by Larry Gamble

An interesting thing happened the other day. I decided to venture out and see just what goes on at a “public hearing” of the legislature. This one was the Climate Change bill that got renamed Green Jobs Bill that the Wisconsin legislature is debating. What an eye opener that turned out to be.

I had been forewarned that the special interest groups would have the room packed with their supporters. These kind folks even alerted me that the chances of getting to speak before the Committee were minimal at best as the special interest groups would have their folks in line before the doors opened to make sure they get heard. None of that really prepared me for the three hours I spent listening to the testimony being presented that day.

When I got there, I could still find a seat. The crowd wasn’t as large as expected. But, the special interests were there in force. They had arrived in groups of two, three or more and they all had something to say in four minutes or less. I say that because the Committee Clerk was timing every speaker and made sure the buzzer was close to the microphone when time ran out. There was no question about your time being up.

But even in those four minutes, the people testifying were trying hard to be convincing that the only way to solve our problems was to enact this legislation. And if we would only enact this legislation, there would be thousands of construction jobs (i.e. Temporary jobs) to revive the economy. Then all would be right with Mother Nature because the handful of permanent jobs left behind would be “green jobs” and come from green, renewable energy. That sounds great until you realize the projects for the temporary jobs last only a week or so.

Besides those details regarding the construction of windmills and solar panels, there was a more sinister motive lurking between the lines. Person after person testified and each made a resounding chorus which went something like this… “Please pass this legislation. My company is going broke. The only way I can survive is if… you… please… pass… this… legislation. Make the people buy my products. Please pass this legislation.”

Will some of these Green Technologies be good in the future? I bet so. Is it something the government needs to mandate: NO. It’s sort of like the whole CFL vs. Incandescent light bulb issue going on now. The CFL is an inadequate replacement bulb with LED bulbs coming on the market; I have been changing to LEDs which are even less-expensive to operate than a CFL. I think 10 years with the natural progression of the business cycle will bring better and more efficient products to market. So, why do we have to focus on the short term to potentially legislate ourselves into economic oblivion?

You see these bill are not just about mandating 25% of Wisconsin’s power be generated by renewable sources (by 2020). There are business-killing provisions buried like land mines in these bills. It’s not just about Green Jobs, it’s about killing traditional energy for manufacturing plants and forcing us into the green revolution. In this particular bill it would require steam-generating plants to undergo extensive boiler tests to “ensure efficiency” and best guesses right now estimate the compliance cost will rival that of the Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements. The paper business is big here in Wisconsin and one CEO testified that he expected compliance to cost him $16 million a year. His next comment was something along the lines of “that will make our Wisconsin plant costs non-competitive and we will shift all paper production to plants in other states where we will be able to maintain a competitive margin.” That statement is easy to translate. “If our bottom line takes a $16 million dollar hit, we will close our plants and lay off thousands of your constituents.”

Since Chief Iron Eyes Cody did his “Crying Indian” commercial in 1974, we have made huge advances in cleaning up the environment. But, this latest movement towards Crap & Tax is just the wrong way to go. But there were not many people speaking out at the public hearing. Instead it was the modern day carpet baggers getting a chance to grovel for the passage of the bill.

These folks were pulling on every heart string you can imagine to make their case. But in the end, it all comes down to simple greed. If there was a real and competitive market segment for these renewable energy machines, the government would be looking for a way to generate tax revenue from these same business owners.

Instead, we live in a time when the mechanical efficiencies are not adequate for private industry to justify the costs. Therefore, the modern day carpetbaggers were sitting in the wings of the state capital with their hands out, begging for legislation to make their businesses successful.