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Right responses to warming
The Governor's Task Force on Global Warming has produced a report that state Sen. Jeff Plale, D-Milwaukee, says "is not the end; it is the beginning."
Fair enough: Let's begin.
The report recommends a process that, if embraced, would remove barriers to the development of new nuclear power plants in Wisconsin.
For instance, the task force suggests that an existing moratorium on the construction of new plants -- which requires that a federally licensed nuclear waste facility be operational before any nuclear plant could be built in Wisconsin -- be replaced with a far looser requirement that the Public Service Commission determine that a proposed plant have a waste disposal plan that is economical and in the public interest.
Make no mistake: The task force is suggesting a strategy that could lead to the construction of new nuclear power plants in Wisconsin before realistic arrangements have been made for the management of nuclear waste.
This is a bad idea, especially when we consider the recent record of the PSC, which has been remade as a rubber-stamp for industry rather than as the regulatory agency it was intended to be.
It should be rejected.
Equally unfortunate is the report's endorsement of a federal "cap and trade" program for greenhouse gas emissions -- a so-called "free-market" initiative under which the right to pollute would be bought and sold by corporations.
Unfortunately, the "cap and trade" approach has been tried in Europe. It has not been particularly effective in reducing emissions. And the plan, as proposed in the U.S., is actually less well thought out and less fiscally responsible than the plans tried overseas.
"Cap and trade" is bad idea. Indeed, responsible environmental groups have taken the lead in rejecting "cap and trade" schemes.
It should be rejected.
The task force recommends that the PSC provide incentives for utilities to invest in research and development. Such an approach rewards wealthy corporations that have failed to take basic steps to plan for the future. It's precisely the wrong approach. Energy companies should be required to confirm that they are making substantial investments in R&D before any rate increases are approved.
Rewarding corporations for what they should already be doing is a bad idea.
It should be rejected.
There are recommendations in the report that are commendable.
The task force suggests tough greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, with realistic benchmarks: a return to 2005 levels by 2014, a 22 percent reduction from 2005 levels by 2022, and a 75 percent reduction by 2050.
The task force also recommends that the state launch a major program to rehab and increase the energy efficiency of housing in rural and urban low-income areas.
Needless to say, these recommendations should be implemented.
As Jeff Plale says, this report is merely the beginning.
Wisconsin can begin right by quickly rejecting the task force's bad ideas while embracing the good ones.
Associated Press
Canada geese swim past one of the cooling towers at the idle Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Ala., in 2006.
