WisBiz Green

09/24/2024

Gov. Evers, DNR Announce Nearly $460,000 In Grants Awarded To Small Public Water Systems With PFAS And Manganese Contamination
Grants to help ensure access to clean drinking water for schools, day cares, apartment complexes, businesses, and more
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), today announced that nearly $460,000 in grants were awarded to small public water systems in Wisconsin with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) or manganese contamination, such as schools, day cares, apartment complexes, and more, through the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program.

“Folks and families across our state shouldn’t have to worry about harmful contaminants like PFAS and manganese in their water, but we know that for countless folks across our state every time they turn on their tap, that’s not the case,” said Gov. Evers. “These contaminants can be detrimental to health, especially for our kids, and these funds will help reach water systems that are otherwise left behind and help us continue our work to ensure Wisconsinites have access to clean, safe water at home, at school, at work, and everywhere in between.”

Funded by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program opened in January 2024 for its first grant cycle and reached non-government residential (other-than-municipal community) public water systems, such as apartment complexes, subdivisions, mobile home parks, and nonprofit non-residential (non-transient non-community) public water systems, such as schools, day care centers, and businesses, which historically were ineligible to receive financial assistance through the DNR.

The grant program provides funds for other-than-municipal community and nonprofit non-transient non-community water systems to address PFAS or manganese contamination by drilling new wells, connecting to existing public water systems, or installing treatment to receive a safer water supply. The first application cycle closed July 31, 2024. To date, the DNR has awarded nearly $460,000 for the first cycle and is expecting to award a total of over $2.3 million once all applications are processed. A list of projects that received funding in the first part of the Round 1 grant cycle is available here.

“We received a positive turnout for the first cycle of this program and are excited to offer a second cycle to get funding out the door to systems who need it,” said DNR Public Water Supply Section Manager Adam DeWeese.

The second grant cycle for the grant program opens Oct. 1, 2024. Other-than-municipal community and nonprofit non-transient non-community public water systems with eligible levels of PFAS or manganese may apply to the program.

The DNR expects to issue $5 million in grants to small public water systems in the second grant cycle. The application period closes June 30, 2025. Interested applicants may email questions to [email protected].

In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for six PFAS. The next grant cycle will offer funding to systems with PFAS levels at half a federal maximum contaminant level or greater.

To learn more about the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program and how to apply visit the program’s webpage here.

Since taking office, identifying and remediating contamination in ground, surface, and drinking water has been a top priority for Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration. Gov. Evers declared 2019 the Year of Clean Drinking Water to highlight the need for meaningful investments to ensure Wisconsinites have clean, safe drinking water that is free of harmful contaminants like PFAS, lead, and nitrate. Additionally, Gov. Evers created the PFAS Action Council to develop a statewide PFAS Action Plan, which has led to key protections such as Wisconsin’s first enforceable statewide standards for PFAS in surface and drinking water.

The 2023-25 biennial budget that was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Evers in July 2023 included a $125 million investment to address and prevent PFAS contamination statewide—the first real and substantive Republican effort to address PFAS after years of inaction. Now, over 400 days later and despite a memo from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Council that says they can, Republican legislators have refused to release the funding and have ignored repeated requests from Gov. Evers and the DNR to do so.

A more comprehensive timeline of the Republican-controlled JFC’s continued delays in releasing critical funding to address PFAS contamination is available here.

Additionally, last month, Gov. Tony Evers, together with the DNR, submitted a new proposal to amend the state’s current drinking water standards to reflect the new federal standards for PFAS contaminants. A copy of the scope statement outlining the proposed change is available here. Additional information on efforts of the Evers Administration to address PFAS contamination and invest in clean, safe water statewide is also available here.

An online version of this release is available here.

09/24/2024

The fate of thousands of U.S. dams hangs in the balance, leaving rural communities with hard choices

By Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

VIROQUA, Wisconsin - Sheldon Auto Wrecking is a local institution in southwestern Wisconsin’s Vernon County. It’s tucked in a lush valley just downstream of a 50-foot earthen dam, locally known as “Maple Dale.”

The salvage yard, which buys used vehicles and farm machinery in this rural area to sell for parts, has been in business for nearly 70 years. For most of those years, the dam — less than a half-mile up the road — has protected its yard of hundreds of old cars and broken-down equipment from frequent and sometimes severe flooding in the area.

The dam “was put in place for a reason,” said owner Greg Sheldon.

But it might soon go away.

Maple Dale is one of thousands of dams constructed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, beginning in the mid-20th century, for the purposes of flood control.

In 2018, five similar dams in the region failed during a massive rainstorm that caused property damage in the tens of millions of dollars. A study determined that several other dams in the watersheds hit hardest by the flood, including Maple Dale, were also vulnerable to failure but would be too expensive to replace.

As a result, local officials are voting on whether to dismantle the dams by cutting large notches in them, allowing the water to flow again, in a process called decommissioning. Experts say it could be the most dams ever decommissioned in a single county in the U.S.

And it could be a harbinger for other communities.

Although the county may be the first to take on a project of this size, it’s unlikely to be the last. Dams across the country are aging, and also facing pressures from urban sprawl and intensifying floods wrought by climate change. The price tag to fix what’s broken, though, is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, meaning dam owners could face hard questions about what to do with them.

In Viroqua, it’s also leaving the people who own property below the dams uneasy about what comes next — including Sheldon.

“To come along and just rip a big hole out and let the water run is a mistake,” he said.

Removal plan controversial

The southwest Wisconsin dams are among nearly 12,000 that have been built under the USDA’s Watershed Programs. Generally smaller and set in rural agricultural areas, they’re mostly clustered from the center of the country eastward. Oklahoma has the most, followed by Texas, Iowa and Missouri.

The idea for the watershed program dams arose during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Because there was little vegetation left on the landscape to soak up rain when it fell, there were several severe floods during that time, prompting federal agencies to look for a way to control the water.

To get the dams built, the Natural Resources Conservation Service entered into a contract with a local sponsor, such as a county. NRCS covered all the construction costs and helped the sponsor with inspections and repairs. In return, the sponsor maintained the dam for a certain number of years — under most contracts, 50 — to ensure taxpayers got their money’s worth out of the project.

Since many of the dams were built in the 1960s and 1970s, said Steve Becker, Wisconsin’s state conservation engineer for NRCS, their contracts are now up.

“We pretty much told the counties, ‘You have full autonomy to do whatever you want with those dams,” Becker said. “You can maintain, you can rehab, you can repair. It doesn’t really matter. We’re out.”

When the Wisconsin dams failed, however, local officials enlisted the help of NRCS to figure out what to do. The agency launched a study of all the dams in the watersheds and found that, while they’d controlled flooding over the last few decades, they fared much worse under future modeling because of their age and projected increases in heavy rainfall. Because the cost to replace them was too steep, NRCS recommended taking them out of service, on the federal government’s dime.

In Vernon County, home to the majority of the dams examined in the study, that plan has been controversial.

Garrick Olerud is treasurer of the Snowflake Ski Club in Westby, which is below three of the dams that are set to be dismantled. The club has had to spend “a lot” of money over the past decade fixing flood damage to the ski jump and the golf course on the property, Olerud said — and that’s with the protection of the dams.

“When you remove those dams, I guess I have big, big concerns about the long-term effects it’ll have,” he said. “I’m not an expert, but I don’t believe that the course or the ski jump will continue to … have the financial means to build back after stuff gets washed away.”

To others, leaving the dams in place risks a bigger catastrophe if more of them fail during a storm.

“When (the dams) work, they work, but when they go out, it’s 10 times worse than a regular flood,” Frank Easterday, a member of the Vernon County board, said during an Aug. 15 meeting.

At the meeting, the board voted to accept federal funding from NRCS so the agency can move forward with decommissioning. Nearby La Crosse and Monroe counties, which have a handful of such dams between them, have followed suit.

Aging dams, climate threats make for ‘perfect storm’

Threats to America’s dam infrastructure were thrust into the spotlight in June when the Rapidan dam in southern Minnesota partially failed, pushed to its limit by days of historic flooding across the upper Midwest.

In the American Society of Civil Engineers’ latest Infrastructure Report Card, released in 2021, the group gave the nations’ more than 91,000 dams a “D.” That’s largely because of their age — the average age of a dam in the U.S. is over 60 years old, said Del Shannon, the lead author of that section of the report card.

As residential development has sprawled nationally, some dams that once posed little risk to human life if they failed are now a bigger threat.

On top of that, climate change is leaving question marks about how dams will perform under new weather conditions. Precipitation, for example, increased 5 to 15% across the Midwest during 1992 to 2021, compared with the 1901-1960 average. That’s largely driven by intensifying rainfalls.

To date, almost 6,600 of the watershed program dams will have completed their contracts, according to an NRCS spokesperson. In the next five years, that number will rise to 7,383. That means many more places like Vernon County will have decisions to make about how — and whether — to keep them up.

In 2015, now-retired NRCS watershed program engineer Larry Caldwell warned in a memo that a “perfect storm” of problems with watershed dams could put people and property at risk. He outlined seven such problems: these dams are everywhere across the nation, downstream landscapes have filled in since they were constructed, they’re getting old, climate change is bringing more extreme weather, limited funds for repairs, loss of institutional knowledge about the dams and the fact that the failure of smaller dams can — and have — killed people.

“Any one condition is cause for concern. The presence of two or three would be cause for alarm,” Caldwell wrote. “But all seven are occurring simultaneously which will eventually create a crisis for many communities.”

Properly maintained dams can continue doing their job “well beyond” their contracts, the NRCS spokesperson said. Still, understanding the proper path forward for an individual dam can be challenging because all dams are unique, Shannon said.

What’s more, there’s not a good understanding of how long these kinds of dams can function, a gap Shannon called “astonishing and embarrassing.” He’ll take part in a forthcoming study that seeks to give dam owners broad information about when dam parts start to show wear — like crumbling concrete spillways or corroded metal gates — and when to think about repairing, replacing or charting another course.

High price tag for dam rehab means other solutions may be necessary

Another hurdle in the quest for better dam infrastructure: cost. The Association of State Dam Safety Officials, which works to improve dam safety through professional development and lobbying, estimates the cost to fix non-federal dams, which make up the vast majority of the nation’s dams, at $157.5 billion.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021, provided somewhat of a shot in the arm: $3 billion was earmarked for dam safety, including $118 million for the rehabilitation of the USDA watershed program dams. An NRCS spokesperson said that money paid for 118 dam projects across the nation, many clustered in the southern and eastern U.S.

Shannon said he views it as a downpayment, but more funding is obviously needed. The southwest Wisconsin dams, for example, would cost a few million dollars apiece to replace, Becker estimated — racking up close to $100 million just for one small region.

“What can we afford to do? We can afford to notch them out,” Becker said. “If some big benefactor came in and said, ‘23 dams times $3.5 million? We can help pay for that,’ we’d re-evaluate.”

Although recent federal funding will move the needle, looking at the total cost can be depressing, said Lori Spragens, executive director of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials — particularly when remembering that dams are aging every day. She called it a “one step forward, two steps back" situation, and said there’s an urgent need to make progress.

“I think we are going to see more dams under stress, or even failing,” Spragens said. “It’s not really fun to look at in the future.”

Amid these challenges, there’s growing interest in natural solutions to reduce the impact of floodwaters in place of built infrastructure. Moving away from areas that flood often and using farming practices that help the land hold on to water, instead of allowing it to run downstream, could help.

The community in Vernon County recognizes that.

“With or without the dams, flooding is going to be a huge challenge in this community,” county conservationist Ben Wojahn told the board during the Aug. 15 meeting. “Decommissioning these dams is not the end … keeping the dams would not be the end.”

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

09/24/2024

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/inno/stories/news/2024/09/23/clarios-european-truck-manufacturer-advanced.html

Clarios will market the batteries in Europe and other markets under the Varta brand.

09/24/2024

https://dailyreporter.com/2024/09/23/energy-department-grant-helps-push-solar-construction-projects/

Madison-based SolarShare will use federal prize money to build its capacity and work with contractors on community solar projects across Wisconsin.

09/24/2024

Seven projects linked to startups founded by UW-Madison researchers have been chosen for $500,000 in funding from the State Economic Engagement and Development program, supporting further research and technology advancement.

The university’s Discovery to Product program, which coordinates the SEED program, yesterday announced recipients for funding in fiscal year 2025. The $500,000 total includes a matching grant of $250,000 from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Funding varies by recipient, up to a maximum of $100,000, according to a D2P spokesperson.

D2P Interim Director Abram Becker says the grants will offer “crucial support to these outstanding early-stage companies” as they develop their technologies for market readiness.

“This initiative is not only about technological development but also about fostering the growth of these companies within Wisconsin,” Becker said in a statement.

Recipient projects were selected based on technical innovation, relevance to a broad economic sector and potential for contributing to the state’s industrial and economic development in the near future, the release shows.

One awardee, radiology Prof. Scott Reeder, is getting funding to improve cardiac MRI imaging through a project with Calimetrix, a biotechnology company based in Madison. The effort aims to boost early detection and treatment monitoring for cardiovascular disease, with a goal of “ensuring consistent and accurate” quantitative cardiac imaging, the release shows.

Reeder says he’s grateful for the funding support, noting the project’s goals aim to help this imaging approach “realize its potential” in diagnosing and monitoring cardiovascular disease.

“It is crucial to have advanced tools … to ensure quality assurance and facilitate comparison of imaging results across various MRI systems, sites, and vendors,” Reeder said in a statement on the funding.

Meanwhile, Profs. Nick Von Bergen and Vikas Singh will be working with Madison-based Atrility Medical on its AtriAmp device, with a goal of addressing “inadequacies” in current cardiac monitoring techniques for pediatric patients and others. The release notes current monitors could miss up to half of postoperative arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeat patterns.

AJ Boydston, a professor of chemistry, will work with a company called Si3H to advance a 3D printing technology that’s been licensed with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The invention can be used to print FDA-approved silicon structures for prosthetic products and orthotic braces.

Recipients and Profs. Walter Block, Andrew Alexander and Azam Ahmed will be testing the safety and function of the Saf-T-Drape product, a disposable liner for MRI and CT scanners. The product is meant to prevent hospital-acquired infections while holding up to patient movement with “minimal” procedure interference.

In another awarded project, Profs. Luke Mawst and Dan Botez will work with Intraband, LLC on devices for “fast, powerful and secure” wireless data transmission for both defense and commercial applications, the release shows.

Assistant Prof. Eric Schmuck, director of research for the Center for Biomedical Swine Research and Innovation, will work with Madison’s Cellular Logistics to test a biomaterial for its ability to reduce damage following heart attacks and restore cardiac function. The announcement notes the resulting data will be “crucial” as the company submits filings to the FDA for an initial human trial.

Finally, assistant Prof. Bu Wang and Prof. Robert Anex are getting funding for their startup called Alithic Carbon Solutions, formerly known as Earth Repair. The business is commercializing an “ultra-efficient” technology for carbon removal and repurposing, and is currently working to develop a new feedstock for their materials pipeline.

See the release.

09/23/2024

Gov. Evers, DOA Announce Native Shoreline Planting Completed at the Executive Residence

MADISON—Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA),in honor of Coastal Awareness Month, today announced the Wisconsin Executive Residence has completed the final phase of a project to restore the property’s natural shoreline along Lake Mendota by planting native flowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees to provide erosion control, prevent runoff before it reaches the lake edge, enhance the wildlife habitat, and support pollinators. The project began with Phase 1 in Fall 2022, while Phase 2 was completed on Sat., Sept. 21, 2024. Photos of the event at the Residence on Saturday, provided courtesy of the Rock River Coalition, are available here and here.

“After this project stalled under the previous administration, it was important for Kathy and I to do our part to get it over the finish line to help support the health of our lakes, wildlife, native pollinators, and our entire local ecosystem,” said Gov. Evers. “We couldn’t have done it without the dedicated partners who have been committed to restoring the native shoreline and promoting sustainability in the watershed, and Kathy and I are so grateful for their hours of advocacy and planting to get this done. We hope this project will continue to serve as a model for others of how we can each play our part to protect our state’s vast and beautiful natural resources in every neighborhood and community.”

The project was first approved by the State Capitol and Executive Residence Board (SCERB) in 2011 but ultimately stalled. In February 2019, SCERB approved the restoration project to move forward under its previous approval. It was developed to serve as a model for other lakeshore owners throughout the state and to improve water quality in the Yahara Watershed and expand native plantings at the Wisconsin Executive Residence.

Several environmental groups have been advocating for this project for more than a decade, including the Clean Lakes Alliance, Yahara WINS, Rock River Coalition, Jefferson County Land and Water Conservation Department, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Extension Lakes Program, Dane County Land and Water Resources Department, Resource Environmental Solutions LLC, and the Executive Residence grounds team. The project was privately funded with some assistance from the Wisconsin Executive Residence Foundation (WERF). All the plants were donated and planted by over 75 volunteers.

An online version of this release is available here.

09/23/2024

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/environmental-groups-urge-microsoft-to-skip-gas-in-favor-of-solar-wind-to-power-data-center/

Groups charge proposed natural gas power plants will slow down Wisconsin's clean energy transition. We Energies says they're essential.

09/23/2024

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/how-many-nuclear-plants-are-operating-in-the-us-in-2024/ar-AA1r44Sw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=52013eb8ccc143d1a15026c21733d86d&ei=49

Americans’ support for nuclear power is rising but without new plants to replace aging facilities production of this clean energy is likely to shrink.

09/23/2024

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/leaders-at-climate-change-meetings-in-new-york-warn-of-growing-mistrust-between-nations/ar-AA1r0tQy?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=51a36cd3c34c4b4a941db852e01b380a&ei=94

By Simon Jessop and Valerie Volcovici NEW YORK (Reuters) - A marathon week of climate change meetings opened in New York on Sunday, with celebrities and world leaders mingling with corporate leaders over talks on how to drive climate action forward. On Sunday, U.N. Secretary General António Guterre...

09/23/2024

Lake Kegonsa State Park Gets
New Bike Trail Connection


A segment of the new portion of the Yahara bike trail.
The Lower Yahara River Trail can be accessed from a trailhead located next to the White Oak Trail Parking Lot in Lake Kegonsa State Park. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is celebrating the grand opening of Dane County’s Lower Yahara River Trail – Phase 2, which adds a new paved bike trail at Lake Kegonsa State Park and a trail connection to Fish Camp County Park.

Phase 2 of the Lower Yahara River Trail is a 1.6-mile asphalt-paved trail with 4,200 feet of boardwalk through wetlands and a 90-foot bridge over Door Creek. The trail begins just south of McFarland at Fish Camp County Park and extends east along the northern shore of Lake Kegonsa into Lake Kegonsa State Park.

Dane County Parks will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at Fish Camp County Park, to celebrate Phase 2 of the Lower Yahara River Trail and other improvements at Fish Camp County Park.

“We are excited to offer a new trail experience at Lake Kegonsa State Park and beyond that connects our state park visitors to Dane County’s incredible natural resources and extensive trail system,” said Steve Schmelzer, DNR parks and recreation management director. “A huge thanks to Dane County for their excellent work and partnership with us to make this trail project happen.”

The new trail segment in the state park can be accessed from the trailhead located next to the White Oak Trail Parking Lot. The trail is free to use and is suitable for bicycles, skaters, strollers, walkers, joggers and wheelchairs. A Wisconsin State Park and Forest vehicle admission sticker is required on all motor vehicles to park at the trailhead parking lot.

Lake Kegonsa State Park is situated along a 3,200-acre lake located near the cities of McFarland and Stoughton in Dane County, Wisconsin. Recreational amenities include a swimming beach, picnic areas with reservable shelters, a boat launch, a campground, a fishing pier and more than five miles of trails.

Find a full list of recreation opportunities at Lake Kegonsa State Park by visiting the property’s Recreation webpage.

09/22/2024

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-to-hit-energy-jackpot-with-2-200-mw-floating-plant-that-will-power-770-000-homes/ar-AA1qZpH6?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=b1f4ba4151f3495bb4e0b579bffda483&ei=15

A regulatory body in the US has approved plans to begin the construction of a...

09/22/2024

WisBiz Green Blog
Power Wisconsin Forward
By Gregg Hoffmann
Sponsored by UW-Milwaukee
www.uwm.edu

We at WisBiz Green have been included in the recently launched Power Wisconsin Forward, a movement dedicated to creating an affordable, reliable, and fossil-free future.

This does not mean we will not continue to strive to cover green business and environmental issues with balance and fairness.

Certainly, we are a green biz portal, linking to green stories around Wisconsin and beyond. We also do report and commentary on our own, like this blog. We back common-sense efforts to protect our environment and tackle climate change. But we also try to include a variety of perspectives. We like to think the organizers of PWF included us because of that.

PWF issued a release Sept. 12: “Today, clean energy and environmental organizations across the state launched Power Wisconsin Forward, a movement toward an affordable, reliable and fossil-free future. Power Wisconsin Forward is supported by the Clean Economy Coalition of Wisconsin (CECW) and its more than 50 partner organizations that recognize that methane gas infrastructure is bad for people, the planet and pocketbooks. The campaign will educate Wisconsinites on the harmful effects of methane gas while activating a growing Coalition to enable a clean energy future.”

PWF maintains that utilities across Wisconsin are proposing massive new methane gas infrastructure, which is inconsistent with the state’s clean energy future and directly conflicts with the state achieving carbon-neutral status by 2050.

“Should new infrastructure plans be approved, Wisconsinites will be locked into decades of fossil fuel use and will once again be paying the price through higher bills, increased service disruptions, unhealthy air, and unreachable climate goals,” the release reads.

Cassie Steiner, senior campaign coordinator of Sierra Club-Wisconsin, said, “Wisconsinites deserve affordable, reliable and fossil-free clean energy, and we are proud to be part of Power Wisconsin Forward’s efforts to make that a reality. For too long, utility companies have gotten away with making poor investment decisions in fossil fuels, passing along the cost to customers, and profiting while customers suffer from air and water pollution and high electric bills. We look forward to continuing our work to ensure that our utility regulators hold true to their mission to ‘ensure safe, reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible’ utility services.”

WEC Energy Group (parent company of We Energies) submitted proposals to the Public Service Commission to build $2 billion worth of new gas infrastructure in southeastern Wisconsin, including:

** Building a new gas-generating plant at the Oak Creek Power Plant campus.
** Installing seven Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (RICE) near the Paris Solar Farm in Kenosha County.
** Constructing 33 miles of natural gas pipeline in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee counties.
** Transitioning the Elm Road coal plant to a gas plant rather than replacing it with clean energy.

In addition, Alliant Energy announced in May 2024 that it plans to convert its coal plant in Sheboygan to methane gas by 2028. These new proposals are the first of a number of anticipated projects that will be put in front of the PSC regarding fossil fuel investments across the state this year.

The utilities say the moves to gas facilities are steps away from coal and toward eventual clean energy. They maintain they are committed to the 2050 long range goal.

But, Sam Dunaiski, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, said, “Methane gas expansion would put Wisconsin further behind in our transition to a clean energy economy. Wind, solar, and batteries are now economically competitive with fossil fuel energy and mitigate the impacts of climate change. These investments, along with improved transmission infrastructure, can provide reliable, clean energy to Wisconsin communities without costly investments in fossil fuels. These clean energy solutions keep us on track to achieve net zero by 2050.”

PWF is involved in webinars on the methane issue:

** Affordable Energy Bills: A Webinar on How to Stand up for Fair Utility Bills. Tuesday, September 24 | 7–8 p.m. |
This webinar will review We Energies’ gas and rate increase proposal, who makes the decision on this proposal, and how to use your personal experience to help inform the decision that’s being made about your electric bill and power source.

** Public Health and Methane Gas Plants Webinar. Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | 7-8 a.m. |

For more on these events, go to: www.powerwisconsinforward.com.

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