by Benjamin Yount
The new Clean Energy Plan from Wisconsin’s governor would mean a huge change in how the state gets its electricity, and how much people will pay for it.
Gov. Tony Evers unveiled his plan on Tuesday.
The governor said the plan includes more investments in wind and solar projects, a push to get more people to drive electric cars in Wisconsin, and a push to have the state carbon free by 2050.
“Wisconsinites believe in conservation, and we want to protect our natural resources while protecting our pocketbooks at the same time,” the governor said in a statement for the plan.
But the governor didn’t get into the specifics.
Namely, the massive shift in electricity production in Wisconsin.
The governor’s clean energy report says just 4% of Wisconsin’s electricity comes from non-hydro renewables like wind and solar. Evers’ report says 75% of electricity in the state comes from coal-fired or natural gas power plants. Then there are the governor’s plans to reduce energy use by farmers and manufacturers in the state, his hope to modernize and ‘green’ the state’s buildings, and his desire to achieve energy equity with the plan.
No one is saying how Wisconsin will pay for any of it.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Wisconsin’s largest business group, says taxpayers and businesses in the state will end-up bearing the costs.
“Wisconsin businesses are committed to sustainability and protecting our state’s precious natural resources. However, Gov. Evers’ plan is not only unaffordable, it is unrealistic. Wisconsinites have seen costs explode for electricity, natural gas for heat and gasoline over the last year, and the governor’s plan would only make things worse,” WMC’s Scott Manley said.
Gov. Evers said the cost of doing nothing is too much to ignore.
“Wisconsin’s economy depends on fresh air, clean water, and fruitful land. But it’s more than that—it’s part of who we are as a people, from handing down a family farm to teaching the next generation to hunt or fish to showing a loved one a new park or trail. We must deliver on the promise we made to our kids by leaving them a better life and world than the one we inherited, and this plan will ensure we can deliver on that promise for generations to come,” the governor said.
Manley said Gov. Evers will have to tell that to people across the state who are struggling to afford their energy bills right now.
“Gov. Evers’ has ignored the crushing economic toll this plan would have on the state at the exact time countless people are struggling to pay the bills and buy everyday items like groceries and gasoline,” Manley added.
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Tony Evers” by Tony Evers.
