Global Warming Science: www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming

Wisconsin – Lights Out

[last update: 2010/01/20]

The state of Wisconsin is attempting to commit economic suicide. The Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming (Governor Jim Doyle – D) produced a bill (AB 649) which will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 % in 2050 but also reduce the consumption of electricity by 2 % per year. They plan to have a “Climate Change Council” to promote “education” about the “causes and effects of climate change” and subsidize biofuels.

This document examines the bill AB 649 as well as a look at Wisconsin’s climate.

AB 649

The following quotations are from the bill document viewable at:

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/AB-649.pdf (bold emphasis added)

Health and Well-being

“It is essential to the health and safety and economic well−being of Wisconsin that the state take actions to mitigate global climate change from emissions of greenhouse gasses.”

Greenhouse Gas Reduction

“This bill specifies goals for statewide reductions in net greenhouse gas emissions. The goals are: that the amount of emissions in 2014 does not exceed the amount in 2005; that the amount of emissions in 2022 is at least 22 percent less than the amount in 2005; and that the amount of emissions in 2050 and thereafter is at least 75 percent less than the amount in 2005.”

California Emissions Standards

“This bill requires DNR to promulgate rules specifying emission limitations for passenger cars, light−duty trucks, and medium−duty passenger vehicles that are identical to the California emission limitations, including the greenhouse gas emission limitations”

Subsidies for Biofuels

“This bill directs DATCP to establish and administer a program to subsidize the production of crops to be used for the production of fuel or energy”

Cap and Trade to Benefit Biofuels

“Expansion of a cap and trade program or a voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction offset program to create credits for producers of bioenergy feedstocks who reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the production of bioenergy feedstocks by adopting appropriate management practices”

Reduce Electricity Consumption

“It is the goal of this state to reduce the statewide consumption of electricity in each year by an amount not less than the product of the public service commission’s projection of the statewide consumption of electricity for the year and the following percentages:

1. In 2011, 1 percent.

2. In 2012, 1.25 percent.

3. In 2013, 1.5 percent.

4. In 2014, 1.75 percent.

5. In 2015 and each year thereafter, 2 percent”

Special Parking

“The ordinance shall include market pricing methods for on−street parking and preferred parking opportunities for vehicles with relatively low emissions of greenhouse gases”

Ignore Benefits

Section 46: the following existing statute is amended – the following is crossed out by the bill:

“No rule may be promulgated that has not taken into account the cost of the energy conservation code requirement, as changed by the rule, in relationship to the benefits derived from that requirement, including the reasonably foreseeable economic and environmental benefits to the state from any reduction in the use of imported fossil fuel.”

[Comment: in other words, benefits are no longer to be considered]

Import Electricity

“It is essential to the health and safety and economic well−being of Wisconsin that the state take actions to mitigate global climate change from emissions of greenhouse gasses. Central to such mitigation efforts is reducing reliance on electricity produced from fossil fuels through policies such as the renewable portfolio standard. … the most abundant and affordable sources of electricity that can be used to comply with the renewable portfolio standard are wind resources in western Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Iowa. Extensive reliance on these resources for compliance with the renewable portfolio standard will produce a significant increase in dependence on imported electricity with the associated reliability and congestion cost risks.”

Climate Change Council

The bill creates the Climate Change Coordinating Council … The bill also requires the council to promote and coordinate educational and training programs related to climate change.

[The council] shall promote and coordinate state educational and training programs related to climate change, including programs that provide information on all of the following:

7. The causes and effects of climate change

The council shall give priority under par. (a) to promoting and coordinating programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and to undergraduate and graduate students and their teachers

Wisconsin’s Climate

I wonder if the “Climate Change Council” will promote education of the actual climate of Wisconsin.

The following figure shows the annual average temperature for Wisconsin (from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/wi.html]) Like the US average, 1934 was the warmest year. The trend of 0.08 deg/decade is not statistically different from zero due to the variance.

The following figures show the annual average summer (left) and winter (right) temperatures. No warming in the summer, slight warming in the winter (but still well below freezing).

The following figures show the annual average summer (left) and winter (right) precipitation. No significant trends.

The following figure shows the statewide average snowfall [http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/seasons/graphics/WI-00-snow-djf.gif]. There is a trend to increasing snowfall in recent decades.

That must be it – they think the CO2 has caused more snow!

Conclusion: It is hard to understand what Wisconsin is trying to accomplish with AB 649, and very hard to believe “It is essential to the health and safety and economic well−being of Wisconsin that the state take actions to mitigate global climate change from emissions of greenhouse gasses.”