Wisconsin

In partnership with

CONTACT

Satya Rhodes-Conway
COWS
Phone: (608) 262-5387
satya(at)cows.org
7122 Social Science
1180 Observatory Dr.
Madison, WI 53706

MISSION: The Wisconsin Apollo Alliance is advancing a clean energy revolution in our state, forging an economic future that is clean, equitable and profitable.

AGENDA: We are a coalition of labor and environmental leaders with a common goal: to expand opportunities for Wisconsin businesses and workers while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and cutting the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate.

PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In September 2008, the Wisconsin Apollo Alliance participated in the national day of action, Green Jobs Now. The Alliance’s Satya Rhodes-Conway emphasized the importance of creating good, family supporting jobs that stabilize our climate.

Also in September 2008, the Wisconsin Apollo Alliance gained the support for the clean energy, good job agenda from the labor movement.

In 2007-2008, our Alliance focused on creating the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund. Over the next ten years, Wisconsin will invest $150 million in grants and loans to make Wisconsin a leader in renewable energy. The Fund will accelerate research and development of clean energy products as well as their manufacture and production. The goal: to make the use of clean energy widespread and cost-effective. Governor Jim Doyle sponsored the initiative, which survived a contentious budget process and is now being implemented.

In the previous legislative session, the Alliance worked hard to see Wisconsin adopt a renewable portfolio standard of 10% by 2015. The same act also more than doubled funding for the state’s energy efficiency program, Focus on Energy, up to $82 million. Our work on these issues clearly positioned the Wisconsin Apollo Alliance as a leader in creating jobs in new energy technologies.

WHAT’S IN THE WORKS

The Wisconsin Apollo Alliance strongly support’s the Wisconsin Green to Gold Fund, a $100 million revolving loan fund to help manufacturers move into clean energy production or improve their energy efficiency. “This is not some pie in the sky,” Doyle said in the State of the State. “Anyone who says there aren’t jobs in the clean energy economy had better open their eyes.” You can view the letter sent to the elected leadership in Wisconsin supporting this important intiative.

Wisconsin will also be well positioned to receive additional federal funding if U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technologies (IMPACT) Act is adopted. The IMPACT Act would authorize $30 billion to establish state-level revolving loan funds – similar to the Green to Gold Fund – to help small and medium-sized manufacturers retrain workers and retool facilities for clean energy production. It requires states to contribute 20 percent of the federal grant amount, a provision Wisconsin should be poised to comply with.

Provisions identical to those in the IMPACT Act were included in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2009, and a coalition of businesses, labor and environmental groups is pushing to include IMPACT in the soon-to-be-introduced Senate climate and clean energy bill.

Members of the Apollo Alliance are providing significant input on Governor Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming to urge such actions.

You can read our complete comments to the Task Force and learn more about clean energy efforts in Wisconsin by linking to the following sites and reports.

Community Jobs in the Green Economy
Component Manufacturing: Wisconsin’s Future in the Renewable Energy Industry
Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming
Green Collar Jobs in America’s Cities
Greener Pathways
State of Working Wisconsin
Toward Wisconsin Energy Independence
New Energy for Campuses
New Energy for Cities
New Energy for States