Feb 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Richard Mial La Crosse Tribune, Wis.



Wisconsin state officials visited three local businesses Monday as a way to extol the virtues of Gov. Jim Doyle's "clean energy jobs" bill.

The proposal -- Senate Bill 450 and Assembly Bill 649 -- calls upon the state to get 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2025.

Public Service Commission chairman Eric Callisto, PSC Commissioner Mark Meyer (a former state senator from La Crosse) and Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel visited City Brewery, Gundersen Lutheran and Honda Motorwerks.

At the car dealership, they held a news conference to talk about the proposal.

 "We spend $16 billion here in Wisconsin that leaves the state because we do not have oil, we don't have natural gas, we don't have coal," Leinenkugel said. "So every dollar that leaves this state doesn't get reinvested back in businesses."

Callisto said there are three important parts of the bill:

--Energy efficiency.

--Renewable energy.

--Lifting the moratorium on constructing new nuclear power plants.

Callisto said it was unlikely that any new nuclear plants would be built in the near future, but added that "we need to look at all the options."

Callisto said Wisconsin now gets about 5 percent of its energy from renewable sources, and the jobs bill will accelerate the process of going first to 10 percent by 2013, and then to 25 percent by 2025.

Leinenkugel said it's important for the government to set standards.

"This is an opportunity for renewable energy that's important to our security," he said.

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