Clean Wisconsin’s 2007-08 legislative agenda:
Innovative solutions to pressing environmental challenges

Keith Reopelle

Here is a brief look at Clean Wisconsin’s 2007-08 legislative agenda. We’re working hard to provide innovative solutions to pressing environmental challenges.

Great Lakes Compact: Protecting our greatest natural resource

Clean Wisconsin worked hard to support the development of the Great Lakes Sustainable Water Resources Agreement signed by Governor Doyle, two Canadian Premiers, and the other seven Great Lakes States Governors on December 13, 2005. In order for that agreement to become a binding Compact that protects the Great Lakes for future generations, all eight states must now adopt the Compact in their respective states. Keith Reopelle, Clean Wisconsin’ Program Director, serves on a Legislative Council Study Committee that is drafting legislation that would ratify and implement the Compact in Wisconsin. The other seven states are also working to pass this legislation, although Wisconsin is the only state - through this Compact Study Committee - that is developing implementing language that defines how the Compact will work in Wisconsin, along with the ratifying language signed by all eight states. The Compact is designed to prevent major diversions of water out of the Great Lakes Basin. However, it also sets standards for Great Lake water use by municipalities and industry within the basin. A key aspect of this legislation is to create the first water conservation program in the state to protect and restore depleted groundwater supplies in addition to protecting the Great Lakes for future generations.

Energy efficiency: Cornerstone of a clean energy future

After leading the effort to pass a major clean energy bill last spring, Clean Wisconsin will again make energy efficiency its highest energy priority for improving the state’s energy policy. One bill that Clean Wisconsin is helping legislators introduce would create minimum efficiency standards for a number of appliances and other products that the federal government has failed to set such standards for. Minimum standards would be created for products such as residential furnaces, DVD players, pool pumps and heaters, walk-in refrigerators and light fixtures. By 2020 the appliance and equipment standards Clean Wisconsin is proposing would reduce global warming emissions by 294,000 tons and sulfur dioxide by more than 4,000 tons. They would also save homeowners and businesses $134 million in energy bills. In a separate bill, Clean Wisconsin is working with labor unions and teachers to invest $30 million in efficiency improvements in schools. These investments would not only save energy and reduce pollution, but save strapped school districts across the state millions of dollars.

Responsible solutions for global warming

Clean Wisconsin has made global warming emission reductions a top priority and is committed to developing solutions that help Wisconsin do its part to curb global warming, while investing in Wisconsin resources, industries and workers. Global warming is a major challenge but also creates opportunities, and we’re dedicated to positioning Wisconsin to be a leader in the transition to a clean energy future. To avoid the worst impacts to Wisconsin’s resources and public health we need to make deep cuts in emissions and this will require addressing all sectors. We will work with a variety of agencies including the DNR, Public Service Commission and Department of Transportation. We will also work with the Governor and his newly appointed Global Warming Task Force; we applaud his leadership in taking this important first step and for proposing major investments in clean energy technology in his biennial budget. We will also be working with legislators this year to develop bills that address the impacts of global warming on Wisconsin and the policy solutions needed to tackle this critical threat.

Protecting our children from mercury contamination

Clean Wisconsin has helped legislators draft a bill that will phase out the use of mercury in a variety of products including thermostats, switches, relays and measuring devices. The DNR estimates that more than 5,000 pounds of mercury are emitted to the environment each year in Wisconsin from products that are incinerated, landfilled, or otherwise discarded. Our proposed legislation would phase out the sale of products with mercury that have alternatives to mercury readily available at a reasonable cost. Similar legislation has passed in several New England states. Mercury is a neurotoxin that adversely affects the brain and nervous system development in young children and fetuses when their mothers eat mercury contaminated fish. Based on Wisconsin Department of Health studies that examined blood mercury levels in women of childbearing ages, we estimate that more than 9,000 children are likely to be born in Wisconsin every year with some degree of reduced memory function, attention span and IQ due to mercury poisoning. This legislation is a critical step towards getting mercury out of our fish and keeping mercury out of our children.

If you would like to become more directly involved in Clean Wisconsin’s work, go to www.CleanWisconsin.org and click on TAKE ACTION!