What Is Really Behind The Wisconsin No bid Power Plant Sell Off?

[kpete]

What Is Really Behind The Wisconsin No bid Power Plant Sell Off?
SDstuck

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Walker claims his killing the plant is about saving money. He claims that he will save $100 million dollars by not converting these plants to biomass. Most experts pointed out that the additional up front expense pays off over the long run in cost savings over time. The power plant issue seems to be under the same tactic Walker has already used to attack green energy efforts across the state. He at the same time killed the high speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee, killed wind power and ended the state recycling program. Ending the state power plant conversion fits into that.

So why sell them off? Who in Wisconsin has large coal interests? Koch Industries. Who has a long and known track record for being totally against any alternative energy projects? All of the Koch Industries front groups. Who has a track record of being one of the worst environmental polluters that shirks the EPA? Koch Industries. Who owns private sector power plants? Koch Industries. Who is the most suspected benefactor of Walker's no bid sell off of state power plants? Koch Industries. Who was a major contributor to Walker's campaign? Koch Industries.

These state plants are also under 2 AFSCME contracts. So killing off 2 union contracts was probably just icing on their evil cake.



More & links at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/12/955645/-What-Is-Really-Behind-The-Wisconsin-No-bid-Power-Plant-Sell-Off

[Faygo Kid]

1. K&R.

[maryf]

2. Cost savings equals profit loss in many minds

"Most experts pointed out that the additional up front expense pays off over the long run in cost savings over time."

Same with solar, wind, geothermal...Get rid of the profit motive, get rid of capitalism, and we might save the planet and provide workers with lots of work... kr

[Enthusiast]

10. Exactly right nt

[iwishiwas]

3. It is Walker & his Repug POODLES proposal, NOT "Wisconsin's" as

we-meaning progressive Democrats are NOT for this job killing, environmentally disastrous proposal.

[madrchsod]

5. it`s just not the progressive democrats in wisconsin...

it`s everyone that can make their own opinion with out listening to the right wing bullshit that`s blasted across wisconsin.

[iwishiwas]

11. You are right about that.

[madrchsod]

4. who is one of the major road construction suppliers?

i used to work on road building machines and tankers that were sold to the koch brothers.

[mopinko]

6. more like the smoke and mirrors they are hiding behind.

all those people are a great distraction from what it the real purpose in the bill. busting the unions was supposed to be just a distraction, imho. they weren't planning on quite this big of a distraction, but it has paid off. how many mentions of the power deals did you hear on your tv?

[bettyellen]

7. i think the union busting was supposed to strengthen Tea Party + conservative support for 2012.....

And I do believe Walker is doing this for the party only, and he has been promised great things if he pulls this shit off. A coordinated attack on unions among all Repub governors at once cannot be dismissed as a distraction. Their agenda is anti-worker, and that should be a huge concern for everyone.

[WillyT]

8. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Historic NY]

9. Greed, watch those rates increase.

[Control-Z]

12. This has been a big red flag to me.

How can it be legal?

And another question. What benefit could there possibly be to ending the state recycling program?

[Ellipsis]

13. It's not just about power plants... It's a real Monopoly game

and Wisconsin has lots of cherries to be picked and now that there's a governor bought and paid for to enable the picking... look out.

First off, Wisconsin supplies none of it's own raw energy outside of the wind mill farm generation which happens to be in Dodge(Fitzgerald's home district) and Fondulac counties because of more ideal wind conditions.. Koch brothers own 4000 miles of natural gas pipelines, coal distribution, and Georgia Pacific now and who knows what services or resources it will provide or own soon.

In energy alone Wisconsin outlays more then 6 billion dollars a year for power... so when Krugman said it was about power he wasn't just kidding. The first thing Walker did when he came into office was to stop the building of a combination bio energy and gas boiler for the UW Madison campus because of short term costs but more likely to inhibit a trend in this states ability to provide it's own raw energy and maybe to help out some natural gas providers....hmmm.

Splitting off the UW Madison campus gives WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) who patents the discoveries of UW-Madison researchers and licenses those technologies to leading companies in Wisconsin, (you know like Warfarin) it's own little fiefdom, and this ain't chump change, over a Billion to the Madison Campus alone since it's inception. And as a center for bio-engineering the UW Madison campus has yet to bear much fruit and it will bear... orchards worth.

State owned land is some of the last pristine property around and there's a ton of it. Here's just a few parks

Not far from Milwaukee - Kettle Moraine State Forest-Northern Unit
A 29,268-acre gift of the glacier--the rolling, wooded landscape is dotted with serene lakes and offers a unique outdoor recreational experience of endless variety.

Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit
The glacier left 21,000 acres of rolling hills and numerous lakes.


Farther North

Willow Flowage Scenic Waters Area
Described as "almost Canada," this flowage in Oneida County has a wild flavor. The area has more than 17,000 acres, 73 miles of shoreline, 106 islands, and seven boat landings. Rustic campsites around the shoreline and on the islands offer scenery and solitude. There are abundant walleye and panfish; northern pike, muskellunge, and bass; hunting and hiking opportunities; deer, bear, ruffed grouse, ducks, loons, and wolves.

These are just a few of the many parks and resources Wisconsin owns
http://dnr.wi.gov/Org/land/parks/specific/findapark.htm ...

I have no doubt given his choice he'll sell anything he can before we stop him and that it's all ready been divied up amongst the cronies.

[Lefta Dissenter]

15. That's what I've been screaming about

they had already STARTED the conversion of the Charter St plant (Madison) to bio-fuel. We were told last year we wouldn't be able to get our cheap semi-loads of mulch from the City of Madison anymore because that mulch would be going to the heating plant for fuel.

Then as soon as Walker got in, he STOPPED that conversion, as Ellipsis said above.

How many WISCONSIN jobs could have been created for farmers, foresters, plants to collect/process the bio-fuels, trucking the fuels to the plants?

But the Koch brothers aren't into bio-fuel, they're into coal and gas pipelines! :banghead:

[glinda]

14. That is what I've been saying. A lot of diversions away from the Kochs.