WISC GOV’S ATTACK ON NEW ENERGY

Renewable Energy and the Little Engine that Could
Kelly Rigg, February 22, 2011 (Huffington Post)

"As American kids, we were raised on the culture-defining parable of The Little Engine that Could...Is it possible to power [the] steam engine of economic growth with renewables like wind and solar instead of coal and oil?

"…Greenpeace embarked on a two-year process to develop a Global Energy Scenario in cooperation with the Stockholm Environment Institute. The study was published in 1993, and showed how the world could transition out of fossil fuels (and nuclear power) by 2100…In the past few years, subsequent studies have shown that a 100% renewable energy economy would be possible in a far closer time horizon -- 2050, 2040, even 2030…2009 was unprecedented in the history of renewable energy…In 2010, for the first time, investments in new wind power capacity by developing countries and emerging economies outstripped those of the developed nations…"

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"…Renewables are here. The little blue engine is getting faster and faster…[W]hat now stands in our way? [Wisconsin’s] Tea Party Governor Scott Walker… is using the threat of bankruptcy to put an end to the unions along with the state's burgeoning clean energy sector."

[Milwaukee Examiner:] “Wisconsin imports all its coal and oil, yet has the potential to produce all its energy using renewable resources. Scott Walker continues to chase away cleaner energy options. Firmly entrenched in the paradigms of fossil-fuel based automotive transportation, he single-handedly killed high-speed rail between Milwaukee and Madison. Now Walker is setting his sights on killing wind-energy and his proposed legislation would require wind turbines to be constructed with an (impossible) 1,800-foot setback from neighboring property lines.”

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"While Walker's actions sound an awful lot like the union busting of the first industrial revolution, this time there's a difference. He doesn't just want to destroy the unions. He also wants to take down the renewable energy industry that will provide those unions with a wave of new employment opportunities in the decades to come.

"It's clear that the little renewable engine could make it up that hill if left to its own resources. But can it do so with a monster Tea Party train, loaded up with coal, breathing down its neck? That is another question."