MN models clean energy policies WI can emulate

The clean, green energy gap favoring Minnesota over Wisconsin is much wider than the border line on a Midwest map, but "A Tale of Two States" - -  a new report from the Environmental Law & Policy Center, (ELPC) which documents the disparities - - also says Wisconsin can learn from Minnesota and lessen the imbalance.

The challenge to Wisconsin's new Democratic Governor Tony Evers will be moving past the various obstructive obstructions in cleaner power embedded by former Governor Scott Walker and adhered to by majorities he installed or backed at the State Supreme Court, Public Service Commission and in both houses of the GOP-controlled legislature.

Public health hangs in the balance; polling shows people want clean, renewable energy and the capital costs to generate and supply it are falling, so now is the time to move forward,

This additional posting from the ELPC supplements the report:
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A retired friend who uses solar power suggested that ELPC do a study comparing Wisconsin and Minnesota on renewable energy policies and accomplishments. We expected to see a difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota’s policies, but the findings were still shocking. Minnesota has accomplished far more in renewable energy development as a result of more and better policies to fix broken energy markets. Minnesota clean energy policies make the playing field more level. They foster jobs and business growth, and they help provide clean energy benefits more widely across society and provide for future generations.

Wisconsin policy lags Midwest neighbors. While the vast majority of Wisconsinites want more renewable energy, today the state lags Minnesota. The badger state has suffered from weak policies, with a heavy coal reliance and fewer jobs and business opportunities. However, Wisconsin has already prospered due to companies serving nationwide, or even worldwide, renewable energy markets.

Wisconsin has the opportunity now to catch up and even pass up. With a bipartisan commitment, Wisconsin can become a renewable energy powerhouse, building on successes to date of the talents of a committed population. New and robust clean energy policies can propel Wisconsin “Forward” with business and job opportunities. We can learn from the experiences of other states and then “leap-frog” them to become, again, renewable energy leaders.

My blog's index, top left corner, brings up many reviews of Minnesota's progressive achievements which leave Wisconsin in the dust. On climate change, for example. 

And here's one post that is ten years old:

Minnesota Wind Farms Impressive

In each of the scores of turbines visible from the highway, I see more than renewable energy being fed into the grid, which in itself is proof that green power generation is achievable, now.

I see manufacturing, installation and maintenance employment, too.

Makes me wonder why our neighbors to the northwest are so far ahead of Wisconsin in getting so much of this new industry into the ground, and people onto the payrolls, too... 

We laugh along with Garrison Keillor about Minnesotans, rag on their football team and say their weather is worse than ours, but when it comes to public policy, we could learn a thing or two from Minnesota. 

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Wind farms are opening in Wisconsin. These turbines are east of Waupun. James Rowen photo,