MADISON, Wis. — A massive bill laying out sweeping renewable energy goals for Wisconsin could be in serious trouble as the legislative session winds down.
Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said Friday he doesn't support the measure because he thinks it will raise utility rates. He said Senate leaders are still trying to reach a compromise, but he can't support anything that would raise people's electric bills.
Rep. Spencer Black, a Madison Democrat and one of the bill's chief authors, said Decker doesn't realize the bill would save rate payers millions over the next decade and a half.
"I'm ... disappointed in the rationale he gives because it's just wrong," Black said. "I know many people who are concerned about jobs and utility rates are talking to him, as well as many senators who are very supportive. It's certainly not too late to get it done. But the ball is in Sen. Decker's court."
The bill isn't scheduled for debate in either house on Tuesday. That leaves just Thursday — Earth Day and the last day of the session — to get it done.
Democrats have worked for months to enact recommendations from a task force Gov. Jim Doyle created to combat climate change.
In January, they unveiled a measure that required a quarter of the state's energy come from wind, solar, biomass or other renewable sources by 2025. The bill also eased restrictions on nuclear energy, tightened building codes to increase energy efficiency, imposed idling restrictions and mandated car emission standards similar to California's, then the toughest standards in the country.
But the business community split over the bill, and a fierce lobbying battle ensued. Opponents argue the measure would cost utilities billions to comply, in turn driving up utility rates and forcing job cuts. Supporters counter those claims are exaggerated, saying the measure would create thousands of jobs in the green energy sector, save millions of dollars by 2025 as state dependency on expensive coal and oil wanes and result in cleaner air.
Black and the bill's key Senate sponsor, Monona Democrat Mark Miller, unveiled revisions this week that included dropping the emissions standards and requirements for low-carbon fuel use. They added language that would expand idling restrictions and allow utilities to charge rate payers an extra 0.2 percent of their annual revenue for up to four years to fund small-scale renewable generation facilities.
The new bill retains the nuclear provisions and the 25 percent by 2025 renewable standard. Opponents in the business community say the bill remains far too expensive.
An analysis by the state Public Service Commission, which regulates Wisconsin utilities, though, concluded the new measure could cut as much as $3.7 billion off the state's total electricity bill by 2025. Average utility bills will be lower than the status quo, the report added.
An identical version of the bill must pass both the Senate and Assembly before it can go to Doyle for his signature. Doyle has called the revisions a good compromise.
The Assembly's Special Committee on Clean Energy Jobs approved the bill on a 6-3 vote Thursday, a day after it was reintroduced, clearing the way for a full vote in the Assembly.
A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, issued a statement saying Sheridan believes the bill holds great potential for job creation and is still talking to his caucus about the bill. Black, though, said the body will wait to see what the Senate does since Decker is key to passage.
Miller issued a statement Friday reiterating the bill would save on electric bills and create jobs and he's working to set up a committee vote in Senate.In a telephone interview he would say only that he was working toward passage.
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This is really a depressing article. Currently, there are already many non-government organizations that support the growth of renewable energy businesses, yet a move is coming to disapprove a bill that supports usage of renewable energy due to it's effects on increase utility/electricity rates.
Knowing the effects that the government can cause on certain issues, we must not be blinded by aspects that only affects us in the short term level. Instead we must focus on educating people of how renewable energy can help us in the long term by reducing the effects of climate change and a having pollution-free world.
The Madison government should take unto consideration initial steps to fully educated their community before fully considering options. Secondly, they should also view the opportunities it can add for many businessmen and possible job openings. The potential that it will drive in peoples mind through future expansions and discoveries.
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