By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com
The final report of the governor’s Global Warming Task Force for will not be finished until May, five months later than it was initially schedule to be released.
But Roy Thilly, co-chair of the group, said an interim report should be issued by the end of this month. He said it will most likely emphasize relatively non-controversial conservation and energy efficiencies as a way to trim power use, reduce carbon emissions, cut costs and lessen the need for more power plants.
He said action by the federal government on new mileage standards for vehicles had also moved back the timeline for the report.
Thilly, who is president of Sun Prairie-based Wisconsin Public Power Inc., said the task force will soon begin working to resolve differences between group members who represent industry, utilities, agriculture, forestry, transportation and environmentalists, among others. The co-chair is Tia Nelson, who is the executive secretary of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Because other states are doing similar studies, consultants who are experts in this sort of modeling have had been busy, he said.
“Elsewhere, they have done quick analysis. But we want to be sure we are doing this the right way, even if it takes a little more time,” he said. “It’s a challenge, but we want this to be a detailed, fact-based inquiry.”
He said the governor is aware of the delays and the desire by the group for detailed modeling that will help tell how the different proposals will interact and what their effect could be on Wisconsin’s economy.
Thilly said he expects that there will be dissenters to the report delivered in May, especially if nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration are included.
He said the two largest sources of carbon dioxide in the state are transportation and utilities. But he stressed that the report will include what other areas – including agriculture and industry – can do to reduce emissions.
Thilly said not all of the recommendations from the task force report would need action by the Legislature.
He said the state might be able to move forward on some suggestions in the interim report without legislation.
