THU AM News: Evers signs two bills to boost nuclear energy in Wisconsin

July 3, 2025

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— The state will form a Nuclear Power Summit Board and the Public Service Commission will conduct a nuclear power siting study under a pair of bills the governor approved.

Gov. Tony Evers yesterday signed SB 124, now Wisconsin Act 11, to create a Nuclear Power Summit Board. The board will be tasked with organizing, promoting and hosting a nuclear power summit in Milwaukee.

He also signed SB 125, now Wisconsin Act 12, which requires the Public Service Commission to conduct a nuclear power siting study. The state budget allocates $2 million toward the study.

“We can’t afford to choose between mitigating climate change and protecting our environment or creating good-paying jobs and building a strong economy, and by working toward clean energy options Wisconsinites can depend on in the future, we’re doing both,” Evers said in a statement.

He said the bills are an important step toward lowering energy costs and improving the state’s energy independence.

Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still praised the bills’ signing as “the latest example of leveraging Wisconsin expertise at the education, research and application levels to help people statewide and beyond.”

— Wisconsin labor leaders are criticizing the reconciliation bill now before Congress for cuts to provisions that work to lower the up-front cost of adopting clean energy practices.

Wisconsin State Policy Manager for BlueGreen Alliance Carly Ebben Eaton said the legislation, which the U.S. Senate passed Tuesday and is now before the House, would decrease jobs, hurt the economy and cede clean energy technology manufacturing to other countries.

Representative for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers SMART Local 18 Matt Van Der Puy slammed the legislation, claiming it increases costs and hurts Wisconsin businesses.

“Phasing out these (advanced manufacturing) tax credits just doesn’t make sense, and it will hurt our economy. Buildings won’t get the upgrades they need to run as efficiently as possible … Operation costs will go up, and our jobs will be taken away. This just doesn’t hurt sheet mill workers. So that is why we are here today, and that we urge Congress to stand with Madison, stand with workers and fix this bill,” Van Der Puy said.

Garrik Harwick, assistant business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 890, said reducing these tax incentives not only hurts the economy but also increases costs for the individual.

Harwick said energy costs would increase 6% for Wisconsin residents and 9.4% for industrial sectors. Without these investments, he said, apprenticeship applications are at stake, resulting in a loss of jobs.

“This bill is not just policy. These are actual jobs that are going to be lost. It’s actual money, dollars and cents that are going away, smaller apprenticeship classes. So, it’s not just one of those bills that ‘this stuff may affect us,’ it’s actually going to affect families. It’s going to cause utility bills to go up. It’s just not right, it’s not right for American workers, let alone Wisconsin workers,” Harwick said.

Wisconsin Building Trades Council Executive Director Emily Pritzkow urged Wisconsinites to speak out against the legislation by calling their members of Congress.

— Dem Attorney General Josh Kaul said the state Supreme Court’s decision invalidating an 1849 anti-abortion law “marks a major victory for reproductive freedom” following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Kaul at a press conference with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin yesterday said while awaiting a decision, Wisconsinites worried about having kids in case pregnancy complications arose, and feared losing autonomy and control of their futures.

“We can’t let Wisconsin return to that kind of environment again,” Kaul said. “So while this decision is an incredibly positive step for freedom, I also think it’s critical that our Legislature do what the Supreme Court suggested in Dobbs, and take up this issue and hear from Wisconsinites about how we can better protect reproductive freedom for the long term in Wisconsin.”

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Chief Strategy Officer Michelle Velasquez called the ruling “a victory for patients and for basic human dignity. But she expressed disappointment at the court’s dismissal of the nonprofit’s suit seeking a declaration that Wisconsinites have a constitutional right to abortion.

“At a time when politicians are doing everything in their power to strip away rights, when the U.S. Congress is voting – literally today – to defund Planned Parenthood and block millions of patients from the care they rely on, our state courts must step up to protect these fundamental freedoms,” Velasquez said. “Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because the Wisconsin Constitution demands it.”

Gov. Tony Evers in a statement lauded the decision but said, “our work is not over.”

“I will continue to fight any effort that takes away Wisconsinites’ reproductive freedom or makes reproductive healthcare, whether birth control, abortion, IVF, or fertility treatments, any less accessible in Wisconsin than it is today. That is a promise,” Evers said.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Right to Life Executive Director Heather Weininger charged the court with legislating from the bench.

“This is a deeply disappointing decision for those of us who believe every human life has inherent value and deserves legal protection from the moment of conception. For over 175 years, Wisconsin’s 940.04 statute recognized that truth,” Weininger said.

GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, also blasted the decision.

“To no one’s surprise, the extreme leftist majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned standing law dating back to 1849,” Dittrich said. “Sadly, most Wisconsinites want at least some limitations on abortions, and I have tried to meet the majority of people where they are at. “Unfortunately, this ruling leaves Wisconsin with open season on unborn children.”

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