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Farm Events: |
Farm News: Ag Groups Oppose Clean Energy Jobs ActcommentsPosted: 04.15.2010 The Clean Energy Jobs Act is a formula for net job losses without significant compensating environmental benefits, an informal coalition of Wisconsin agricultural interests said Wednesday. Agricultural organizations meeting in Madison discussed new provisions of the bill, derived in part from recommendations of Governor Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming, and concluded that it fails to address concerns raised when the original proposal was introduced in January.
“No matter what else might result from this legislation, it will force everybody in Wisconsin to pay higher prices for energy,” said Bill Oemichen President & CEO of Cooperative Network. “It will mean more expensive electricity and additional costs for using propane and home heating fuel. There is never a right time for that, but in a deep recession, the timing couldn’t be more wrong.”
Mention of the bill’s origin as a global warming remedy have become scarce, as proponents have sought to focus attention on job creation in a green energy-based economy. State agencies have estimated the bill’s renewable energy mandates will cause the creation of 15,000 jobs over the next 15 years.
An independent economic analysis prepared last winter by a Boston think-tank, the Beacon Hill Institute, warned that the legislation could destroy more than 40,000 existing jobs by causing manufacturers and other businesses to flee Wisconsin in response to higher energy costs.
The bill mandates that 25 percent of all the electricity sold in Wisconsin must come from renewable energy sources by 2025. Estimates published last year by the Public Service Commission indicate the additional wind energy infrastructure needed to satisfy that mandate would require Wisconsin power providers to spend more than $14 billion.
According to the Commission’s Strategic Energy Assessment 2014, 400 megawatts of new wind generation would have to be built each year. With today’s turbine technology, that would mean finding sites for about 200 new turbines every year until 2025.
Proponents of the legislation have publicly conceded that even if all its goals are met successfully, it will have negligible effect on reducing Wisconsin’s carbon dioxide emissions. An independent analysis performed for the Global Warming Task Force showed that even with the legislation fully implemented, CO2 emissions from the state would still be higher by 2024 than in 2005, the year used as the base for calculations.
“If someone has figured out how to grow an economy and create more jobs by making energy more expensive, it would be the first time in history,” said John Petty, Executive Director, Wisconsin Agri-Service Association.
The coalition includes farm, commodity and agribusiness associations representing major agricultural groups active in state policy formulation for rural Wisconsin.
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