000-gallon plastic water tank that is, in turn, filled from a well dug on the property specifically to serve the facility. There is also a 2,500-gallon tank stocked with a fertilizer solution available.
The garden is located on land owned by Town of Barksdale resident George Vernon. He says the effort is a natural outgrowth of the beliefs held by the volunteers who keep the Northern Garden of Life going.
