Report details environmental and economic benefits for Wisconsin
Wisconsin's Environmental Decade and RENEW Wisconsin have published the Green Energy Plan for meeting Wisconsin's future electric energy needs. The plan emphasizes energy efficiency and native renewable resources as an alternative to the utilities' plans which continue Wisconsin's heavy reliance on polluting fossil fuels.
"The Green Plan is green in two ways," said Keith Reopelle, Associate Director of Wisconsin's Environmental Decade. "It's green by going easy on the environment, but it's also green because of the dollars it pumps into Wisconsin's economy."
Wisconsin currently sends over $6 billion a year (or $1,200 per person) out of state to pay for fossil fuel imports. "That's producing a lot of jobs extracting coal, gas and oil in other states and other countries," said Reopelle. "By using conservation and renewable resources available here in Wisconsin, the Green Plan keeps some of that money in the state and would create thousands of new jobs right here."
The Green Plan would meet twice as much of the state's energy needs through conservation programs as the utility's plans. The Green Plan also proposes a real commitment to wind energy and biomass or energy crops. "The utilities' plans for 323 megawatts (MW) of renewables are not in compliance with the PSC's previous orders which established a target of 821 MW of renewable capacity by the year 2010," said Michael Vickerman of RENEW Wisconsin. "The utilities' plans increase our dependency on fossil fuel imports and the pollution associated with burning those fuels."
UTILITY DEREGULATION CLOUDS WISCONSIN'S ENERGY FUTURE
The state's three largest electric utilities - Wisconsin Electric Power Co., Wisconsin Power and Light, and Northern States Power - are seeking deregulation of their industry. The audacious proposal has come under fire from smaller investor-owned and municipal utilities as well as organizations representing local governments, small businesses, senior citizens, conservation groups, health organizations and property owners. Deregulation would enable utilities to sell power to customers of their own choosing, to raise rates whenever they please, and to give sweetheart deals to large industrial energy users at the smaller customer's expense. Environmental planning would disappear. Many energy policy experts are wondering why Wisconsin would want to change it's highly successful electric energy regulatory policies. "Wisconsin has some of the lowest electrical rates and most profitable utility companies in the nation," says Dave Merritt, with the Citizens' Utility Boards. "Our low cost energy is a competitive advantage for Wisconsin businesses and draws new business to the state. Clearly this situation is a result of the investment, hard work and careful planning required under the current regulatory system." Frank Jablonski, an attorney representing consumer, environmental and renewable energy interests before the Public Service Commission, agrees. "Unlike other states Wisconsin doesn't have billion dollar power plants, half finished but not needed, marring its landscape and burdening its bills," says Jablonski. "Wisconsin has built only the most cost-effective generating plants when it needed them and has lowered its bills further by requiring investments in efficiency. And because we have engaged in long-term planning for the deployment of clean resources like wind energy and crop combustion, we are now poised to capitalize on the rapidly growing worldwide market for these technologies." Wisconsin's hard-won advantages are threatened now because large energy users in other states want our low cost energy created in Wisconsin, but don't want to move here to get it. "Instead of moving here, employing our citizen's and paying taxes in Wisconsin," says Jablonski, "they want to be allowed to pretend to isolate the lowest cost system and import it for themselves - leaving the more expensive stuff for the rest of us." Anticipating huge profits from this market-rigging scheme called 'retail wheeling,' Wisconsin's three biggest utilities have launched a multi-million dollar campaign to get permission to sell power out of state, and to undo the system of checks and balances that have served Wisconsin so well over the years. One thing utility lobbyists aren't telling legislators is that where utility deregulation has been tried elsewhere, it hasn't worked. In Norway and the United Kingdom, deregulation has widened the rate gap between small and large customers. In Wisconsin, large industrial users of energy already enjoy a rate break, and it is growing larger now that deregulation is a goal supported by the Public SERvice Commission. Consumer groups say that trend would accelerate if deregulation actually occurs. It's this fairness issue that is driving organizations, such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses, to object to radical deregulation. Deregulation allows utilities to cut service and jack up the price for small Wisconsin businesses and residential customers while passing the savings on to themselves and their favored customers. Smaller customers are likely to have to pay an enhanced service charge to ensure the same level of service they have now. To further reduce the industrial rate, large utilities are slashing investments in efficiency and renewable energy resource development. This effect is also documented in studies of utility deregulation in Great Britain and Norway. These measure drive up the long-term cost of energy, make Wisconsin more dependent on imported fossil fuels, and increase the already considerable air pollution and other environmental impacts of electrical energy use (See Wisconsin Walleyes - page 2). The WI State Conference of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers also opposes radical deregulation., Cutbacks in service and maintenance mean fewer jobs. Jobs in the industry are becoming more dangerous, because the utilities have abandoned preventative maintenance and now rely on crisis management. Most of the money Wisconsin consumers spend on energy creates jobs in other places. Wisconsin sends $6 billion out of state each year to import coal, gas and uranium. That money creates jobs in place like Wyoming, Louisiana and Russia," says Michael Vickerman of RENEW Wisconsin. "If Wisconsin utilities drop investments in efficiency and renewable resources like wind, solar and crop combustion - all resources which are available in Wisconsin - we'll continue to spend more money importing fuels and less money creating jobs." A 1994 Department of Administration study concluded that investments in renewable energy resources are much more effective in creating jobs and stimulating business opportunities than new fossil fuel plants. But according to Vickerman, radical deregulation, with its over-riding emphasis on lowering overhead and shifting the costs of pollution to taxpayers, would be disastrous for efficiency and renewables. To prepare for deregulation, WEPCO and WP&L have laid off over 1.000 employees in the last two years, may in the efficiency and renewable development areas. The impacts of deregulating the electric utilities are many, including 1000s of miles of new high voltage transmission lines crisscrossing the state to transfer cheap power from Western states and Canada to lucrative markets like Chicago. Utility executives claim these problems can be massaged away, but one conclusion is clear: If the constraints on utilities that have worked so well for so long are suddenly eliminated, citizens in Wisconsin will lose the power to influence the way power is produced, priced and delivered. The mechanisms the state has traditionally used to ensure fair rates for everyone will go by the boards and Wisconsin will enter an era where the public interest in energy independence, jobs, fairness to consumers and environmental protection is irrelevant in the setting of state energy policy.
Small Customers Will Be Big Losers Under Retail Wheeling
By Dennis Westhuis, Manager Waupun Public Utilities
Richard Abdoo's recent opinion column in various Wisconsin newspapers would lead readers to believe that "retail wheeling" will bring a better tomorrow for all electric customer, big or small. There is no experience or economic analysis to back up Abdoo's claims of benefits. There is simple no reason that Wisconsin should race to radically deregulate the electric industry, as WEPCO CEO Abdoo proposes. In fact, the only well documented experience to date with the massive utility privatization effort is in Britain. There deregulation has resulted in dramatic rate increases. Soaring stock prices at the privatized British utilities and fat paychecks for executives who run them have triggered consumer backlash. Furthermore, reliability is now a major concern in the British electric system. Last May WEPCO proposed a merger with Minnesota based Northern States Power Company. If the merger is approved, "Primergy" will be the tenth largest utility in the country and will serve nearly half the customers in Wisconsin. Last fall, WEPCO filed a request to increase electric rates 6 percent. This should give you an idea of Abdoo's definition of competition in the industry - control the market and name your price. Abdoo complains that Wisconsin isn't moving as fast as other states. This doesn't make any sense when you consider that the two states he suggests keeping up with are California and Michigan, two high cost electric states In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that in the weeks following California regulators decision, the state's three largest utilities lost a collective $4.4 billion in stock market value - a 20% hit. California's electric rates are among the highest in the nation. On April 5, The New York Times described what's happening in Michigan. "The 1.4 million residential customers of Consumers Power Company are seeing 8.2% rate increases this year. Meanwhile, the 9,000 industrial customers of the company will pay 4.2% less for power. Indeed, for a few giants - like General Motors - rates have already been slashed by 10-20% at many plants." Abdoo asked readers to exercise their freedom of speech. Do it! Radical deregulation of the industry will increase costs for most consumers, threatens economic development and will likely be as big a mess as deregulation of the phone industry. Tell your legislators that you expect no less than an assurance that all Wisconsin customers will benefit from industry changes.
A wide variety of businesses and organizations have already made it known that they oppose the deregulation of electric utilities in Wisconsin. But developing a pro-active alternative plan to deregulation will be a critical step in convincing legislators that these groups have Wisconsin's best interests - and not just their own - in mind. Many of these groups and businesses are now banding together to form the Local Energy and Economic Development Coalition (LEED). The LEED Coalition is developing its own plan for restructuring the industry, and it is a plan that focuses on putting Wisconsin's interests in affordable energy, job creation and environmental protection first. "Putting Wisconsin's interests first means we emphasize the use of our own renewable resources to generate electricity in Wisconsin, rather than increasing our reliance on imported fossil fuels," says Sam Gieryn, LEED Coordinator. "Emphasizing local resources means turning first to small businesses that provide energy efficiency services in Wisconsin farms that can provide clean burning crops for fuel, and the wind that blows across the rural ridges of our state. These energy sources will create more jobs, protect the environment and, importantly, lower energy bills - a benefit LEED passes on to all customers equally." LEED Coalition members have been following the wind all across Wisconsin, meeting with local community groups in an effort to develop an action plan for what is likely to be the biggest issue facing Wisconsin in the 1997 legislative session. "WEPCO, NSP and WP&L are already spending millions on a major public relations campaign and highly paid lobbyists who are stroking our government officials and feeding them company-derived information," says Gieryn. "They are prepared to offer anything necessary to achieve their goal, including a temporary rate freeze. We have to do everything we can to get real information to people about what the long-term impact of deregulation would be, as well as information about the opportunity that exists to move toward energy independence in Wisconsin." LEED Coalition members have developed a "Customers Bill of Rights." The Bill of Rights focuses on the areas of key concern to the vast majority of electric energy consumers (see box this page). Your organization may want to endorse the Bill of Rights. Contact Sam Gieryn at (414) 964-6081.
WISCONSIN WALLEYES CONTAMINATED WITH MERCURY
Deregulation Sparks Environmental Debate
Potential changes in the Wisconsin electric utility industry over the next few years have set the stage for a high-stakes environmental and public health debate. Plans proposed by the state's three largest utilities include removing the vast majority of the PSC's authority over the environmental impacts of power plants and transmission lines. "This is a huge environmental issue for Wisconsin," said Keith Reopelle, of Wisconsin's Environmental Decade. "It will affect our air, our water, our land - virtually every natural resource - and, of course, human health." The electric utility industry accounts for only three percent of the states' economy, but produces 64 percent of all regulated air pollutants. Emissions from electric power plants include large amounts of acid rain emissions, global warming gases, ozone or smog emissions and toxins such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and the mercury that is accumulating in our state's fish. Mercury contamination of gamefish is widespread in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Health Guide for People Who Eat Sport Fish from Wisconsin Waters lists 277 lakes and rivers which contain fish with unsafe levels of mercury, including many popular fishing lakes such as Lake Wissota, Tomahawk Lake, Trout Lake, Lake Monona and the Wisconsin, Black and Flambeau rivers. Remote and otherwise pristine lakes are just as likely to have fish with high mercury levels as are lakes closer to urban and industrial centers indicating that the vast majority of mercury is deposited from the air. "Coal fired power plants are by far the largest single source of mercury emissions to the air in Wisconsin," said Reopelle. The advisory warns that pregnant women, women who breast feed, women who plan to have children in the future and children under 15 should not eat certain fish, usually walleyes, of certain sized from these 277 lakes and rivers. "Children and especially fetuses are at the highest risk because mercury is a neurotoxin which affects the brain and its development," said Reopelle. In 82 of these lakes the mercury levels are sufficiently high that the advisory warns that no one should eat certain fish from them. The big utilities' proposal for environmental deregulation would strip both the PSC's ability to regulate these emissions as well as their authority to require energy conservation and cleaner energy resources. While state environmental regulators would still limit emissions on a plant by plant basis, no public authority would govern how many power plants will be built or what type. Wisconsin could become the coal burning grounds to deliver dirty cheap energy to states out east. Instead of investing in programs that save energy, as they are required to do now, utilities will be free to engage in programs that drive up the demand for power, resulting in a need for more plants and more high voltage transmission lines crisscrossing Wisconsin's countryside. High voltage transmission lines displaced farmland and wetlands and fragment forests which affect wildlife habitat. So far, Wisconsin has done better than most states in limiting the environmental impacts of energy production because we do more than limit emissions on a plant-by-plant basis. Our PSC helps to develop long range utility plans that focus on meeting energy needs in an economic and environmentally sound way, using the most cost-effective mix of conservation, renewable energy and fossil fuels. The big utilities want to eliminate the PSC's authority in order to build power plants more quickly and without public input.
The Right to Low Bills
The Right to Cleaner Energy
The Right to Fair Treatment
The Right to Participate
The LEED Coalition
AARP of Wisconsin Brown County Conservation Alliance Citizen's Utilities Board Clean Water Action Council of NE Wisconsin Door County Environmental Council Door County Property Owners Fox Valley Sierra Club Int'l Brotherhood of Electric Workers - State Conference LaCrosse Greens Lake Michigan Federation Lake Michigan Wind & Sun, Inc. Latino Health Organization Midwest Renewable Energy Association Milwaukee Greens Oconto County Sportsmen's Alliance Outagamie Conservation Club Public Energy Systems, Inc. Sierra Club - John Muir Chapter Union of Concerned Scientists Waukesha Co. Environmental Action League WI Sportfishing Council WI Environmental Decade WI Greens WI Resources Protection Council Wood RP Group
WHAT TO DO:
If you agree that Wisconsin citizen's should have a voice in setting state energy policy and that investments in energy conservation and native renewable resources will benefit both Wisconsin's economy and environment . . .
Encourage your group or organization to join the LEED Coalition. Call (414) 964-6081 for details.
Arrange for a presentation for your own group or organization. Call Sam Gieryn at (414) 964-6081 to schedule a slide show presentation on renewable energy and the economic and environmental impacts of deregulating electric utilities.
Call the legislative hotline at 1-800-362-9472 to obtain the phone number and address of your state legislators. Then write or call them to let them know what you think and ask them where they stand.
Write your local newspapers. Call Sam Gieryn at (414) 964-6081 if you want more information
Share this info with friends and neighbors.
LOCAL ENERGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1001 E. Keefe Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53212 (414) 964-6081