Legislators held a public hearing on a comprehensive green energy bill Wednesday that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources.
The bill specifies statewide goals in greenhouse gas reductions, including standards which would decrease gas emissions to their 2005 levels.
It also stipulates that by 2030 each newly constructed building or home in the state should use no more energy than is generated on-site through renewable sources.
Other goals of the bill include reductions in statewide consumption of electricity, liquefied petroleum, heating oil and natural gas.
The Department of Natural Resources would be in charge of assessing information on state greenhouse gas emissions and preparing reports on whether the state is meeting the standards in the bill.
Currently, the DNR’s threshold for carbon dioxide emissions is 100,000 tons per year. The bill would lower this threshold to 10,000 tons per year.
Rod Nilsestuen, secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said the bill would confront some of the biggest issues facing the state right now in renewable and green energy.
“We have a whole host of businesses who have the opportunity and the capacity to grow into this green economy,” Nilsestuen said at the hearing. “We can compete — and compete effectively — if we do it right, if we provide the political framework necessary.”
Nilsestuen added Wisconsin has no oil or natural gas resources of its own, which has lead to the state spending $16 billion in energy costs every year.
The state needs to reform its energy policies if we want to move our state forward, Nilsestuen said.
“If we’re ever going to really reduce our dependency on foreign oil and coal, we’ve got to ensure that farmers and land owners and businesses across the state can be sustainable, and there can be security in making investments and getting loans to do that,” Nilsestuen said. “We think this isn’t the end all, be all piece of legislation, but it certainly moves us in that direction.”
The bill would also tie Wisconsin’s motor vehicle emissions standards to the same emissions standards in place in California.
Currently, all states have to follow the standards put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency, however the EPA gave California permission to exact its own stricter standards.
Other states are only allowed to modify their own emissions standards if they change them to California standards.
Rep. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, said he had concerns over the carbon fuel standards because he does not like the idea of tying the state of Wisconsin to California’s standards.
“If all the sudden we were tied to California, they have things like fleet controls that limit the number of trucks and SUVs that can be sold. We’re a state that hunts and fishes and farms. People like their trucks here, people like their SUVs,” Plale said at the hearing.
