Energy

Most recent update:

Oppose SB3- Restrictions on Clean Energy

The Senate Committee on Utilities is hosting a public hearing on Tuesday at 10:00 AM about the bill that would add additional approval requirements to clean energy projects. Requirements that coal, gas, and other fossil fuel projects would be exempted from. Contact your Senator and the Governor and tell them to oppose SB3.

Find your Senator here. Contact the Governor at (608) 266-1212.

Here are some talking points:

• The Legislature should be actively working to encourage more clean energy and stop new fossil fuel infrastructure, and retire our existing fossil fuel infrastructure. This is the opposite direction we need to be going.
• Expanding access to clean energy is critical to keeping communities healthy – in the last year we’ve seen an explosion of new proposals for fossil fuel plants that will contribute to asthma, cardiovascular and other health issues, in addition to raising customer rates.  With the worst impacts of climate change looming, adding extra barriers to clean energy, and exempting coal, gas, and other fossil fuel plants from those extra requirements, will take us backwards.
• Working with local communities is important; this bill uses the term local control to mask what it really is: a way to impose harsher restrictions on clean energy when we need it most. The current Public Service Commission process is supposed to take local concerns into account. If it’s not working, then the Legislature should adapt that process, rather than adding additional layers of permitting to one form of energy and not another
• Simply put, our climate, health, and pocketbooks can’t afford to make the energy we need most difficult to build. The time to support clean energy is now.

Tune in: Big Share Panel about Unchecked Data Centers in Wisconsin

Tues, March 3, 2026; 10:10 am

The Sierra Club will be facilitating a panel with other Community Shares organizations during the Big Share Live broadcast.  Tune in on March 3rd at 10:00 AM.  We’ll be discussing the dangers posed by massive data centers and how we’re all working to protect Wisconsinites. 

Button to RSVP

Why it Matters

100% clean energy will dramatically improve public health. The burning of fossil fuels, like gas and coal, lead to water and air pollution. This leads to respiratory problems, cancer, and numerous other health issues. A transition to clean energy means the same benefits that fossil fuels give us, like electricity, without the air and water pollution.
100% clean energy will lead to more jobs, boosting our economy and providing family-sustaining jobs. In fact, Wisconsin is home to a robust and growing clean energy economy. There are more jobs in Wisconsin in clean energy generation than in electric generation from fossil fuels.

Clean energy is less expensive than fossil fuels, and it's home-grown. Wisconsin has great resources for wind and solar energy right here, and we will soon have the Midwest’s largest solar farm in Cobb, WI!

Switching to 100% clean energy will allow us to lower emissions that exacerbate climate change. The burning of fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide and methane, two major greenhouse gasses, into the atmosphere. These gases trap in heat and warm our planet. Climate change is already harming marginalized communities around the globe and will eventually lead to catastrophic damage to ecosystems, lands, and livelihoods.

A 100% clean energy future is possible -- if we build the political will and our legislators pass strong clean energy today. Your action can make a brighter future possible.