01/11/07 State environment actually getting worse
State environment actually getting worse
Wisconsin State Journal
January 11, 2007
I would like to believe that the headline of Brett Husley's Sunday guest column was true, that Wisconsin is "making progress on global warming." Unfortunately, a report published last month by the Wisconsin Department of Administration's Division of Energy "2006 Wisconsin Energy Statistics" shows no progress.
The report shows Wisconsin's annual carbon dioxide emissions from fuel burning increased more than 20 percent from 1990 to 2004, resulting in millions more tons of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere. I wouldn't call that progress.
Transportation continues to be the largest user of energy in Wisconsin. Too much motor vehicle driving and flying by too many people is at the core of the transportation emissions problem. Yet our representatives in government continue to spend billions to expand the capacity of Wisconsin's highway system to accommodate more vehicle driving, rather than investing more tax revenues in mass transit and providing financial incentives for Wisconsinites to drive less.
Another major source of greenhouse gas emissions from Wisconsin comes from burning coal and natural gas in electricity-generating power plants. Yet many electricity companies operating in Wisconsin continue to burn coal and plan to build even more coal-fired power plants.
We are not contributing to any progress in fighting global warming in Wisconsin -- not yet anyway.
-- Michael Neuman, member and listserv moderator of the Madison Area Preserve Our Climate Coalition