By Brian E. Clark
For WisBusiness.com
If Gaylord Nelson, the father of Earth Day, were still alive, he would tell state Senate leaders that he is “ashamed” of them for not working to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act.
That harsh assessment comes from Nelson’s daughter, Tia, who served as co-chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming, the group that helped craft the recommendations behind the bill. She spoke today at a conference on the Earth Day’s 40th anniversary as part of a panel on her father’s legacy.
“Papa would say shame on you for not protecting the environment and promoting our state’s energy independence,” said Nelson, who also heads the state’s Public Lands Commission. Her father was a former Wisconsin governor, state legislator and U.S. senator.
She said is “unfathomable to me that after three years or work and hearings and input from all sides” that the Senate would let the bill fail.
“That they would instead introduce legislation that would weaken existing law and give corporations handouts makes absolutely no sense,” she said. “They are doing a lousy job of taking care of the environment.”
Earlier today, Sen. Jeff Plale, a co-chair of the select committee on the energy bill, told WisPolitics.com that the price of the bill is blocking its passage. But he would not say the legislation is dead.
“The problem with the bill isn’t Russ Decker or Jeff Plale. The problem with the bill is it’s expensive,” said Plale, who was one of four legislators who tried to come up with an energy policy bill that could pass both houses.
Rep. Spencer Black, who is a co-chair of the Assembly select committee, said he believed he had the votes in that house to pass the bill, saying “the problem is unquestionably in the Senate.”
Black said Plale would not agree to a meeting of the Senate select committee to vote on the bill. The Assembly committee passed the bill last week on a 6-3 party line vote, and the bill was up for a vote today in that chamber.
Nelson said she and other environmentalists were continuing to “work like hell” for passage of the bill. The Earth Day conference was held at the Monona Terrace Convention Center, two blocks from the Capitol.
“I plan to go back over there and keep at this,” she said.
Though Nelson lashed out at the Senate leadership, most of the panel discussion was devoted to her father’s long list of accomplishments to limit pollution and improve the environment.
Rebecca Wodder, president of the American Rivers conservation group, told how Gaylord Nelson had inspired her and a generation of “boomers’ to work to preserve free-flowing streams, forests and other natural areas.
She said she was honored to work for him as a staff member for the last two years of his Senate career.
Similarly, William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society, said Nelson influenced him and others to run environmental organizations in a professional manner.
“He was a powerhouse until his death,” Meadows said. “He played a role in tens of thousands of lives, crafted key legislation and left us with Earth Day.”
And Congressman Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac, who ran against Nelson for the Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat in 1974, said his one-time opponent was a “happy warrior, always positive.
“He never ran down the other side. He set a tone in politics that is missed today. He was respected by his peers in both parties.”
