WED AM News: Oak Creek Plan Commission signs off on latest Buc-ee’s proposal; Wisconsin’s energy-production C02 emissions decline

September 24, 2025

— Oak Creek’s Plan Commission last night approved Buc-ee’s Oak Creek plans to build what would become its second gas station in Wisconsin.

The unanimous vote on the more than 73,000 square foot plan on the corner of 27th Street and Elm Road along I-94 came with some slight modifications to what Buc-ee’s originally submitted. The changes included clearly painted pedestrian walkways from the parking lots and additional landscaping.

Still, some Oak Creek residents raised concerns about the increased traffic that the 24-hour business would bring, as well as fuel vapors and potential groundwater pollution.

“And the other thing is just all the sacrificial lambs here,” one said. “Nobody cares that our home values are going to go down, that the city will actually lose money because of tax dollars after our home values go down.”

Mayor Daniel Bukiewicz argued “we’re going to get a great corporate partner in Buc-ee’s.”

“And by all accounts, everybody we’ve talked to across the country enjoys having them within their community,” he said. “Even one person said, ‘If we could get a second one, we’d take a second.’ … Nobody likes to hear it, but there is a tax benefit. Right now there is not a lot of tax value on that land.”

But another resident argued the pollution just won’t be worth it.

“We’re going to hear that 24/7, we’re going to get the negative effects of gas fumes,” she said. “Mr. [Ald. Greg] Loerck, I know you said it’s not going to go into the Root River, into Lake Michigan. Pardon my language, bullshit.”

The proposal predicts roughly 10,080 vehicles per day will visit the station, which would have a fulltime staff of 200-250. It would be one of Buc-ee’s 36 travel centers around the country so far, with two fueling canopies that span a combined nearly 1,000 feet. The company’s first Wisconsin location will be in DeForest.

Buc-ee’s also requested to build 665 parking spaces, which would require additional approval, and plans to plant 58 new trees to make up for the 19 trees the construction will cut down. No carwash was included in the proposal.

The business also plans to erect a fence between the new station and a neighboring house and farmland.

“Neighbors, all I can say is change is pain, but It’ll all work out in the end. It’s going to be a benefit,” Bukiewicz said after the vote.

— Wisconsin’s per-capita energy-related CO2 emissions declined by 28% over nearly two decades, but not quite as much as the national average, new data shows.

A U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis shows Wisconsin slightly lagged the national energy-related CO2 emissions reduction of 30% between 2023 and 2005. Maryland topped the list with a 49% reduction and Mississippi was at the bottom with a 1% reduction, according to the most recent data.

That also amounts to an overall reduction to 86.2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2023 from 110.8 million metric tons.

Data shows Wisconsin’s per-capita energy-related CO2 emissions in 2023 was about 14.5 metric tons per capita, down from 20 metric tons in 2005. Wisconsin’s historical per-capita emissions peak also happened in 2005, as well as in 2000, according to the data, which goes back to 1960.

Energy production in Wisconsin has also become more efficient, with the amount of CO2 emitted per 1 billion BTUs of energy produced dropping to 55.2 metric tons in 2023 from 62.6 metric tons in 2005.

See the analysis.

— The latest episode of “Talking Trade” features Government Analytics CEO John Pournoor on the overall impact of global trading and trade’s role in U.S. markets.

Pournoor, who’s also a member of the National Association of District Export Councils, argued global trade and production of goods and services “is the engine of what makes the economies of the world run.”

He said global GDP is about $100 trillion while US GDP is about $30 trillion of that, and the country’s exports make up about $2 trillion of that. He also said 97% of all exporters in the U.S. are small and medium sized enterprises, making them an invaluable part of the country’s economy.

“So this sort of gives you a scale of where we are in that spectrum of exports,” he said.

He also argued NADEC plays an essential role in engaging the community of exporters as well as connecting them with government resources such as U.S. export assistance centers and foreign embassies. NADEC also assists exporters with various regulatory compliance requirements and organizes informational seminars.

But one challenge exporters face right now is simplifying trade regimes during a time when trade policies are frequently shifting, he said.

“I foresee this kind of shift in trade policy to be with us for some time, simply because of the nature of how trade and investment is going to increase dramatically over the next few years,” he said. “We see other countries putting a premium for access to their markets manifesting itself in different ways. And the United States, increasingly, is doing the same.

As far as advice goes, Pournoor said exporters need to keep watching the changes, prepare and strategize.

“It’s important to realize, you know, what are some of the openings that are being offered for trade access to some elements of the market,” he said. “For instance, farmers being able to export in markets where protectionist policies on the other wise have not been allowing them to do that. Or manufacturers and other providers are able to actually enter into markets that were not necessarily accessible to them before.”

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel.

Watch the full episode here.

— Rep. Rob Brooks has announced a package of bills to build on last session’s bipartisan housing legislation and efforts to boost affordable housing in Wisconsin.

Brooks, who chairs the Assembly Housing and Real Estate Committee, led a series of housing bills Gov. Tony Evers signed into law in 2023. The package sought to address the state’s housing shortage, setting aside $525 million for affordable housing development loans.

At a Capitol press conference today, Brooks joined fellow Republicans and stakeholders in announcing the latest effort.

Brooks said Wisconsin is in an affordable housing crisis.

“We can’t operate and move Wisconsin forward if we can’t address affordable housing. It’s something that affects both rural and urban communities,” Brooks said.

Brooks said he expects cooperation with Evers’ office and bipartisan support again this session. A spokesperson for Evers’ told WisPolitics the guv’s office hasn’t given Brooks any indication Evers supports the bills, adding the office still needs to review them.

Those who spoke in support of the legislation at the press conference included representatives from the Wisconsin Realtors Association, Wisconsin Builders Association, and Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, did not immediately return requests for comment on the package.

Some of the proposals include bills:

Clarifying that the commercial building code updated in August applies to public buildings, structures or places of employment if the plans for them are submitted for compliance no later than April 1, 2026;
Establishing a condominium conversion grant program to award grants of up to $50,000 per parcel of land to convert multifamily housing into condominiums;
Enabling cities and villages to establish workforce housing tax increment districts, allowing a portion of the tax increment from new homes to be used to offset infrastructure costs;
Establishing mandatory rezoning for certain requests related to residential development and allowing the duration of a tax increment district to be extended for up to two years for housing stock improvement; and
Creating a workforce home loan program to help first-time home buyers by providing loans up to $60,000.

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