Unlike the children who spend at least five minutes crafting their Christmas lists to Santa, Governor-elect Scott Walker did not spend much time thinking through his wish list to Gov. Doyle. Last week, Gov.-elect Walker sent a letter current Gov. Doyle's administration with list of requests. Besides the fact that giving a list of policy demands to a sitting governor is unprecedented and arguably unconstitutional, Walker's letter to Doyle is uneducated, arrogant and makes requests that undoubtedly harm Wisconsin's growth and economy. His list includes a ""freeze"" of any federal health-care bill implementations, suspending employee contracts, hiring new civil service positions and a vague message insisting a shift to natural gas from biofuel at the Charter Street Heating Plant.
Walker should be embarrassed by the ignorance evident in this letter. First of all, he seems to think that Doyle has been persistently pushing President Obama's health-care package. Yet, as Secretary of the Department of Administration Daniel Schoof pointed out in his reply to Walker, according to federal law, there can be no implementations of the health-care bill until 2013.
Walker's other noteworthy request about the heating plant is as equally uninformed. He makes an unsupported claim that natural gas is more environmentally and economically viable, and requests a ""shift from natural gas rather than biofuel."" The confusion over this appeal results from the fact that the heating plant already has natural gas capabilities. It seems that Walker is basically against biofuel, claiming that it will cost Wisconsin millions of unnecessary dollars.
Before I begin to defend the enormous benefits of using biomass in Wisconsin, I pause to cringe at our future governor's inability to write a coherent two-page letter. Schoof wrote in his reply that Walker does not understand these issues, and that ""our offer to brief you on these items and any other measures still stands."" But it seems that Walker is too confident in his all-encompassing, brown bag philosophy to take the time to learn any details of the issues he formulates demands for.
As Walker noted, two of the most important issues in Wisconsin are job creation and the ever-expanding deficit. Having the capacity to burn biomass, which according to the EPA, is a ""waste [of] materials from agricultural or industrial processes,"" can create those jobs and keep Wisconsin's money in Wisconsin.
Gary Werner of the Madison chapter of the Sierra Club was quoted in Cap Times saying, ""We don't have any natural gas here in Wisconsin, so every dollar spent on natural gas is a dollar leaving Wisconsin."" Buying agricultural waste from Wisconsin farmers and wood waste from Wisconsin foresters would benefit our state's agricultural stability. The transportation needed to transfer these products would also be a source of new jobs and revenue.
While both natural gas and biomass are environmentally safer than the previous coal burning practices at the Charter Street Heating Plant, using biomass is fiscally smarter in the long run. As natural gas becomes more finite, prices are sure to skyrocket in the future. Biomass is renewable and viable for the future. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), ""without biopower, it will likely be more expensive … to transform to a clean energy economy,"" which is one of the main reasons the Charter Street Heating Plant project began.
Because jobs and money are not the only reasons validating the switch, the lack of policy regulating standards for harvest or burning of biofuels remains a potential concern in Walker's push for natural gas. UCS, while supporting the use of biomass, acknowledges that there are some risks associated with it, like overharvesting or generating harmful pollution. The union supports implementing proper policy to secure ""the benefits of biomass and avoiding its risks."" Walker should concentrate on creating regulations to make sure that biomass is used efficiently rather than using his influence as governor-elect to stop a smart project that is already well underway.
Creating jobs? Decreasing deficit? Securing a reliable future? It would make more sense for Walker to support a project that aligns with his campaign promises to fix the economy and create jobs, instead of pleading with the current administration to eliminate the enormous advantages of the biofuel boilers.
Melissa Grau is a sophomore intending to major in journalism. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
