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Her job is to promote renewable, sustainable sources of energyInterviewed by Nathan Leaf
Director of the Governor's Office of Energy Independence Age: 54 Family: Married, two stepsons Born: Iola, about 25 miles east of Stevens Point. Raised in North Fond du Lac Education: Bachelor of arts in political science from UW-Madison in 1975 Career: Joined office of Wisconsin Congressman Al Baldus as staff assistant in 1975; named Baldus' chief of staff 1977; director of government affairs at Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives 1981-1986; lobbyist for National Milk Producers Federation in Washington D.C. 1986-1990; executive director of National Rural Cooperative Development Task Force 1990-1996; executive director of National Cooperative Development Foundation 1996-2003; deputy secretary of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection 2003-2007; named the first executive director of the Office of Energy Independence April 5. About the office: With a planned staff of about six and initial budget of about $1 million, the Office of Energy Independence was created by Gov. Jim Doyle April 5 to promote the renewable fuels industry, facilitate communication with biofuel companies and consumers, and search for federal funding for renewable fuel projects. Q. What was your involvement in the creation of the Office of Energy Independence? A. Secretary (Rod) Nilsestuen and I recommended that the governor (create) the Consortium on Biobased Industry, which would have been in May 2005. That group was intended to look at Wisconsin's competitive advantages in this emerging industry. We knew we were not going to compete with Iowa and Illinois in corn. That wasn't going to be our competitive advantage. But we also knew Iowa and Illinois didn't have the forestry stock that we did and diversity of landscape, including animal agriculture, that we have. So out of the consortium work they made the recommendation ... to create a position that will coordinate between agencies. And I was asked if I was interested. Q. Why were you interested in the position? A. First of all, it's rural economic development. And having spent 15 years in Washington looking at opportunities for rural communities, using our renewable land-based resources is going to be probably the biggest economic opportunity for our rural communities. So I was interested in that but also making sure that in the Office of Energy Independence, we understood the importance of biomass as Wisconsin's competitive advantage. And that it was going to be diverse. I've always loved challenges and this is a pretty big challenge. Q. What is that challenge? A. Well, it's the governor's vision to get this state to (generate) 25 percent of our transportation fuels and 25 percent of our power from renewable, sustainable sources of energy. The second challenge is that we capture 10 percent of this emerging market. Then the third goal is that we make sure we're a national leader in research on both the science side and the technology side to ensure that we capitalize on the wonderful reputation of the University of Wisconsin system. How do we get there? There are so many opportunities it's like a jigsaw puzzle. What does the picture really look like in 2025? We probably have a clearer picture in the transportation fuels because we can even project now that by 2025 with our current projection of ethanol (plants producing or in development), we're within 57 million gallons of meeting the governor's goal. ... I think getting 25 percent of our power or electricity (from renewable sources) is the more difficult challenge for Wisconsin. Q. Why is that more difficult? A. Wisconsin's not competitive in wind compared to the Great Plains and Texas. So if we try to be smart, what's Wisconsin's natural base for electricity? That's where it gets difficult because we don't have a lot of wind compared to other states. We don't have coal. Nuclear is still open for discussion and debate and review. So (power generation is) where we're probably going to have our best opportunity to work with the university. Folks are working on interesting feedstock, enzymes and technology. I think that's part of my immediate outreach is to sit down to talk to people about where we are at. Is it a three- to five-year horizon? Is it five to 10? Is it out there at 2025? And then start working with investors in the private sector to focus strategic investments in those areas. Q. There are still a lot of economic and environmental concerns and questions about the renewable fuels industry. What are some potential pitfalls that this office will examine? A. My first major concern is that we have a lot of farmers who were innovative and invested their money in ethanol plants and took tremendous risks. So the first challenge is to make sure that money is retained. There is a huge (drive) for big outside investors to come along and buy into ethanol plants. Well, we want people to make money and capitalize on wealth creation. So what about the ownership structure of our alternative fuels? Can we maintain local control and how do we manage that? Now, on the environmental side ... We understand that we can't afford soil erosion. Probably the more challenging problems are the water quality issues. But we've got good staff between agencies working with producers. Corn ethanol is, I'm assuming, still part of our diverse portfolio mix and will have to be part of the fuel mix. It's there, the investments have been made. Those plants are going to become more efficient. The question is are they going to be the base on which to get to cellulosic or are we going to have different plants? Are they going to be compatible? I think those are the areas we need to look at. We want to add to the current capacity and make sure the existing ethanol plants can be players in the future and that we manage how much corn we need (for ethanol) versus food and feed. Q. What have you been doing during your first few weeks in office? A. Primarily outreach. Since I come out of the agriculture community, I need to introduce myself and become familiar with the energy conservation and renewable fuel groups like Focus on Energy and (Wisconsin Energy Corp.). And then I'm meeting some of the environmental groups to understand some of their concerns. ... To meet the governor's vision is going to take a lot of players. So that's pretty much been my first two weeks is doing a lot of outreach and listening to people who have ideas, who have technologies and are looking for money. Sorting out what kind of money we're talking about. Are we talking about seed grants? Are we talking about guaranteed loans? Venture capital? And then trying to sort through and get a structure where we have some due diligence ... we have to get the right mix of people to (determine) how we invest. Q. What type of impact do you think the renewable fuels industry can have on agriculture in Wisconsin? A. It's hard work making money from just our current commodity programs. So this is adding another potential revenue stream to that farm and you're taking waste streams and converting that into money. And I kind of got started in the whole manure thing, in that it truly is a source of energy that we are ignoring. Now, is (manure digestion) going to provide a huge part of the state's portfolio? Perhaps not, but it's an opportunity to bring some of that waste stream online, probably as a natural gas substitute. And with that we're going to need young people to get into agriculture who understand that they're farming both for the food supply and the energy crop. And that their waste streams, including the back 40 wood lot, are a potential source of biomass for fuel. So that whole farm becomes assets that need to be managed. Q. Is ethanol a silver-bullet solution for energy consumption in the U.S.? A. Ethanol is what we have to work with right now to get to our energy independence goal, to get us off petroleum. Now, cellulosic ethanol might be closer (to a long-term solution) but there's nothing wrong with the ethanol we're producing right now. There are concerns about driving up the cost of feed and environmental concerns. But we can manage those. nleaf@madison.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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