Month: August 2022

After the U.S. Department of Agriculture found the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC) in Superior would have no significant impact on the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency stepped in and said the proposed natural gas plant had failed to account for climate change and emissions.

At a time when our state is at risk of rolling blackouts for the first time ever, it is mind-boggling that a federal agency would take steps to delay Wisconsinites’ access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-7th CD).

Tiffany recently sent EPA Administrator Michael Regan a letter urging him to support the proposed natural gas plant after the agency said a Supplemental Environmental Assessment failed to properly account for carbon emissions. But when the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service conducted the first environmental assessment last year it found the plant would have no significant environmental impact. Judges have agreed.

NTEC is now waiting for direction from the Rural Utilities Service.

As Tiffany notes in his letter, the proposed $700 million natural gas plant would provide affordable and reliable energy to customers across four states – Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa. The 625-megawatt plant would be built along the Nemadji River in Superior by both Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power and Duluth-based Minnesota Power. The plant was expected to be in service by 2025. Delays, such as this one, will most likely push the date back.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal. Therefore, RUS estimates that the NTEC would reduce emissions by about 964,000 tons annually.

“Energy security is national security, and the NTEC is crucial to providing clean, reliable, and affordable energy to Wisconsin and beyond in an environmentally safe way,” Tiffany said. “It’s time for the EPA to plan for the future by supporting the NTEC plant.”

In its assessment, the EPA determined NTEC would be responsible for $2.15 billion in “climate damages” because of emissions from 2025-2040.

“I find these conclusions deeply troubling and remain concerned that the EPA’s unrelenting effort to delay the approval of this vital project based on unsupported ideological considerations is both unfair and dangerous,” Tiffany wrote in the letter.

Environmentalist groups Clean Wisconsin and the Sierra Club in late June filed an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals seeking to block the construction of the natural gas facility. They claim the Public Service Commission erroneously granted state approval. A Dane County judge in June upheld the PSC’s decision and its authority.

A Minnesota appeals court earlier this month ruled in favor of the project, stating It is a “more reliable and lower cost source” of energy than equivalent-sized wind or solar power projects.

Yesterday, Governor Tony Evers announced that Wisconsin high school juniors and seniors heading back to school this fall will have 14 new occupational pathways that local employers can support, thanks to ongoing modernization efforts by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD).

Working in collaboration with school consortiums, employers, the Wisconsin Technical College System, and other partners, DWD has modernized the framework for a total of 75 Youth Apprenticeship (YA) program pathways to help industries like construction, health sciences, marketing, science and engineering, and transportation find and develop home-grown talent.

DWD’s YA Program Modernization Initiative resulted in 14 new occupational pathways in which local employers can offer apprenticeship opportunities to students. These include:

• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, new pathways: Arborist and Dairy Grazier.
• Architecture and Construction, new pathways: Gas Distribution Technician, Heavy Equipment Operator/Operating Engineer, and Utilities Electrical Technician.
• Arts, Audio Visual Technology and Communications, new pathway: Media Broadcast Technician.
• Health Science, new pathways: Phlebotomist and Resident Aide.
• Information Technology, new pathway: IT Broadband Technician.
• Manufacturing, new pathway: Electro-mechanical/Mechatronics.
• Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics, new pathways: Airport Operations and Management, Aviation Maintenance Fundamentals, Aviation Airframe and Powerplant Technician, Aviation Avionics Technician.

The YA program is coordinated and provided around the state by consortia that often consist of school districts, technical colleges, and chambers of commerce. Of the 421 public school districts, 321 districts, or 76.2 percent, had students enrolled in YA for the 2021-2022 school year.

Employers interested in becoming a youth apprenticeship sponsor can find more information here.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pledged that he and his colleagues will keep raising interest rates until they’re confident that inflation is under control.

In short and direct remarks Friday at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Powell acknowledged that higher borrowing costs will likely cause some short-term pain for families and businesses.

Unemployment may be higher and the economy may grow more slowly. But Powell warned the alternative — allowing high inflation to continue unchecked — would be worse.

“Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone,” he said.

“We are taking forceful and rapid steps to moderate demand so that it comes into better alignment with supply, and to keep inflation expectations anchored,” Powell said. “We will keep at it until we are confident the job is done.”

State and local employees left their jobs at record highs in 2021, according to a new Wisconsin Policy Forum report.

The study of Wisconsin Retirement System data found 17,646 left the pension system in 2021 for reasons other than retirement, death or disability. At the end of 2021, there were 257,683 active WRS members. That marked the second consecutive year of decline with a net decrease of 0.6 percent from the 259,234 active members at the end of 2019.

The WRS system data include employees ranging from teachers, police officers, prison guards and university employees, to local governments, school districts and state agencies.

The report states increased WRS retirements are partly due to the state’s aging workforce and potentially to challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The data show 17,646 people left WRS in 2021 for “other separations,” meaning they took another job or became unemployed for other reasons.

The study also found membership in WRS has gotten younger and less experienced, with an average age of 44.6 years old, the youngest average age since 2003. The average employee also had 11.1 years of experience, the lowest amount since 2001.

WPF in the report recommends public officials consider increasing pay and more flexible working conditions, as well as using more new technology and exploring “service sharing arrangements between neighboring governments” and using private contractors.

“Given the state’s aging and shrinking workforce, both the public and private sectors in Wisconsin will continue to face labor challenges,” the report states. “Yet, the importance of positions like police officers, paramedics, and teachers may require a particularly thoughtful and urgent public sector response.”

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will forgive $10,000 in federal student debt for most borrowers and will cancel up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants.

The relief will be limited to Americans earning under $125,000 per year, or $250,000 for married couples or heads of households. The relief is also capped at the amount of a borrower’s outstanding eligible debt.

The president will also extend the payment pause on most federal student loans “one final time” through Dec. 31, 2022, according to the tweet.

President Biden’s decision to move ahead with $10,000 in student debt cancellation for borrowers who earn under $125,000 will cost the federal government around $244 billion, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. The $20,000 in relief for Pell Grant recipients may add around $120 billion to the government’s costs.

More than 11,500 Wisconsinites provided comments in support of the Enbridge Line 5 Segment Relocation Project according to the final comments posted to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources project website. The comments were collected as part of the DNR’s four-month-long public comment period on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement of the Line 5 Wisconsin Segment Relocation project. By contrast, just over 5,300 Wisconsinites opposed the project.

While support for the Line 5 relocation project was overwhelming among Wisconsinites who proudly identified their Wisconsin roots, the vast majority of comments in opposition to the project came from individuals who refused to identify what state, or even country, they were from.

Among those submitting comments in support of the project were over two dozen of the leading organizations in the state representing farmers, small businesses, labor unions and papermakers. Groups the submitted comments in favor of the project included the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, Wisconsin Propane Gas Association, Wisconsin Building Trades Council, Wisconsin Counties Association, Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Wisconsin Independent Businesses, Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Wisconsin Paper Council, Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, Wisconsin Pipe Trades, Wisconsin Restaurant Association, Wisconsin Soybean Association, Cooperative Network, Dairy Business Alliance, Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin, Construction Business Group, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, Midwest Food Processors Association, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Northern Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council and Teamsters Local 346.

“The Line 5 relocation project is completely within the State of Wisconsin, to be built by Wisconsin union workers, and will benefit the Wisconsin economy,” said Wisconsin’s International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 President Terry McGowan. “Wisconsin’s trades men and women are some of the best trained skilled workers on the planet, and I’m glad to see our fellow Wisconsinites understand the importance of not only the jobs this project will bring, but the long-term benefit our state will see from the continued operation of Line 5.”

“While we understand the out-of-state interest in this project, Wisconsin voices should take priority on a project that impacts our state,” Bill Johnson, president of Northwoods based Johnson Timber, stated. “Northern Wisconsin is the natural jewel of our state and I encourage those from California and New York who commented against the project to come visit our state, where Line 5 has safely operated for decades. As a Northwoods property owner with an Enbridge pipeline passing through it, I am proud to support the Line 5 relocation project

Higher mortgage rates and interest rates likely contributed to a recent decline in new homebuilding in Wisconsin, according to an economics expert at Marquette University.

David Clark is a professor of economics and executive associate dean in the university’s College of Business Administration. In a recent interview, he explained rising mortgage rates and construction loans are impacting related building activity.

The national average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell slightly from 5.52 percent in June to 5.41 percent in July, Clark said. But that remains well above the rate from July 2021 — 2.87 percent.

“Those higher mortgage rates, and those higher rates that are going to show up on construction loans as well, that’s certainly something that will have an impact on people pulling permits,” he told WisBusiness.com. “I think that’s more likely to be the primary driving factor than other things that might impact the decision to take out a loan.”

And he noted federal officials have been raising short-term interest rates in hopes of tamping down inflation, which hit a recent peak of 9.1 percent earlier this summer.

The number of new home construction permits fell 24 percent over the year in the second quarter of this year, a recent report from the Wisconsin Builders Association found. A total of 3,328 permits were issued between April 1 and June 30, compared to 4,382 during the same period of 2021, the report shows.

The University of Wisconsin System is seeking $262.6 million in additional state funding in its two-year budget request and plans to use the bulk of that to boost employee pay by 8 percent by 2025.

Inflation was a major theme on Thursday as the UW System Board of Regents discussed its 2023-25 biennial budget request. UW-Milwaukee Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administrative Affairs Robin Van Harpen told members the university has felt some impact from rising costs, but expects the full brunt to hit in the coming year and beyond.  “The pressure on salaries and wages is like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” said Van Harpen.

UW System President Jay Rothman is also seeking $24.5 million through 2025 for a tuition waiver program for students from low-income families at all universities except UW-Madison.  The Wisconsin Tuition Promise would cover remaining student costs not covered by financial aid for students from families with annual incomes below $62,000 starting in the fall of 2023.

Before unanimously approving the UW’s budget request Thursday, some regents expressed concern that the system is not seeking an increase in tuition rates for in-state, undergraduate students.

In-state tuition for undergraduates has been frozen for a decade, either at the direction of state lawmakers or regents. The 2021-23 state budget lifted the freeze, which lawmakers first instated in 2013, but UW system officials opted not to raise tuition in their last budget.

Regent Ashok Rai said continuing the freeze indefinitely is not sustainable.

“At some point in time, we’re going to need to seriously consider taking our in-state tuition up a modest amount,” said Rai.

How the UW System’s request for an additional $262.6 million in state support will be received depends on who wins the governor’s office in November and crafts a 2023-25 state budget proposal.

Challengers Mandela Barnes and Tim Michels both saw post-primary bumps in the first Marquette University Law School Poll since they won their parties’ nominations for U.S. Senate and Governor.

Fifty-one percent of registered voters surveyed backed Barnes, the Dem lieutenant governor, in the U.S. Senate race over Republican Ron Johnson, who was favored by 44 percent.

Meanwhile, 45 percent supported Dem Gov. Tony Evers, while 43 percent backed Michels, a GOP construction exec. Independent Joan Beglinger, a nurse from Cross Plains whose platform aligns with the views of many Donald Trump supporters, was at 7 percent.

Poll Director Charles Franklin said the difference between the U.S. Senate and guv contests was largely driven by independent voters.

Barnes had slightly more crossover support from Republicans than Evers. But he had a 14-point advantage among independents at 52-38. Evers had a 4-point edge at 41-37.

The latest poll also found the enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Dems has largely disappeared.

Eighty-three percent of Republican registered voters said they are absolutely certain to vote, while 82 percent of Dems and 66 percent of independents said the same.

This poll of 811 registered voters was conducted Aug. 10-15. Seventy-five percent were reached via cell phone and 25 percent by landlines. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. Franklin said this is the first sample to include cell phone numbers for those who live in Wisconsin but have out-of-state area codes. They make up about 16 percent of the state.

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law on Tuesday, saying “the American people won, and the special interests lost.”

The bill, which was passed by the Senate earlier this month and the House of Representatives last week, costs an estimated $437 billion, with $369 billion going toward investments in “Energy Security and Climate Change,” according to a summary by Senate Democrats.

Democrats project that the legislation will reduce the deficit by bringing in $737 billion. This includes an estimated $124 billion from IRS tax enforcement, the projected result of hiring 87,000 new IRS agents who will ramp up audits.

The bill also imposes a 15% corporate minimum tax that the Joint Committee on Taxation predicts will raise $222 billion, and prescription drug pricing reform that the Senate estimates will bring in $265 billion.

One thing the Inflation Reduction Act is not expected to do, according to multiple analyses, is reduce inflation. The Congressional Budget Office said the bill will have “a negligible effect” on inflation in 2022, and in 2023 its impact would range between reducing inflation by 0.1% and increasing it by 0.1%.