This includes descriptions of our priority campaigns. Local groups can order display materials by contacting us and letting us know which pages they need laminated by which date, and we will send this to you.

1. Energy Efficiency: We can reduce the amount of energy we waste
with insulation, duct sealing, and installing more efficient light bulbs
and windows. We support increased investments in energy
efficiency through the Focus On Energy program. Since Wisconsin
utilities started investing 1.2% of their revenues this program in 2001,
we have created over 16,000 jobs, saved homeowners and
businesses $1.68 billion on energy bills, and reduced carbon dioxide
emissions by over 5 billion pounds. The Sierra Club is working to
enact energy efficiency goals at the state and federal level.
Clean Transportation: We have seen how dirty offshore oil drilling
and tar sands oil threatens ecosystems from the Gulf Coast to boreal
forests in Canada. We are working to reduce Wisconsin’s
dependence on oil by promoting transit, and bicycle and pedestrian
paths, and more efficient vehicles and fuels. Transit protects people
from rising gas prices, increases mobility for disabled and elderly
riders, and connects people to where they work and shop. Transit
not only benefits riders, it also creates jobs, reduces traffic and cleans
up our air. Every dollar in transit yields about $3.61 in economic
benefits for local communities. We support giving local governments
the tools they need to raise dedicated funds for transit through
statewide authorization for regional transit authorities.

2. Moving Beyond Coal: Wisconsin depends on coal to meet 66% of our
electricity needs. Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of
mercury emissions in our state. Mercury, a known nerve toxin, has
contaminated fish in every water body in Wisconsin. Coal-fired
power plants also emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is the
main cause of climate change. They also emit sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides that form fine particulate pollution that leads to
asthma, heart attacks, stroke and premature death. The Sierra Club
won a lawsuit in 2007 that requires all state-owned coal plants to
comply with the Clean Air Act. We defeated Alliant Energy’s
proposed coal plant in southwestern Wisconsin in 2008 that would
have cost ratepayers $1.3 billion in construction costs. We are
pushing the EPA to create strong regulations for mercury to protect
our health. Cleaner, safer alternatives to coal are available now, and
investing in renewable energy will create thousands of jobs.
Renewable Energy: The Sierra Club strongly supports increasing the
amount of solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energy in Wisconsin.
Investing in renewable energy reduces the $16 billion per year that
Wisconsin sends out of state for fossil fuels to meet our energy
needs. The Sierra Club supports goals for Wisconsin to obtain at least
25% of our energy from renewable sources by 2025. We also support
policies that promote small, distributed renewable energy projects,
such as net metering and fair uniform wind siting rules to overcome
the patchwork of local regulations that has threatened clean energy
jobs. We support careful development of offshore wind resources in
Lake Michigan, which offer strong, steady wind resources of Class V
and above, and could provide power near population centers where
transmission loss is low and demand is high.

3. Protecting Water Quality: Wisconsin depends on our 15,000 lakes,
12,600 rivers and streams, and countless creeks for drinking water,
biodiversity, recreation, and industry. Phosphorus pollution
threatens water quality by causing toxic algal blooms that decrease
lakefront property values, threaten public health, and jeopardize
Wisconsin's $12.1 billion tourism and our $2.75 billion sport fishing
industries. In 2010 we supported strong rules to control point and
non‐point phosphorus pollution, and laws to restrict phosphorus in
lawn fertilizer and household cleaning agents. We are working to
reduce threats to water from unsustainable agricultural practices
through monitoring and increased regulations in karst regions, which
are vulnerable because of cracks and sinkholes in these areas. We
also support policies to stop Asian carp and other introduced,
invasive species from entering the Great Lakes.
Conserving Water: In 2008, the Sierra Club helped pass the strong
Great Lakes Compact, designed to prevent water from being diverted
from the Great Lakes, which contain 20% of the earth’s fresh surface
water, to other states or countries. We support updating
groundwater regulations to reduce drawdowns with protections for
springs and science‐based permitting for high‐capacity wells. We also
support statewide water conservation policies.

4. CLEAN TRANSPORTATION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
CLEAN WATER

5. The Sierra Club is the oldest, most influential grassroots
environmental organization in the US. Our mission is to
explore, enjoy & protect wild places through education,
outings, lobbying, endorsing pro-conservation
candidates, and litigation.
Help Protect Wisconsin’s Future- Volunteer!
Sierra Club – John Muir Chapter
http://wisconsin.sierraclub.org
(608) 256-0565
222 South Hamilton St, #1, Madison, 53703
john.muir.chapter@sierraclub.org