Aims for 25 percent cut in emissions
Janet Moldenhauer told legislators
she wasn't about to debate the science of global warming, just share what she
has observed in her own hometown of Oshkosh.
"I just know Lake Winnebago is
down and you can't fish in some of the streams because they are dry," the
retired University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh water sports instructor told members of
the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Tuesday.
"You don't have to call it
global warming, but it is climate change," she added.
More than 100 people packed a
hearing room in the state Capitol to hear testimony on the Wisconsin Safe
Climate Act, a bill that is aimed at addressing global warming by reducing the
state's carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2029, about a 25 percent cut
in emissions.
Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, and
Sen. Mark Miller, D-Madison, introduced the legislation in February after
California passed a similar measure.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton praised the
legislators' initiative but said the bill does not go far enough.
"In fact I worry it might be
inadequate to the task before us," she said. "In terms of developed
countries we're way behind the curve."
"We need to be at least in line
with other nations and the states around us," she added.
In an interview, Lawton said that
other states and countries have set emissions-cutting goals starting as early
as 2010 and extending beyond 2020.
Under Miller and Black's bill, the
administrative rules guiding the new standards would not be issued until 2013,
she noted.
"If you look at London, Tokyo,
Rio, they all aim to hit seven percent below 1990 levels, which is a more
ambitious goal, and hit it by 2012, which is a year before we even promulgate
rules," Lawton noted.
Lawton said a resolution calling for
a cut in greenhouse emissions drew the support this summer of most of the
nation's lieutenant governors, including Republicans. She said she hoped
Republicans in the state legislature would also support a greenhouse emissions
bill.
But so far no Republicans have
signed onto Miller and Black's bill.
Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, told
legislators the proposal would "have no impact on the issue of global
warming."
Ott, who has a master's degree in
climatology and worked as a meteorologist for television news in Milwaukee,
called the bill "feel-good legislation" that would result in higher
prices for consumers and lower wages for workers.
Ott pointed out that under the bill,
manufacturers and electric utilities would have the option of paying a tax,
lowering their production levels, installing expensive pollution controls or
buying carbon credits. Under this scenario, he said, the bill would have no
measurable effect on the state's emissions levels.
"I see it as throwing a bucket
of water into the swimming pool," he said.
Edward J. Wilusz, vice-resident of
government relations for the Wisconsin Paper Council, which represents
Wisconsin's papermaking industry, noted that his industry would be
significantly affected by the bill.
"We are the largest industrial
energy user in the state," he said. "We are also the largest
industrial CO2 emitter in the state. This means that CO2 reduction mandates,
such as those in SB 81, would directly impact our industry."
Wilusz said because his members
compete in the global marketplace, any reduction programs "need to be
imposed on a global basis."
He said the regulations proposed by
Black and Miller are "unfair and a prescription for failure."
But Sister Janet Weyker, director of
the Racine Dominican Eco-Justice Center and a board member of the Wisconsin
Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign, said that lawmakers had a "moral
obligation to protect and care for Earth."
"Voting for measures that will
ensure a safer climate is a matter of acknowledging the truth of what human
activity is doing to the climate and a matter of acting for justice on behalf
of Earth and all who live on the planet now and into the future."
Wisconsin is a significant
contributor of carbon dioxide emissions. Since 1990, the state's emissions have
increased by 25 percent, more than the national average.
According to the environmental
advocacy group Wisconsin Environment, average temperatures in Wisconsin
increased by .7 degrees during the 20th century, the period of ice cover on the
lakes has declined and spring arrives earlier in the year.
Many of the speakers Tuesday said
the state must move ahead because the federal government has failed to take action
on global warming.
Pres. George Bush has refused in the
past to participate in international talks on global warming, but will, in the
wake of this week's United Nations summit on the topic, convene a meeting in
Washington on Thursday and Friday with 16 of the biggest polluting economies.
According to news sources, Bush has appointed Secretary of State Condoleeza
Rice to chair the meeting and he will address the group. He did not address the
UN climate summit on Monday.
Gov. Jim Doyle has also convened a
task force on global warming. Its recommendations are due out in December,
Lawton said.
Groups supporting the Wisconsin Safe
Climate Act include League of Women Voters, the John Muir chapter of the Sierra
Club, Clean Wisconsin Inc., Wisconsin Farmers Union and Wisconsin Wildlife
Federation. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Wisconsin Industrial Energy
Group Inc. and Midwest Food Processors Association are among those who are
opposed.
by Judith Davidoff
