EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will step into the Wisconsin debate over climate change and air pollution Friday when she makes two stops in Madison.
McCarthy is scheduled to join Madison Mayor Paul Soglin to highlight an energy efficiency program for businesses. Then she's off to Middleton to speak about climate change to the national convention of Trout Unlimited.
McCarthy's visit comes a week after the EPA proposed capping greenhouse gas emissions from new coal-burning power plants. Megan Severson, of the group Wisconsin Environment, says she's glad to see McCarthy out campaigning for the proposal. “This new rule will mean more renewable energy, more energy efficiency, and less global warming pollution.”
The Obama Administration is also expected next year to push for limits on greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and natural gas-fired power plants. Some national business groups are fighting the EPA's crackdown, and so is Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
WMC's Scott Manley says the battle against coal could be devastating for Wisconsin, “[which] gets over 60 percent of its electricity from coal,” he says. “Nationally, we have over 200 years of coal reserves — the largest in the world — and that could be a source of abundant, reliable, affordable energy for our country.”
Manley says businesses are trying to become more energy efficient. But, he argues, there aren’t enough efficiency measures to offset the higher electricity prices he contends are in store from fossil-fuel powered power plants.
